JANUARY 19, John 2:13-22 

The first cleansing of the temple by Jesus took place on the feast of Passover. You will recall this is a national religious feast of Jews, commemorating how the Angel of the Lord “passed over” homes that had blood on their door-posts during the last night the Jews were slaves in Egypt.
When Jesus visited the temple, what he saw angered him. Greedy and evil men selling animal sacrifices at high profits, money-changers overcharging people – these were not what was supposed to happen in the temple! Jesus was filled with righteous anger at the filth that had invaded His Father’s house. He made a whip and chased all the evil doers.

Was Jesus too violent? Did Jesus sin in his anger? The answer to these 2 questions is “No!” You will learn that in the things of God, we have to take a stand against evil. Jesus took a tough stand against clearly what was wrong – business people trying to make a profit from the ordinary folks who were trying to worship God. turning the temple of worship into a temple of sin, these people have no right to be in the temple, and thus Jesus had to drive them away.

We, too, must learn what is righteous anger. It is anger arising from a righteous spirit. It is a godly response to the sin that we see around us, and sometimes, we have to take action. If we see someone bullying a kitten, go stop that bullying. If we hear bad language on the TV or evil images, switch the channel or turn the TV off. Learn to be like Jesus – He was quick to act. You, too, learn how to have righteous anger at ungodly things, and act on them.

However, let us face it: most of the times we are angry for the wrong reasons. When was the last time you were angry for the wrong reason? Perhaps it was anger when you thought someone was rude to you? Or some classmates did not include you when they played a game? Or you thought parents love your sister or brother more than you? Being angry for the wrong reason is a sin!

Thought: Don’t be angry for wrong reason!

Prayer: Heavenly Father, may I learn not to be angry for wrong reasons but to be more like Jesus – to be angry only for righteous reasons. Help me to dare to stand up for the helpless, to dare to stand up for God. This I pray in Jesus’ name, amen.