Session 3

Tuesday: Righteous Anger, Sacrificial Love

From Holy Week Devotional

As Jesus walks the Jerusalem streets during Passover, He sees a temple sight that makes Him angry. Instead of immediately lashing out, He sits and braids a whip. This image can clash with our “preferred” Jesus—one of gentleness, love, and peace. But this scene shows us that the God of peace and the God of justice are one and the same. As Jesus makes His whip of cords, He is showing us the perfect picture of righteous anger under control. 

What made Jesus so angry that He was moved into action? He knew the purpose of His Father’s house, and it was being exploited before His eyes. These sellers and money-changers weren’t there to provide a fair service to worshipers. Instead, they overcharged for money exchanges and sacrificial animals for their own gain. 

Mark 11:17 provides a stunning picture of Jesus’ words as He moved through the temple: “And he was teaching them and saying to them, ‘Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.’” Even in righteous anger, Jesus was teaching truth. Even more importantly, He was quoting Isaiah 56:7, a prophetic passage in which God declares that one day, all people will be welcome to worship Him, not just Israel. Even as Jesus clears the temple of greed, He’s making the ultimate declaration of authority. This is God’s house—and He is God. 

Jesus’ anger in the temple puts the God of justice on display. And just as He prophesies about Himself in John 2, in a few short days, He will become the ultimate sacrifice, putting on display the God of love. 

Journal: What does this picture of an angry Jesus stir up in you? Ask God to show you His full character, a God who is committed to justice and rich in love all at once.