Day 3 - John 2

The second chapter of John demonstrates something very profound about Jesus which in turn tells us something about God too. The first half of the chapter describes Jesus' first miracle, the turning of water into wine at the behest of Jesus' mother. The second part focuses on Jesus' arrival in the temple and His eventual destruction of the money changers and swindlers within it's gates.

These two stories are very unique and different. On one hand if shows us a Jesus who likes to have fun and has relationships with those in His community. The wedding was about to come to a screeching halt because the wine had run out. Yet Jesus' mother knew that Jesus could fix the problem and encourages Him to take action and keep this newly wed couple from embarrassment. The second story however demonstrates Jesus' anger as He raged against those that would desecrate the temple built for His Father. It says that Jesus fashioned together a whip from some cords and began flipping tables, throwing money around, herding animals out of the temple, and generally destroying the economic well being of the temple business. So what's up with Jesus?

Is He bipolar?

What's interesting is that Christians (myself included) and even those outside of the church usually prefer one aspect of Jesus over the other. There are some in the church that only seem to see Jesus as the fun guy at a party. The guy who loves everyone and is easily the funnest person to be around at the party. There are others that only see the wrath, justice and holiness of God. They see Jesus as the warrior, ready to attack and root out the sin in people's lives and warning people of their coming judgement in hell.

First let me say that if you believe one of these things you're right that's exactly who Jesus is, however Jesus is both. Not only does he love unconditionally and want everyone included in the celebration, He also cannot stand for sin and actions of unholiness.

It's only when we see Jesus as both the lover and the warrior that we see a clearer picture of Him.