The last Passover lamb, Jesus the Lamb of God, entered Jerusalem as all the pilgrims were choosing and buying their lamb for the Passover celebration a few days later.
”They came to Jerusalem, and He went into the temple complex and began to throw out those buying and selling in the temple. He overturned the money changers’ tables and the chairs of those selling doves, and would not permit anyone to carry goods through the temple complex. Then He began to teach them: “Is it not written, My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations? But you have made it a den of thieves! ” Then the chief priests and the scribes heard it and started looking for a way to destroy Him. For they were afraid of Him, because the whole crowd was astonished by His teaching.“
Mark 11:15-18 HCSB
The Temple was the social center of Jerusalem especially during Passover week. The streets were crowded. The vendors yelling. Imagine making your way through the city. The people knew Jesus had arrived. All were trying to reach out to Him. The word claustrophobic comes to mind. Now Jesus climbs the Temple steps. He just wanted to pray and spend time in His Father’s House to worship with His friends, but what He saw disturbed Him to His core.
Passion – strong and barely controllable emotion. It comes from the Latin word “pati” to suffer. It is intense emotion and Jesus was jealous for His Father’s House. These money changers and these vendors had set up in the court of Gentiles. They wanted to worship the One True God but the business of trade would not allow them to enter. God’s Temple had become a den of thieves. The merchants were charging exorbitant prices for these lambs because the law of supply and demand allowed it. You could only buy the sacrificial animals with Temple coin, so the money changers saw their opportunity to gauge the scales and make more on the exchange rate. Jesus saw the true worshipers were the ones being hurt.
”The Jewish Passover was near, so Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple complex He found people selling oxen, sheep, and doves, and He also found the money changers sitting there. After making a whip out of cords, He drove everyone out of the temple complex with their sheep and oxen. He also poured out the money changers’ coins and overturned the tables. He told those who were selling doves, “Get these things out of here! Stop turning My Father’s house into a marketplace! ” And His disciples remembered that it is written: Zeal for Your house will consume Me.“
John 2:13-17 HCSB
Zeal – great energy in pursuit of a cause. Jesus was consumed with cleansing His Father’s House. He was making a way for all to worship. “Get these things out of here. Stop making my Father’s House into a marketplace!”
These commercial ventures were overseen by the religious leaders. It was a very prosperous and lucrative endeavor. Jesus hit them in the purse strings.
The drama unfolds. The Pharisees and Sadducees set ALL their efforts to destroy Jesus. They think they are the ones in charge but the script they were following had been written before the world began. God is sovereign. He is in control. He is orchestrating events, passions, and crowd control. That’s why it is called Passion Week.
An “angry and just” Jesus it’s kinda hard to imagine.