Clear the House

While in College, I became a comic book fan. It all started with the X-Men and a series called “The Age of Apocalypse.” Then it moved to Batman comics, the Green Lantern, and eventually, I started reading “The Incredible Hulk.” The backstory of the Hulk is an interesting one for those who don’t understand it. Bruce Banner was a renowned scientist who specialized in gamma radiation studies. His work was so well-accepted that the government took notice and had him begin working on a project. Unfortunately, during his testing, things went sideways. Banner himself was locked into a radiation chamber where his body was infused with so much gamma radiation that it turned him into a giant monster that was unmatched in strength. 

After several hours, Banner would change back to his normal self, but his life would never be the same. Any time he became angry, he would change back into the Hulk and go on a rampage, destroying property and decimating anything around him. One of my favorite scenes of the Hulk was in the original “Avengers” movie. Loki, the god of Mischief, was standing before the Hulk and said, “Enough! You are all beneath me. I am a god, you dull creature, and I will not be bullied by a…” as he was then picked up by the leg and rag-dolled back and forth against the floor of Stark Tower. The Hulk then walked off, only to say, “Puny god.”

When Stan Lee created the character, he wanted a combination of Frankenstein’s Monster and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He was showing how “out of control” we get when our anger blinds us from what’s going on around us. The Hulk is a perfect reminder of why controlling our anger is so important. We can’t allow our anger to make us see red whenever it pops up. Is all anger bad, though? Is it possible that anger can be justified, and our actions stemming from that anger can be righteous? What can lead us to this kind of anger?

And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
Luke 19:41–44

As Jesus enters Jerusalem after His Triumphant Entry back to the city, He begins to weep. He knows what the future holds for the city and its people. There was a day coming when Israel would no longer exist. The Jewish people would be scattered, and they would have no homeland. This made Jesus’ triumphant return one of mixed emotions. On one side, He would be coming to fulfill what His Father had sent Him to do. On the other, He would have to face the harsh reality that Jerusalem was on borrowed time. Jesus’ prayer life was unlike anyone else’s. He poured Himself into prayer, and it wasn’t out of the ordinary for Him to weep.

In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.
Hebrews 5:7

Jesus wasn’t emotionless. He wasn’t a robot. He cared deeply for His people. He loved His friends. He held great reverence and respect for His Father. He wanted nothing more than for His Father’s will to be done on earth and in His people. That’s why he was taken aback when he arrived in the temple to see that people were using this holy place of worship as a means for income. Instead of looking like a refuge for prayer, it looked like a flea market. How did he respond?

And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.”
Mark 11:15–17

Earlier in Jesus’ ministry, He had already done this. (John 2:13-16) How much more frustrating would it be to have done this once and come back only to see God’s people making the same poor choice twice? That is the situation He was put in upon arriving in Jerusalem. To make it worse, both instances happened during the celebration of the Passover. They had taken something that was meant for remembrance and turned it into a money-making scheme. Jesus wasn’t just going to sit back and be ok with this. He cared too much to allow it.

How many times do we see things being done by good people that are blatantly wrong and do nothing? How often do we just shrug our shoulders and pretend like nothing is wrong? It doesn’t seem like that’s how Jesus handled things. He couldn’t just let people continue acting in ways that are unacceptable for God’s people. There needed to be correction.

Herein lies the difference between a Hulk-like rage and a Christ-like anger. The Hulk would lose his mind, and everything in his wake would pay. Jesus would be heartbroken and correct the situation. Jesus wasn’t known for dancing around people’s emotions. If He knew that one of God’s people wasn’t acting like one of God’s people, they would be told to correct that action. Unfortunately, it is not that uncommon of a circumstance for the people of God to act in an inappropriate manner.

God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day.
Psalm 7:11

When someone does something against me, I can typically deal with it. But, if you do something against someone I love…that’s another story. Jesus’ main frustration wasn’t personal to Him. It was personal because it was against His Father. Christ would not allow for people to defile His Father’s house. He had to stand up to this indignation in the place designed to Honor God. 

Soon, however, that anger would turn to something else as He was in for a long week. He would, in very short order, have to endure emotional and physical duress like no one ever had or ever would again. First, He had to clear the house.