At the start of Holy Week, reflect that you are now God’s Temple, His dwelling place (1Cor 6:19). Through his work on the cross, his father’s house is you.

“We must retain a conception of his anger if we are not to maim our conception of His love” Alexander MacLaren

God’s love is sweet, but not sentimental. Rather, it is the hard won, self-sacrificial love of a rescuer. At the start of Holy Week we see Jesus acting a heady mix of anger and love against the traders in the Temple courts.

The flip side of love is anger. Not a flying off the handle, pointless rage. Rather, a methodical yet fervent desire to rid something precious of something that’s corrupting it. Love hates that which corrupts connection and intimacy. In short, God hates sin and loves sinners.

When the disciples see Jesus acting in such a manner they are drawn back to their knowledge of the Bible - to Psalm 69.” The authors of the NT viewed this “cry of a godly sufferer as foreshadowing the sufferings of Christ”. And they recall that ‘zeal’ - not incandescent rage - for the presence of God with man will consume Him.

The Temple was the meeting place of God and man, and its purpose had been corrupted.

At the start of Holy Week, reflect that you are now God’s Temple, His dwelling place (1Cor 6:19). Through his work on the cross, his father’s house is you. He is zealous for his father’s house even today; He has a passionate desire to complete His work in you, to dwell in ever increasing intimacy with you. He will come against all that hinders this desire. This Holy Week, are you ready for the zealous God to come and cleanse your inner life?