March 15, 2009 John 2:13-25 “Is Your Anger Righteous?”

13 Mar March 15, 2009 John 2:13-25 “Is Your Anger Righteous?”

March 15, 2009    John 2:13-25     “Is Your Anger Righteous?”

I hope that you will notice this week as we look at this passage in the book of John, that this is much easier reading and understanding than the instructions that we had last week from Paul in Romans.  This is why I would always recommend that if you are a new Christian and want to read the Bible, then you should start with the book of John.  John is easy reading and is the perfect place to start for the beginner.  At the same time, it is also a great book for the more mature Christian because it is very complex at the same time.  It has been the source of much controversy over the centuries but it remains as one of the best books of the Bible.  Today we are going to take a look at some issues that Jesus had with the Temple and see if we might have the same issues in our own lives.

I would like to begin this morning by asking the question, “What really gets your dander up or what gets you worked up into anger?”  We have just finished an election and I find that people really get angry at Democrats while others are angry at Republicans.  This shouldn’t be.  I find a lot of people very angry at our government for allowing the economy to get into such bad shape.  Still others get all worked up if their vehicle gets a little dirty or their home gets a little messy.  It seems that it sometimes doesn’t take too much to get us going and you can include me in this also.  We sometimes have a hard time being nice to other people.

Emily Post was a writer who wrote about etiquette and manners.  In a world where we seem to have forgotten all manners, these might be wise words for us.  She said, “Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others.”  This is something that is not taught to our young so much anymore.  And it shows in their anger and defiance.

This morning we see that Jesus is going to the Temple during Passover.  During Passover, Jerusalem was a very crowded place.  Some experts say that the population during this time grew to over a million people.  Another thing to notice here is that John puts this incident at the beginning of his book while the other gospel writers have it during Holy Week.  Most believe that it happened during Holy Week and John puts it here to show everyone just how displeased God was with the people.  He was using a contrast here as the scene before this was the beautiful wedding in Cana.  One thing that we have to remember when we are reading John is that he was telling the story so that people will come to know Jesus.  He never, ever set out to tell the history of Jesus.  That is why sometimes his chronological order is a little off.  Everything happened that he talks about, it is just that it may not have happened in the order he put it.

In the first part of the passage we have Jesus coming to the Temple to find that there are people selling animals and exchanging money inside the Temple.  At this time there would be thousands of animal sacrifices each day.  It would be very hard to bring your own animal for this unless you lived close by.  So people would come and buy their animal for their sacrifice.  And if you did bring your own animal, it had to be judged to be without blemish.  Those people who judged animals were in league with the sellers so they would reject all home grown stock.  Then they would have to buy theirs.  There was corruption then and now.

Also the people coming to Passover came from far and near.  In those days there was no real standard for money, even though Roman money was used for taxes.  So there would be different kinds of money coming in and the only money that was accepted was the Roman money.  Therefore the money had to be changed by money changers.  And of course, they would tack on a fee for doing this so they could get rich.

So this is what the people were doing in the Temple.  These things were necessary to do but in the far past, they were done outside the Temple and maybe a little more honestly.  Now they were being done inside.  This would not be the right thing to do then or now.

I would like to draw a little attention to ourselves here as a society.  Last summer I had the chance to go and visit one of the largest UMC in the country in Kansas City.  You wouldn’t believe this place.  It was a campus and not just a church.  There were separate buildings for different activities and parking lots all over the place.  We went to a service there on Saturday nite so it wasn’t too crowded.  But from what they tell me, it is filled several times on Sunday.  One thing that I saw that seemed a little disturbing was that they had a huge book store right outside of their sanctuary.  So the question becomes, “Is this right or is this wrong?”  I am sure they were making a profit on the items sold and I am also just as sure that they would justify it by saying that the profits were put back into the church.  But I couldn’t help but think, “Is this really any different than our Scripture this morning?”

So we have this kind of thing going on in our churches around the country.  But we also have another breed of cat that sends out all kinds of ads to pastors and churches to buy this or buy that.  You wouldn’t believe all the different money and time saving devices that they try to sell us every week.  If I were to believe all that they tell me, I wouldn’t even have to come to church on Sunday because the place would be too full.  And you also wouldn’t believe the price tags that they have on the stuff.  They are trying to make a killing on us.

I’m sure that you can think of ways that money has crept into our sanctuaries across the country and replaced Jesus.  If we are to look closely at our television evangelists, I think that we would find that most of them live a pretty lavish life.  And it all comes from them asking for $10 and keeping five and using five for ministry.  I really think that when we give to a church, we should expect that the money will be used for that church and its ministries and not used to line the staff’s pockets.  Maybe it is time that we drove the moneychangers out of our churches today.

So Jesus went ahead and drove these people and animals from the Temple.  Jesus was angry.  He was angry at what they had done to the church.  His was a righteous anger, the kind that comes from when someone insults our God and the church.  Under normal circumstances, we are not to be angry at each other.  And if Jesus were not in the Temple, I think that He would have reacted quite differently.  But He is in God’s house, and He will not tolerate cheating, lying and just plain sinning in His church.

