The Tension Mounts

The journey is over. Jesus has reached Jerusalem and enters the temple. Picture the scene. Crowds have gathered for the Passover. Business is brisk at the temple. This is the peak time of year, like December at the mall.

But Jesus has not come as a tourist. He has come to where people gathered when they wanted to meet God. A house of prayer, and not only for the Jews but for all people. I wonder if Jesus' followers on that day included the outcasts that he welcomed—people who were "unclean" because of sickness or mutilation, "sinners" like the tax collectors he spent time with, foreigners like the people in Psalm 87 whose names God registered in Zion? Needy people, not religious people. These people had come to find God. It was for them that the Temple was intended, not Jewish shopkeepers, out to make a profit.

Is this what Jesus was teaching? No wonder the august company of chief priests, teachers of the law and the leaders among the people wanted to do away with him.

The problem was not just that the ordinary people loved him and hung on his words. It was worse than that. The real problem was that he spoke with authority, not like the scribes (Matthew 7:29). Where did he get this authority from? It was certainly undermining their own authority.

The Jewish Who's Who realized that they had lost control—not to a riotous mob but to someone who was teaching peace. He had to go.

Respond in Prayer

Lord Jesus, as I follow you to the cross, teach me how to think as you think, to love people as you love them, unconditionally, even as I thank you for your great love for me.

Annabel Robinson

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version® (NIV®).