Don't Look Back in Anger

For some people this passage presents a very great problem-the problem is that here we have Jesus, the Lamb of God loosing His temper and ridding the temple of everything and everyone with great insult and aggressive action-imagine someone coming into Crumlin Road [or any other church] and shouting and bawling and clearing the place with shouts of “Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market?” Hardly a picture of the gentle Jesus meek and mild that we are presented with at Christmas time! Is this not more in tune with the God of the Old Testament than of the new Testament? How can Jesus be this angry? Anger is not a stranger to any of us- surely some people appear to be very laid back and slow to anger but whether or not this is more apparent than real is another issue but all of us are driven to anger at times in our lives. Northern Ireland in general and Belfast in particular is made up of very angry people who can be very aggressive- one day I was walking with the dogs in the park and a man about my age looked at me and said something to the effect- “What are you looking at? Come over here and I’ll rip your head off.” The sinner in me said something to the effect- “just try it sunshine!” He walked away-fortunately!! We all deal with anger in different ways- here are a couple of examples Take the Rev Frank-30 years ordained in the Christian ministry- Very few realised it but he was a very angry man- for many years he had repressed it to the congregation but when he was at home it was very different. Al that the congregation saw was a man apparently passionate for the souls of his people and so he would go red in the face at times and he would thump the pulpit. During committee meetings he was often on the verge of loosing it but always managed to keep control. At home he was under no such restraint- he was able to let vent to all the pressure and tension which was within him. He frequently shouted, pounded the furniture, proclaimed the weaknesses of the church leaders and sometimes he swore about it all. He never harmed wife or children physically but they had all been stung by his verbal abuse and his outbursts had convinced at least two of his children that they wanted nothing to do with church or God. Fortunately this bothered him and he felt like a very big hypocrite and on the verge of resigning when someone was able to help him- another minister who was able to let him see that he had been dealing wrongly with the frustrations and tensions of the past 30 years- the end of the story is a happy one. Not so for William a quiet 17 year old, a sports star who never complained about his parents and never got into any trouble at school.- until one fateful night. While most of the neighbours were asleep in bed he quietly entered the house and brutally murdered his parents and brother in what police called a frenzied attack with bullets and multiple stab wounds. While this is an extreme example it shows clearly what can happen when anger is not dealt with- was this the kind of anger displayed in that Temple by Jesus? Can there be any place for the angry young man or old man for that matter? I’m sure we have all experienced the anger of other people- I am going to look at the anger of God I more detail this evening but this morning I want us to think about what was going on in this display of anger by Jesus. What did He see when he went into the temple for Passover? HE SAW CORRUPTION This was the greatest of all the Jewish feasts- so very often God reminds them of the Exodus when He saved them from all their troubles in Egypt- to them Egypt and the Pharaoh was the great anti god power- what Revelation would later describe as the anti-Christ. In this feast they remembered the time when God reached His hand out to them and redeemed them from slavery and misery- their life in Egypt was a very real hell. In the feast they recalled the act of the angel of god passing over the houses with the blood sprinkled on the door posts and the lintels. This was the blood of the perfect animals whose death brought salvation for all the people. Every male over 12 years of age who lived within 15 miles was commanded to attend. Not only Jews in Palestine but all those Jews who had been scattered all over the world and who wanted to attend at least on Passover in Jerusalem. Some commentators say that there could have been as many ¼ million in Jerusalem. Ever Jew over 19 had to pay a Temple tax- one half shekel- that was about 6p and a working man earned less than 4p. So a man had to pay almost 2 days wages. At this time all currency was legal in Palestine- Roman, Greek, Egyptian and Tyre and Sidon. But the tax had to be paid in either Galilaean Shekels or the Shekels of the temple- Shekels were holy but the others, being foreign, were unholy. As you can imagine the pilgrims had all kinds of currency and needed their money changed- so the money changers had a perfectly legitimate reason to be in the outer courts of the Temple- no problem there. The problem arose because of the charges they made for changing the money- they were charging-they were charging 1p for every ½ shekel or 6 p. It has been calculated that they were making the equivalent of £9,000. When the temple was raided in 54BC they discovered £2.5 million and there was still more Then there was the sellers of the animals-once again the people were being ripped off- the Torah said that a sacrificial animal had to be perfect and without blemish. every animal had to be inspected and that cost 1p [1/4 of a days wages] outside the temple a pair of doves cost 4p [days wages] inside it cost as much as 75p [over 18 days wages] . They were virtually being blackmailed into buying their sacrificial animals in the temple- is it a wonder that Jesus was angry? But this was not an anger which was about personal injury or insult and nor was it about taking his anger out on another person- it was RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION- that is the anger we feel when an elderly person is robbed in their home, or when a child is molested- it would be a strange God who did not get angry when the poor and the marginalised are abused, would it not, and Jesus is God. HE SAW RELIGIOUS LEADERS WHO HAD LOST THE PLOT All the Jews seemed to be concerned about was their authority which was being challenged and it was –Jesus was never worried about challenging authority or power- earlier this week the Presbyterian committee on Government and Society, fronted by the Moderator, Dr Ken Newel challenged the power of both extremes within our society and Dr Newell sat I the very presence of Alex Maskey and told him on the TV that this community does not trust Sein Fein. These religious leaders wanted evidence of His authority- his authority came from God in heaven and they were unable to accept the evidence- later vindicated and copper fastened by the Resurrection and that would come back to the disciples who were watching intently. Have we lost the plot also? Have we forgotten that the wrath of God is not something we can run away from. HE SAW A WORSHIP SYSTEM WHICH NEEDED REPLACING ALTOGETHER When God gave the sacrificial system He did so to help men and as a way of pointing to the person and work of the Messiah- it was never intended to be a permanent solution to sin-if He had then why did the priests repeatedly perform sacrifice on behalf of the people? The book of Hebrews points this out very clearly and in 10:12 says “But when this priest [the son of God, Jesus Christ] had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God” In Christ there is no further sacrifice needed and that is why He says with His dying breath on the cross- “IT IS FINISHED” Anger is a very real emotion in the heart of men and women and if we see it in Jesus we should expect to see it in our selves BUT while ours is fallen and often selfish and ego- centred His was RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION. Tonight we take a look at the wrath of God but for this morning let me finish with this question “Have you felt this righteous indignation recently? Have you done anything about it? This is the indignation we should be expressing when the poor of the world are ripped off be it in Africa, Asia or Europe. This is the kind of indignation roused in the hearts and minds of those who are behind the MAKEPOVERTHISTORY campaign- this is no theoretical issue but if we are part of the body of Christ then we should be indignant when injustice comes into our vision.