And of course, the disciples see this and I’m sure that they think that He is totally out of character until they remember the passage in Psalm 69 where it is said that this would happen.  I think it is great how all of this stuff was mapped out centuries before by our God who loves us beyond measurement.

Now the Jews demand on what authority does Jesus have to do something like this in the Temple.  And Jesus doesn’t answer but replies, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”  Once again we have people talking on different levels.  The Jews are talking about the physical temple and Jesus is talking about his body that will be resurrected after his crucifixion.

Then Jesus goes on to do many more miracles during the week and many came to believe in Him.  But He was not fooled by them because He could see into their hearts and He knew that many would betray Him.  He also knew that many only believed in the miracles that He was doing and didn’t have a clue as to who He really was or why He was even there.

Please remember the anger that Jesus had here didn’t result in any harm or injury.  I would imagine that the Jews of the Temple were furious about this but Jesus talked with them in a very civil manner, just moments after clearing the area.  He had a righteous anger that came and went and it did not harm anyone.  He didn’t talk down to anyone nor did he do any of the things that we normally associate with our anger.  He only cleansed the church.  In other words He even gave out his anger in love.

This is very hard for us to do.  Jesus Christ is showing us how to be angry in this passage.  We are allowed to keep our anger as long as it is doesn’t hurt anyone.  The other nite I asked the youth group how they dealt with anger.  They had a variety of good ways that they diffuse their anger.  One said that she would write a letter to the person she was angry with and then not send it.  Another said the she would hit a pillow.  Still another said she would talk to herself when she was alone.  These are all good ways to deal with our anger and frustration.

I then told them to really think about it.  They came up with taking our anger to Jesus.  I told them that when I take my anger to Him, I always, always come away feeling much calmer.  He has never failed me in my anger.  This might be a lesson to all of us.

Most of us have had to deal with anger situations at some point in our lives.  I know of people and I am one of them, that when people get angry around me, want to shrivel up and go away.  I don’t like anger.  It gives me the shivers.  I would guess that is the case for many people.  But then again on the other hand, there are times when I get angry.  So even though I hate to be around anger, I still do it sometimes myself.

Or some of us may have a problem with anger that flares up every once in a while or even on a daily basis.  This kind of anger is very destructive and usually leads people to lives that are rather lonely.  After all if most of us hate to be around people when they are angry, then if you are angry all the time, no one will be there.  No one will want to be around you.  It is these types of anger that we need to take to Jesus and He will help to get rid of them.  We only need to ask.  There isn’t a person here this morning that Jesus doesn’t love.  And when He loves you, then He will help you.

We also want to look at the anger that is ok to have.  It is ok to be angry because some one is playing bingo or gambling in the church.  There are churches in the area that do this.  It is also ok to be angry with some of the guest speakers that travel around the country, claiming to be spreading the gospel message but are in fact charging fees that are way too large.  In other words they are making their fortune on our backs.  We can be upset when we hear about national evangelists who are taking their parishioners tithes and living high off the hog.  We can be angry about such things and we can voice our disapproval.  But beware just how you do it.  We can only do it in a way that is respectful of what Jesus has taught us.  We need to learn to tell people the truth in such a way that we can also extend to them grace at the same time.  This is the fine line that we need to find and then walk it.  And I praise the Lord that we have Jesus who is always there to help us along this stormy road.

There is a story from Pat Cook about a man who went into his local Christian bookstore.  He was browsing when he happened across a cap with the letters WWJD on it.  He asked the clerk what this meant.  The clerk jumped at the opportunity to make a sale and said rather enthusiastically that it meant ‘What would Jesus do?’  The man thought for a minute and then he said, “Well I’m pretty sure that I know what He wouldn’t do.  He wouldn’t pay $17.95 for this cap.”

We need to be aware of the scoundrels around us.  We need to point out the truth like this man with the cap did.  But we have to be careful that we do not hurt anyone in the process.  This is what Jesus did in the temple as he cleansed it.  There is a whole other sermon here on cleansing and maybe we will do that next time we come to this passage.  But today, we will learn how to control our anger and that sometimes anger is ok.

If there was anyone in the world who had a right to be angry, it was Jesus.  Here was a totally innocent man who was totally rejected by the ones He made.  He was put on trial and convicted by the ones he loved so much.  He was beaten and spit upon.  He was hauled out and hung on a cross where He died.  And He did this without any anger.

Jesus Christ is our role model on how to control anger and how to live our lives in a way that will be most gratifying to us and Him.  He shows us that the only way to true happiness is through love, not hate.  And if you look around you will see the love he has for you where ever you look.  He loves you so much that He did all of this for you.  Let’s try to love Him back the same way.  Thank you Jesus for all this unconditional love.  Let’s pray.