Jesus Manifests His Love for Us through Zeal for God
What comes to mind when you hear the word zealous? Do you imagine positive or negative things? Is the word zealous a characteristic you wish described yourself?
Zealous is not an everyday word; we don’t go around calling people zealous on a regular basis. Now a days we use words like passionate, enthusiastic, dedicated, obsessed, fanatical and crazy.
Zeal in the Bible
Zeal is a Biblical word; you find it throughout scripture.
- In Numbers 25:11 God is talking to Moses and He says, “Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, has turned my anger away from the Israelites; for he was as zealous as I am for my honor among them, so that in my zeal I did not put an end to them.” (NIV)
- 2 Kings 19:31 “For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. ‘The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.’” (NIV)
- Psalm 69:9 “for zeal for your house consumes me, and the insults of those who insult you fall on me.” (NIV)
- Isaiah 42:13 “The Lord will march out like a champion, like a warrior he will stir up his zeal; with a shout he will raise the battle cry and will triumph over his enemies.” (NIV)
- Romans 12:11 “Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.” (NIV)
- 2 Corinthians 7:11 “For consider how much diligence this very thing – this grieving as God wills – has produced in you: what a desire to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what deep longing, what zeal, what justice! In every way you showed yourselves to be pure in this matter.” (CSB)
Jesus Demonstrates Zeal
In John 2, verses13-25, we read the story of the first time Jesus cleared the Temple. Jesus travels to Jerusalem because it is time for the Jewish Passover. He visits the Temple and finds people selling animals needed for sacrifices. In addition, merchants were exchanging money so people had the necessary coins to pay their Temple tax. I see the logic in providing such services so that each person could follow the Mosaic Law appropriately.
Jesus struggled with the setup because He found the retailers in the court of the Gentiles. They had taken over the space set aside for people to come meet with God, the place for worship. Furthermore, the merchants weren’t offering their services for free, or even at a discount. Like many circumstances, what could have begun at one time with the best of intentions, was now lazy convenience for some, and lining the pockets of others.
A Fierce Jesus
It was while reading this story that I realized Jesus has the characteristic of zealous. We normally describe Jesus as humble and/or gentle. Some people even think of Jesus as being wimpy rather than aggressive.
In John 2:15 we discover Jesus makes a whip out of cords and then drives all the merchants and their animals out of the Temple. He also flips the tables and scatters the money of the men exchanging coins. Jesus was anything but feeble. He was wildly passionate as He preserved the sacredness of God’s house.
At the beginning of February, I told you we would look at characteristics of Jesus that display His love for us. Jesus is certainly zealous, but how does His zeal express His love for us?
God’s Love for Us
Let me first remind you that God desperately wants a relationship with us because He loves us. God purposefully created man to be in intimate relationship with Himself. When Adam and Eve chose disobedience, they severed their relationship with God; He is so holy He can’t reside with sin. God then began moving and working to restore the broken relationship with man.
Jesus tells us in the Gospels that He has come from the Father. God the Father sent Jesus, and Jesus does what the Father says. God intentionally sent Jesus to be the perfect sacrifice for our sins so that we could be washed clean, declared holy, and be granted entrance into His presence.
Jesus’ Zeal and Jesus’ Love for Us
Jesus is zealous for God and to honor God. He eagerly desires what God desires. He is earnestly devoted to whatever God will ask of Him. He is fervently diligent to serve God, and He is ardently dedicated to glorifying God.
When I thought of God’s love for us, combined with Jesus’ zeal for God, I came to this conclusion: Jesus’ zeal for God manifests in zeal for us to see, know and experience God. Since Jesus desires what God desires, they are on the same page when it comes to loving us. Because Jesus is devoted to whatever God asks of Him, He willingly sacrificed Himself on the cross, dying a gruesome death, so that our relationship with God could be restored.
Jesus expressed His love for all of us when He cleared the Temple. Christ was protecting God’s Temple, because it was where God dwelled. He was honoring God’s holiness and recovering the space where man could meet with God and know God.
Jesus’ Zeal and Worship
I am fascinated with the fact that Jesus passionately cleared the area where the Gentiles worshiped, even though “salvation is from the Jews.” (John 4:22) Certainly Jesus honored His Father, however He also revealed His passion to provide space for even people like you and me to come worship.
Jesus demonstrates His devotion to us by protecting the idea of worship. Worship is not to be a burden, nor is it to be something that is manufactured. When Jesus cleared the Temple, He revealed His passion for worship as more than doing all the right steps, in just the right way, at just the right time.
Zeal, not Anger
When I’ve read this story before, I assumed Jesus must have been angry to toss tables about. Scripture doesn’t describe Jesus as being angry, instead the word zeal is used. Regardless of which dictionary I read, anger is not found in the definition of zeal.
Moreover, as I reread the story, I realized Jesus first discovered the misuse of the Temple, then He makes a whip out of cords and finally He clears the Temple. I don’t know if Jesus always carried cords with Him, or if He had to search to find them. I didn’t find an additional scripture that tells us how often Jesus wove or braided cords together to make a whip, if ever. It’s a tidbit of information that tells me there was time involved, as well as intention. Jesus wasn’t out of control; he was fervently determined.
Jesus was willing to draw a hard line in the sand. He was unafraid to declare a particular action wrong. As I mentioned before, it’s possible the services provided in the court of the Gentiles began with the best of intentions. Someone came up with the idea thinking it would be helpful. Unfortunately, merchants selling animals and changing money became the focus in a space designed for worship.
Clearing Away the Unnecessary
I know this happens in my life. I begin a behavioral pattern because it helps me achieve a well-intentioned goal. Over time, I lose sight of the goal when the behavior becomes convenient and normal. When that occurs, I get locked in those behaviors and they become a measurement of whether I am good or bad.
Let me give you an example. I have tried several diets in my life, just like many of you. At one point, I tried Keto which eliminates most carbs. Undoubtedly, I was eating way too many carbs before I tried Keto, but afterwards, I became too concerned with eating items not allowed on a strict Keto diet. I was no longer seeking to maintain a healthy weight, I was caught in the no-carb trap. For instance, when I would snack on popcorn, an inner voice would whisper I was being unhealthy and therefore I was bad.
Jesus, because He is zealous for God, and zealous for us to know and experience God, is willing to clear away what is unnecessary in our lives. Just as Jesus cleared the Temple, He moves to help us eliminate what hinders us from worshiping. He is not angry with us. Instead, He is ardently committed to enabling and empowering us to know the Father with great intimacy.
Responding to Christ’s Zeal
Deep in my soul, I am grateful Jesus is willing to be wild-eyed crazy for me and you. He is zealous for God and that manifests in a zeal for us to see and experience God in all His glory. His love comes shining forth through His passionate determination to shepherd us toward pure worship.
We are to be Jesus’ disciples, and since Jesus is zealous, should we not be zealous as well? Jesus manifests His love through His passion for the Father. Our love is also manifested by the degree of our zeal. I find it comforting to know Christ is zealous for God and zealous for us to know God. And I believe His zeal demands a worshipful response. We all must consider: just as Jesus cleared the Temple, what is He asking us to clear away so we also may zealously worship and honor God?
Protest Photo by Unseen Histories on Unsplash
