Luke 19:45-48
Then he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling things there; and he said, “It is written,
‘My house shall be a house of prayer’;
but you have made it a den of robbers.”
Every day he was teaching in the temple. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people kept looking for a way to kill him; but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were spellbound by what they heard.
One of my earliest memories as a kid about Jesus was when my best friend and I spent one summer listening to the "Jesus Christ Superstar soundtrack" over and over and over again (rather like I've been doing with the soundtrack to "Hamilton" these days!)
I remember being especially transfixed by the angry Jesus, breaking into the chorus of the crowd singing the above: "My temple should be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves. Get up! Get out!" Ted Neely's impressive range rocks any sense of calm or ease as his vocals scream in furious, righteous anger.
That Jesus stayed with me.
Not because he was so angry - although I was strangely comfortable with the idea of a Jesus who gets angry.
But he stayed with me because of how deeply he broke into that moment. Jesus wants to break into our moments. Our moments of comfortable assimilation.
Our moments of selfish ambition or greed.
Our moments of resignation.
This Jesus that I heard was passionate and unwilling to let things lie. Unwilling for wrongs to be left un-righted.
That Jesus came to bring fire as he said in the gospel this past Sunday.
He came to bring passion and move us out of apathy.
There was no way to be apathetic listening to Ted Neely's Jesus scream those lyrics.
There's no way to be apathetic to a Jesus who wants to break into our world and light it on fire.
Light us on fire.
Move us to that same passion.
Has Jesus broken into your world?
Lord, wake me up! Help me to see the passion you call me to! Amen
‘My house shall be a house of prayer’;
but you have made it a den of robbers.”
but you have made it a den of robbers.”
One of my earliest memories as a kid about Jesus was when my best friend and I spent one summer listening to the "Jesus Christ Superstar soundtrack" over and over and over again (rather like I've been doing with the soundtrack to "Hamilton" these days!)
I remember being especially transfixed by the angry Jesus, breaking into the chorus of the crowd singing the above: "My temple should be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves. Get up! Get out!" Ted Neely's impressive range rocks any sense of calm or ease as his vocals scream in furious, righteous anger.
That Jesus stayed with me.
Not because he was so angry - although I was strangely comfortable with the idea of a Jesus who gets angry.
But he stayed with me because of how deeply he broke into that moment. Jesus wants to break into our moments. Our moments of comfortable assimilation.
Our moments of selfish ambition or greed.
Our moments of resignation.
This Jesus that I heard was passionate and unwilling to let things lie. Unwilling for wrongs to be left un-righted.
That Jesus came to bring fire as he said in the gospel this past Sunday.
He came to bring passion and move us out of apathy.
There was no way to be apathetic listening to Ted Neely's Jesus scream those lyrics.
There's no way to be apathetic to a Jesus who wants to break into our world and light it on fire.
Light us on fire.
Move us to that same passion.
Has Jesus broken into your world?
Lord, wake me up! Help me to see the passion you call me to! Amen
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