John 2:13-17 “Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. When he had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. And he said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!” Then his disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house has eaten me up.”
The Gospel of John focuses on the feasts of the Jews and the events that happened around them in the lives of Jesus and His disciples. And there were only three Passovers that Jesus celebrated together with His disciples during His short three and a half years ministry.
This group of men was the beginning of the church that was to be birthed after He died, resurrected and ascended back to the Father in Heaven. The church that was to carry on His mission to proclaim, that, “The Kingdom of God is at hand.” Through His death, He made the way for all mankind to be reconciled to the Father in Heaven, for them to enter into His kingdom. Satan was to be cast out of his kingdom by the Church of Jesus Christ.
It is therefore significant that Jesus did what He did at the first Passover he celebrated with his disciples in Jerusalem. Barely had he become known amongst the people, when He offended the scribes and Pharisees of the day. Jesus was no politician. He did not scheme to do things at the opportune time. He was a man of deliberate action, not a man of intemperate reaction. What He did was also not in a rush of anger. He took the time to prepare a whip of cords and then cleansed the temple. This is not the picture of a man flushed with anger.
If you were to disciple a group of men for the ministry, what would be the first lesson you want them to learn?
You will not do wrong if you were to emulate Jesus at the first Passover with his disciples. Show them through your life what it is to truly serve God and His Church with zeal and passion, for “the zeal for Your house has eaten me up.”
