HOLY WEEK - CONSUMED BY HOLY FIRE

This is “Holy Week” on the Christian calendar--the time between Palm Sunday when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, and Easter Sunday when He arose from the dead after being crucified. That first Holy Week was a very tumultuous time when passions burned white hot in both Jesus and His opponents. 

During that week, we see in Jesus the Biblical truth that God experiences the full range of emotions that humans feel. Throughout Scripture, He expresses love, compassion, sadness, and anger. Jesus, however, is never controlled by emotion. The white-hot emotions we see in Jesus during Holy Week express the seriousness of His mission and the serious consequences for those who reject Him. 

Jesus Weeps in Love at the Plight of Jerusalem

For example, as Jesus neared the city of Jerusalem and and it came into view from the Mount of Olives, He began to weep and lament with great sadness. His sadness was rooted in His love for this beloved city of David, the center of Judaism, where so many prophets had prophesied. His heart was broken because He  knew the city was going to reject Him--their long-awaited Messiah--and suffer dire consequences. As the tears flow freely, He laments, saying,

If you had known, even you, especially in this your day the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you and your children within you to the ground . . . because you did not know the time of your visitation (Luke 19:41-44)

Later in this same week, He laments again, crying out, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings but you were not willing. See! Your house is left to you desolate."

What Jesus prophesied took place around 40 years later when the Roman general, Titus, led an army to the city to put down a revolt that had arisen against Roman rule. The Romans built an embankment, as Jesus predicted, laid siege to the city and eventually broke through the walls. They razed and destroyed both the city and the temple. Tens of thousands were killed, enslaved, and executed.

No wonder Jesus wept! His sadness, however, was soon turned to anger as He entered the city and observed how the temple worship had been turned into a money-making racket.

Temple Worship Turned into a Money-Making Racket

The temple of Jesus’ day had become a center of unethical business practices and underhanded dealings. Because Jewish pilgrims who came to worship at the temple needed animals for sacrifices, local businessmen with $$$ in their eyes had set up shop selling the required lambs, goats, doves, etc. that the Law required. However, they were charging exorbitant prices for these sacrificial animals and getting rich off their sales.

Also, since purchases and offerings at the temple could not be made with foreign coins with pagan images, other entrepreneurs with similar monetary motives had set up shop and were ripping off foreign worshippers of the Diaspora by charging exorbitant exchange rates for the Hebrew shekel.

The religious leaders, who oversaw the temple worship, were getting their cut of this flow of tainted money. It was a repulsive and nauseating situation.

This made Jesus Angry

Jesus’ anger burned white hot as He observed this monetary racket, and He began to take action. The unreal picture of a “nice” Jesus who would never oppose or condemn anyone dissolves before our eyes in this stunning Gospel account.

With a whip in His hand and eyes blazing, Jesus entered the temple area and began turning over the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who sold sacrificial offerings. He drove them all out of the temple and shouted, It is written, “My house shall be called a house of prayer,” but you have made it a den of thieves (Matthew 21:13).

I am here reminded of a startling statement made by Rios Mont, former president of Guatemala, that should concern every Christian in America. Looking on as an outside observer, he warned,

The Romans made a good religion out of Christianity. The Germans made a good theology out of Christianity. Americans have made a good business out of Christianity.

Consumed by Holy Fire Brings Holy Awakenings

As the disciples observed this display of holy anger in Jesus, they were reminded of Psalm 69:9, which reads, Passion for your house has consumed me, and the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.

Sharon Daugherty, co-founder of Victory Christian Center in Tulsa, OK, wrote a powerful song about such holy passion and fire. The chorus says,

Consumed by the cry of Your Spirit,

Consumed by Your calling on me.

May my life forever be,

Consumed by Your fire in me.

After Jesus cleansed the temple of its unholy practices, something marvelous happened. Matthew 21:14 says, Then the blind and lame came to Him in the temple and He healed them. As healings and miracles began to occur, shouts of praise began breaking forth. Even small children were overcome with what they were seeing and began crying out, “Hosanna to the Son of David.”

I pray that during this Holy Week there will a remnant of God’s people who will be consumed anew with a burning, holy passion for His house, His Message, His plan and His purpose. Something marvelous will happen. We too will see miracles like we have never seen and spontaneous shouts of praise breaking forth from people everywhere.

This article was derived in part from Dr. Eddie Hyatt’s books, Discovering the Real Jesus and Why I Believe in God, available from Amazon and his website at www.eddiehyatt.com. He is the founder of the “1726 Project” whose purpose is to educate the American populace about the role of the First Great Awakening in the founding of America.