Matthew 21:12-13

“Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’”

Can you imagine? People were making money off of the folks who were coming to the temple to make sacrifices and worship the Lord. I sure am glad that doesn’t happen in our day (wink, wink).

Rather than focusing on the actual “business dealings” that were taking place, I’d like to address the fact that Jesus grabbed a whip and physically drove these folks out of the temple courts. People had seen His compassion. They had seen Him reach out to women, children, and lepers. They had seen him heal the sick and return sight to the blind. The Jews were use to Him boldly confronting the religious leaders of the day, but choosing to get physically forceful was a side of Jesus that was rarely seen.

Just about every movie that depicts the life of Jesus portrays Him as a rather wimpy looking fellow. The long, flowing hair…the penetrating blue eyes…the calm demeanor…the soft voice. Truth be told, Jesus was anything but a wimp. He had done serious manual labor His whole life so he was probably kind of “ripped”. He was from a small, nowhere town and most likely looked a bit ragged. He was like those guys you see whom, although they are not particularly large, look like they are rather strong.

What’s your point, Steve?

None of us should ever forget that Jesus is a King and not to be taken lightly. We may sing touchy-feely songs about Him being our “best friend” and slap “co-pilot” stickers on our cars, but this is the Man who holds the keys to death and Hades. He will Judge. He will condemn. He will punish. Those folks in the temple saw a Jesus that every human throughout history will face one day: A holy Judge that will not tolerate a single offense against His Kingdom. I hope you come to Him as your loving Savior before you must face Him as your Judge.