The Passion of Jesus
I had the opportunity on Monday to
go to Lamar High School and hear 4 of Nancy George’s debate students present
speeches as a part of a Rotary Club contest. Each of these four students spoke
on a unique topic and added their own perspective. It was apparent that they
were reflecting on something they cared about. It was refreshing to hear these
teens talk about topics that were beyond the thoughts of most high school
juniors, but for me the most refreshing thing came after the results had been
presented. One of the students didn’t do as well as she had wanted to and she
was not happy to say the least. She had wanted to do better than last out of
four, it wasn’t about winning, but she felt as though she had done better than
last place. Her tears and raw emotions were unrivaled by all of the passion
that had just been shared in 4 different speeches. She was angry. At what
exactly I don’t know, the injustice, the unfairness, at herself and her
preparations, or just the way the situation turned out. I could only describe it with one word:
passion.
Passion is where we dive into our
gospel text for today. As I read it I wondered about a lot of things: Was Jesus
just angry? Was he also hurt by what he saw? Was he crying? Did the disciples
see this all happening in slow motion? Their teacher just going ballistic
through the crowds of people directing the whip he had made in all directions,
throwing things and flipping furniture over. Did some innocent people get
caught in the cross fire? What did the poor dove sellers do that would cause
Jesus to direct his words right at them? This is not our usual picture of
Jesus. Why would he do such a thing? The writer tells us that the disciples
remembered Psalm 69 “Zeal for your house will consume me.” Jesus’ example gives
all new meaning to zeal and fervor huh? Before you pick up your whips and start
trying to flip over your pews (Which you can’t by the way. They are bolted to
the floor. I checked) let’s look at this text a little deeper.
Normally when you think of people
being angry and passionate it’s in a rather unhealthy way. Lauren came home
this week from work very upset by a phone conversation that she had with
someone. As she was changing the marquee outside of Calvary someone stopped by
and ask what their cross meant. Outside on the building they have a cross with
a circle around the inside part of it. She didn’t know but said she would find
out and call this person back. After consulting with the pastors she called
this gentleman back and was bombarded with all sorts of opinions and thoughts
about the cross as a symbol and how the church needed to rethink how it did
things. 3 things were apparent: 1. This guy has way too much time on his hands
2. He wasn't looking for a conversation but rather just to berate someone with
his thoughts and 3. He was very passionate about his convictions. All that came
from it though was confusion and hurt for Lauren. It’s when our passions and
our zeal and fervor become self-focused and self serving that we inflict a lot
of pain. Usually when we react in this way after the feelings have passed we
feel empty, worse than when we started. We are met with the question “What sign
can you show us for doing this?” and we don’t know how to respond. People ask
“Who do you think you are?” “Why would you do such a thing?” We can’t answer
because let’s face it… we have passionate outbursts like this all the time and
they usually happen because we are focused on us.
Does this mean we should be
apathetic? Never have opinions about things? Not at all. We are called to
follow Jesus’ example. Live the sort of passionate life that he lived. So that means we
get to go randomly flip furniture over right? Sort of. The question I am most
concerned with is: what is the motivation? Jesus doesn’t feel bad about his
outburst, but instead answers back rather quickly when confronted about his
credentials. It’s not about drawing attention to himself, but rather focusing
the attention back on God. All of these things taking place in the temple
courtyard were interfering with what coming to the temple and sacrifice were
about: God. Jesus wasn’t merely flipping stuff over to make a point, but he was
doing it to turn attention back to God and to God’s will. Jesus is showing his
passion for God and God’s will by not allowing for these things to get in the
way. Jesus was in the business of turning people back to God and there were a lot of other times that he did this during his ministry, in a
much milder way, but there is one time in particular that we aren’t sure to
forget: on the cross. Jesus showed his passion in the deepest of ways when he
died on the cross to bring us all back to God. He didn’t do it to merely make a
point but to draw our attention back to God. Jesus died on the cross so that
things won’t get in the way of our relationship with God. Jesus used his
passion for God to drive out those things that keep us where we are at and show
us a new and different way of doing things.
Like the disciples we now remember. We remember
the words of Jesus and his passionate outburst. We remember that he had zeal
for his Father’s house. We remember the sacrifice that he gave so that we might
be made free. We remember also that we are a passionate people created in the
image of God. So here’s the question: What’s your motivation? What are you
passionate about? How can you go back to work, to school, to your family, to
your friends and be consumed by the passion for a new way of doing things? May
we journey together and discover how to use our passions to turn people towards
God. May we remember that Jesus has freed us for a new way of doing things. And
may zeal for love, grace, and God ever consume us. Amen
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