A Zealous, Jealous Love

Read: Matthew 21:12-17

The Scriptures declare, “My Temple will be called a house of prayer,” but you have turned it into a den of thieves!

Matthew 21:13

JESUS HAD DEMONSTRATED an affinity for the Temple early in his life. When he was twelve, his parents thought he was with them in the caravan leaving Jerusalem after Passover. Realizing he was missing, they went back to search for him and eventually found him conversing with religious scholars in the Temple. Jesus was astonished that they might have looked anywhere other than his Father’s house (Luke 2:41-51). But this time, in the week before his death, he surprised his audience with more than his words of wisdom. He disrupted those who were making a business out of sacrifice and overturned their tables. He demonstrated that the Prince of Peace could be fiercely angry and disturb the peace. His zeal for his Father’s house (John 2:17) took a forceful turn.

We shouldn’t be surprised by Jesus’ anger. He looked with anger at religious leaders when their hard hearts tried to get in the way of his compassion (Mark 3:5). He declared woe on hypocrites who drove people away from the Kingdom of heaven and killed its messengers (Matthew 23:13-33). Here, he blasted the profiteers of worship who turned offerings into a business venture. God’s Temple is a place of prayer for the nations, he insisted, quoting the prophets to prove his point (Isaiah 56:7). The religious leaders were stunned by the intensity of his reaction.

Why was Jesus so passionate about these things? Because he reflected the heart of the Father for his people. The passion he demonstrated at the Temple wasn’t about the building; it was about the worshipers who had gathered and, on a larger scale, the nations represented by them. Apparently, God isn’t just mildly interested in the hearts of human beings. He’s fiercely protective of them. He’s zealous for our worship and jealous for our love.

We might be tempted to assume that Jesus’ zeal for his Father’s house no longer applies. After all, the Temple was destroyed within a generation of his resurrection. No one has been changing money there for almost two millennia. But the Father still has a temple that is designed as a place of prayer. It’s the human heart and the fellowship of believers (1 Corinthians 3:16-17; 6:19; Ephesians 2:21). We are the temple of his presence. The building gave way to the body a long time ago, and God continues to be passionate about the place of his presence. The purity and prayerfulness of his dwelling place deeply matter to him. He enters our hearts with zeal to drive out unholy influences and make us his own.

PRAYER

Father, may I be as zealous for your presence as you are for mine. Thank you for the intensity of your love. Grant that I would learn to love with the same kind of passion. Amen.

REFLECTION

What feelings are provoked in your heart when you think of the intensity of God’s passion for you? In what ways can you prepare yourself as his dwelling place?

Further reading: Zechariah 8:1-2

Amazing love! How can it be

That thou, my God, should die for me!

“AND CAN IT BE, THAT I SHOULD GAIN?” CHARLES WESLEY