Word of Life Church Podcast

On Jesus’ last Tuesday, he speaks to us with unfiltered clarity. The temple and it’s systems which perpetuate injustice has walked the way which leads to destruction. As the end of Jesus’ life draws near, he speaks to us about the things of utmost importance. How might we avoid the same fate as this temple and the city which surrounds it? We must let Jesus lead us in the way of neighborly love.

On Monday of the final week before his death Jesus interrupted the operations of the Temple by driving out the sacrificial animals with a whip and flipping over the tables of the money changers. We are accustomed to calling this the "cleansing of the Temple." But is that what it really was? Or is there a better to way to interpret Jesus' provocative action in the Temple?

There's always some dude on a horse. The most famous dude on a horse is Alexander the Great (356–323 BC). Even his horse is famous—the warhorse Bucephalus (355–326 BC). At the same time when Alexander and Bucephalus were conquering the world, the Hebrew prophet Zechariah gave a different vision of a different kind of king. Zechariah prophesied that Israel’s king would not be like Alexander the Great, riding a warhorse and conquering by killing. Instead, Zechariah prophesied that Messiah would come with gentleness and humility, riding a lowly donkey and teaching peace to the nations.

Jesus came as a fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy where the wolf and lamb come to eat together. The mission of Jesus is revolutionary because Jesus wants to save both the oppressed and the oppressor, both the abused and the abuser, both the offended and the offender, both the lambs and the wolves. All people are invited into his saving embrace. We can experience a kind of forgiveness that leads to reconciliation if lambs tell the wolves how their actions make them feel and if wolves ask, "Will you forgive me?"

Cristine Eckhardt's Story of Forgiveness

What Jesus calls us to in the Kingdom of God is not a religiously modified version of the self-preservation and self-promotion value systems that govern the empires of men. What Jesus calls us to is far more radical than that. Jesus calls us to the demanding ethic of the turned cheek and the second mile; he challenges us with the absurd idea of loving our enemies, overcoming evil with good, and triumphing over tragedy through forgiveness. The only reason we even entertain the possibility of living such a life is that we believe Jesus is the Son of God.

Todd Norris's story of forgiveness

We must dare to believe in Jesus’ radical ideas of enemy-love and endless-forgiveness, because without this kind of love and this kind of forgiveness, there is no future. The future you look for, the future you long for, the future that would free you from the unending repetition of the painful past, lies in your capacity to move beyond the past through the liberating practice of faith-based forgiveness. It is forgiveness that creates the future you want to live in.

Candy Draper's Story of Forgiveness

When we choose to forgive those who harm us, instead of perpetuating the cycle of revenge, we become a living imitation of Jesus Christ. As we do this we help flood a world hell-bent on paybacks with a forgiveness that washes away sin. The world is full of a lust for vengeance that fuels our conflicts—from petty quarrels to deadly wars. Christians are called to opt out of the game of getting even.