Make sense now? He made a whip. Before Jesus cleared out the temple—He made a whip. Handcrafted whip.
Have you ever made a whip out of cords—a whip strong enough to drive out people bent on making money through unrighteous means?
I have to be honest. I never have made a whip in my life. I don’t know how long it took to make whips in Jesus days, but it certainly wasn’t instantaneous.
There was time for reflection. Time to think. Time to process. Time to make a plan. Time to pray.
Suddenly the scene I had in my head of Jesus seeing the activity in the temple and going wild with anger was not the same.
I can picture Jesus sitting on the steps of the temple, talking to His Father. (The Scripture says He did nothing except what the Father told Him.)
Maybe the dialogue went something like this:
God, how do you want me to respond to this?
They are in the temple, money-changing. I know how You feel about that. It’s Your house. It’s supposed to be a House of Prayer.
What should I do? How serious should I take this?
(Twisting the leather a little tighter.)
You know, God, they are going to be writing about this for a very long time. This scene may even appear in the movies someday.
Help me know how to respond.
