Matthew 21:12-17
Jesus went straight to the Temple and threw out everyone who had set up shop, buying and selling. He kicked over the tables of loan sharks and the stalls of dove merchants. He quoted this text:
My house was designated a house of prayer;
You have made it a hangout for thieves.
Now there was room for the blind and crippled to get in. They came to Jesus and he healed them.When the religious leaders saw the outrageous things he was doing, and heard all the children running and shouting through the Temple, “Hosanna to David’s Son!” they were up in arms and took him to task. “Do you hear what these children are saying?”
Jesus said, “Yes, I hear them. And haven’t you read in God’s Word, ‘From the mouths of children and babies I’ll furnish a place of praise’?”
Fed up, Jesus turned on his heel and left the city for Bethany, where he spent the night.
March 14th, 2007 at 8:37 am
Jesus fed up?……I love this translation!
Jesus fed up…He knew he was facing betrayal, his mind must have been in termoil yet He was still going into the temple and doing the will of the Father…but the was sorrounded by exploiters who didn’t understand him but worse still the religious leaders (who were supposed to be pointing the way to Him and His father!) didn’t get Him either………yet in the heart of all this fedupness He will have still had love…eternal, sacrificial and unconditional love. He was angry and annoyed and fed up but He still loved them…not with that fuzzy, Hollywood-type love but the sacrificial love of a parent for a child only magnified a million-fold coz he created them…..at that moment he didn’t like them, in His humaness I expect He wanted to punch their lights out! but he loved them.
For me Lent this year is becoming about learning about what ‘love’ is on all sorts of levels. Learning from the one who ‘is love’ and will always be ‘love’ learning. Learning again that His love for me is unconditional and constant.
March 14th, 2007 at 10:39 pm
“Now there was room for the blind and crippled to get in. They came to Jesus and he healed them.”
No effort for the Son of God needed. But I’m guessing the combination of God’s Holy Spirit and, more importantly, their faith played a part.