Jesus was going (present tense) to the temple. He saw (present tense) what the people had done (past tense) and were doing (present tense) to the house of God. Jesus braided together a whip (present tense) and used it to chase the money changers from the entrance to the temple (present tense). He tipped over their tables (present tense) and let their animals and birds they were selling (present tense) go free. Then he told them that they had desecrated the temple (past, present and future tense). Quite the scenario. Jesus did and said a lot of things that exemplified the most peaceful person on earth. Well, he is God. The anger and aggression he showed on this day was the righteous anger of God towards the aggressors against his kingdom. Follow me here. Aggression is that movement against or towards another or an object. When most people think of aggression what comes to mind is fighting, assaulting, robbing, and other crimes against others. There is a difference between these acts and the righteous anger of God. His is okay and ours is not. Wishing our aggression was okay is just wishful thinking. Knowing that the righteous anger of God is there to punish those who transgress is fact and not wishful thinking. His aggression is there against the enemies he has. Wait, God has enemies? Yes he does. Sometimes those enemies include you and I. That's kind of harsh Steve! Yes, but not as harsh as the accounting you and I will need to go through before the throne of God. Every thought, word and deed will be reviewed. That's not to keep us feeling like Big Brother is watching or waiting to squash us. God knows the hearts of man and know that we are sinful people in need of a Savior. With the accounting Jesus, our advocate, will pronounce "forgiven" to every thought, word and deed that is sin.
Please understand that I do not condone aggression against anyone. I'll leave that to all the hockey players out there. Aggression doesn't just need to be physical. Aggression is also psychological, emotional and demeaning. Aggression in the worldly sense is control and dominance over someone else in one way or another. We all know what we think about "that" driver, those people, the political group we don't belong to and Uncle Marley. Those thoughts aren't beneficial and yet we participate in them. In the movie War Games (I'm dating myself) the end of the movie comes with this quote: "The only play to make is to not play at all." There you have it. The essence of our peaceful co-existence with our fellow man and with God. Don't be a game player. Game playing is an aggressive move to an issue that isn't really essential in our Christian lifestyle. I'm well acquainted with aggression in a positive sense. I spent 10 years in the US Army and another 8 years with a police force. I've also spent many years raising children! That should qualify me for this topic. Even my time as a pastor and missionary were marked with positive aggression. The Gospel is aggressive in it's quest to bring all men, women and children to know Jesus as Savior. That doesn't mean I punch someone in the nose when they say no to Jesus. It means I take a secondary approach for that person. I pray for them. Prayer as aggression? Yes, aggressively approaching the throne of God on behalf of another's soul is an aggressive action.
Hear me that I don't condone pastors/preachers/denominations who threaten and coerce people with their aggressive and intimidating tactics. Their demands that you do this or that to be right with God are a sin in themselves. Jesus does not demand us to do anything. You can choose heaven (his option) or you can choose hell (the devils option). You can choose to serve man (your option) or you can choose to serve God (your option). We can encounter the Gospel by reading the Bible and aggressively studying the Word of God applying these concepts to our lives aggressively in order to reach the lost. We can aggressively live our Christian life by feeding the poor and caring for the orphan and the widow. We can aggressively be the man, woman and child God wants us to be because He aggressively sought us while we were yet sinners. When we are complacent we are aggressively approaching our world from the enemies perspective. He would rather we be complacent (if we are believers) than to be aggressive with the proclamation of the Gospel of peace and salvation. We have taken it upon ourselves to use words to skirt the most important aggressive action we will ever take. We have the choice to accept Jesus or reject Jesus (there is no choice as important as this). What do you choose today?
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