Matthew 96
(Chapter 21)
Even Jesus got angry
Matthew 21:12–17 (NIV)
12Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money-changers and the benches of those selling doves.
13“It is written,” he said to them, “ ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”
14The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them.
15But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant.
16“Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him. “Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read,“ ‘From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise’?”
17And he left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night.
The church has done a bad job of showing us the man side of Jesus
· When all we see this frail, peaceful, almost timid Jesus
o We almost have made Him into a wimp
· He was far from it
· And today we see Jesus and His emotions on full display!
E-mail and texting have gotten me into a lot of trouble.
The reason is simple—those who receive my electronic missives cannot hear my tone of voice or see the expression on my face as they interpret my words. A very dangerous vacuum. Disembodied words have a way of being haunted. Too many times I’ve sent along something intended as playful, but without that twinkle in my eye or the slight grin on my face so essential to understanding my intentions, my readers have taken the playful comment seriously and been hurt by it. Sometimes I have intended a word of correction—but it was dashed off in a hurry, and again, without the smile and reassuring tone of voice so essential to convey my heart, the message came across as harsh.
This is the vacuum many of us bring to the Gospels.
Without Jesus’ tone of voice, what was in His eyes, the lift of an eyebrow, a suppressed smile, a tilt of the head, an unflinching gaze, we misinterpret a great deal of what we find there. Reading the Gospels without the personality of Jesus is like watching television with the sound turned off. You get a very dry, two-dimensional person doing strange, undecipherable things[1]
when we lose Jesus’s personality, we lose Jesus.[2]
Good grief—your hamster seems to have a more fully developed personality than most portraits of Jesus.
Furthermore, the loss of personality confounds our imitation of Christ. What happens is, our particular brand of church seizes upon one or two of His virtues as the essence of Christ for us to follow. Justice. Mercy. Righteousness. Whatever. You cannot live a life on one quality any more than you can speak intelligently using one word. Meanwhile, we continue to sound on about the love and compassion of Jesus, like the village idiot banging one note on a piano. After a while, the world turns away. Can you blame them? Alas—if only Jesus’ followers shared His personality. That one shift alone would correct so many of the ridiculous and horrifying things that pass for popular Christianity.
What is missing in our Gospel reading—and in our attempts to “read” what Jesus is saying and doing in our own lives right now, this week—is His personality, undraped by religion. Let’s see if we can find it.[3]
Angry Jesus with fierce intentions
12Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money-changers and the benches of those selling doves.
13“It is written,” he said to them, “ ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”
· Jesus was a fierce and intent man on a mission
· He shows His emotions, He is methodical about what He does
· But He still has them and shows them
· John’s account is much more vivid!
· Read John 2:13-17
Read Beautiful outlaw
· Jesus was tired, hungry, thirsty—because He took on our humanity.
· Read carefully:
o The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. (JOHN 1:14)
o Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity. (HEBREWS 2:14)
· When the time came, He set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, He became human!
· Having become human, He stayed human.
· It was an incredibly humbling process.
· He didn’t claim special privileges.
· Instead, He lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that: a crucifixion.
Philippians 2:7–8 (ESV)
7but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
8And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Jesus was Zealous for God
Psalm 69:9 (ESV)
9For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.
· We can learn a lot about Jesus through His emotions and personality
· That’s how we learn about each other
· How we react in certain situations teaches others about us
· Jesus was a man (fully human) on a mission
· He took on every emotion and still fulfilled that mission
Now read this like I read it! (Sarcastic Jesus)
Matthew 21:14–17 (NLT)
14The blind and the lame came to him in the Temple, and he healed them.
15The leading priests and the teachers of religious law saw these wonderful miracles and heard even the children in the Temple shouting, “Praise God for the Son of David.” But the leaders were indignant.
16They asked Jesus, “Do you hear what these children are saying?” “Yes,” Jesus replied. “Haven’t you ever read the Scriptures? For they say, ‘You have taught children and infants to give you praise.’”
17Then he returned to Bethany, where he stayed overnight.
· The leaders are indignant
o feeling or showing anger because of something unjust or unworthy: filled with or marked by indignation, became indignant at the accusation.
· They were used to being a little arrogant and twisted
· They felt slighted or a little Jealous even
· And if you put personality or emotion into Jesus’ response
· It gets comical and puts some meat into it!
· Here is how we read it (read it as normal)
· And here is how I think it went (put some personality in it)
So why am I pointing out Jesus was fully human, Full of emotions and personality?? So, you can take solace in the fact that he was!
· One of the chief ways Satan attacks us is with lies
John 8:44 (NLT)
44For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.
· And one of the biggest lies is that your emotions somehow make you unworthy of Gods love
· We have all felt guilty ( that’s Satan) about our emotions
· We have all questioned our personality traits
· It's comforting for me to know I am just like Jesus
· We were created in His image
· And His favorite title was the SON OF MAN!
The bible tells all we need to know about Satan
1 Peter 5:8 (NLT)
8Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.
· Don’t let Satan fool you
· You are perfectly created in Jesus’s image
· And Jesus loves you right where you are!
[1] Eldredge, J. (2011). Beautiful outlaw: experiencing the playful, disruptive, extravagant personality of jesus. New York City, NY: FaithWords.
[2] Eldredge, J. (2011). Beautiful outlaw: experiencing the playful, disruptive, extravagant personality of jesus. New York City, NY: FaithWords.
[3] Eldredge, J. (2011). Beautiful outlaw: experiencing the playful, disruptive, extravagant personality of jesus. New York City, NY: FaithWords.
