The Passionate Christ
Scripture Reading: John 2:1-25
Meditation
A wedding is a grand affair: festive, full of joy, short on worries, and long on well wishes. It’s a community event that could last up to a week. In a close-knit village like Cana, everyone is invited. It’s a time to celebrate and Jesus is right in the center of it all, dancing, laughing, and carrying on. This isn’t a time to deliver a sermon; it’s a time to dance with the bride.
He discerns the moment and the moment Jesus discerns is “joy”. And so he dances. He dances into the night. He dances until his mother pulls him aside. She scurries him away from the celebration and hurries him around to the back of the house. She points to the jars in front of him, shrugs her shoulders and says,
“They have no more wine.”
No more wine.
To end the celebration before it’s over is not only a social embarrassment, it’s a serious communal offense. This isn’t any way for a couple to start their life together. The wine may be gone, but Jesus isn’t ready for the celebration to be over. Not now, not like this.
Jesus orders the servants to fill six stone jars with water. They do. He tells them to take some of the water and bring it to the master of the banquet.
“They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, ‘Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.’ ”
Jesus honors the bridegroom, he keeps the wedding reception going, and he saves the best till last. The Passionate Christ has a zeal for joy and is consumed with celebration.
Later, Jesus visits another house: his Father’s house in Jerusalem. This house is different than the one in Cana. It doesn’t welcome guests to a wedding; rather, it welcomes them to worship.
Wedding and worship. Both are a celebration, both are supposed to be full of joy. Both have a groom and a bride. Both are to be filled with dancing. (Psalm 149:3)
Yet when Jesus enters his Father’s house, he finds it desecrated. Commercialism consumes the courtyard. A passion for profit replaces the singing of psalms of praise. The front door of his Father’s house was left open and a den of thieves had taken up residence.
“In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the moneychangers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, ‘Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!’
His disciples remembered that it is written: ‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’ ”
His emotions are intense. His actions are premeditated. As his righteous indignation builds, passion and purpose intertwine. He fashions a whip out of cords. He snaps it into the air to silence the crowd. He flails the whip back and forth, driving the sheep and cattle out of the temple area. As he approaches the tables of the moneychangers, he takes the butt of the whip and scatters the neatly stacked piles of coins and then—for good measure—he overturns their tables.
With whip still in hand, he moves towards those who sell the doves. He doesn’t coo or speak in soft murmurs. Today he’s a hawk, not a dove. He points to the doves and then lashes out at their dealers,
“Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!”
Zeal for his Father’s house consumes him.
The Passionate Christ is a God of intense emotion. He experiences the full range of human feelings. He knows extreme joy and fierce anger.
He doesn’t just attend a wedding; he’s the life of it. He celebrates, revels, and laughs. When he enters his Father’s house, zeal consumes him. He cleanses, rebukes, and lashes out.
Passion drives him.
Compassion guides him.
When he acts, he acts with the full force of emotion. When this Jesus loves, he just doesn’t love; he falls in love.
Madly. Deeply.
Passionately.
Prayer
Father,
When your Son became a man, he took upon himself all that is humanity.
During long nights, his eyes became bloodshot, he cried and longed for a peaceful night’s sleep. After long days, his muscles cramped and his body ached. In between the nights and the days, his stomach growled, his throat burned, and his feet hurt.
He was born, he lived, and he died.
Physically, he was like us. But he also had emotions—intense emotions. He knew great joy and experienced great sorrow. He was driven forward by passion and slowed down by compassion. He felt the rage of anger and the rest that comes with peace. Emotionally, he was like us.
The good news is that the Passionate Christ not only acts on our behalf but, when he acts, it is with the force of emotion.
During this day, help me believe that this Passionate Christ has intense emotions for me. Show me the intensity of his love, the zeal of his grace, and the fire of his purpose for my life. And when I stray, let me hear him weeping, let me see his pain, and let me know the grief behind his all-consuming longing.
It’s in the Passionate Christ’s name that I pray. Amen.
Reflection
How does the reality that the Passionate Christ has intense emotions change the way you view God?
What does it mean that the Passionate Christ acts out of the full force of love, or jealousy, or anger?
What type of emotion do you need the Passionate Christ to express in your life?
All Scripture references in the meditation are marked by italics and are taken from the Gospel reading for the day (John 2:1-25). Those verses quoted outside of the chosen reading for the day are noted in parenthesis. All Scripture quoted on this site is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.