According to John’s gospel, Jesus made an unmistakable first appearance in Jerusalem during the initial Passover of His ministry. Because “He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business”, He made a whip of cords and “drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. And He said to those who sold doves, ‘Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!’” (John 2:14-16).
Because of His intense, passionate, and jealous love for His heavenly Father, it was predicted of the Christ: “I have become a stranger to my brothers and an alien to my mother’s children; because zeal for Your house has eaten me up, and the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me” (Psalm 69:8-9). Like David, Jesus received reproaches and persecution from His enemies and His earthly family because of His intense zeal for God.
Like their Lord, Christians are to be “fervent in spirit” (Romans 12:11); therefore, “all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Timothy 3:12). You cannot fake real zeal.
