i got a new walk
oh / got a little lesson
The crowd industriously bustled this way and that. But while the business of the day consumed everyone else, Jesus threw himself upon the wheels and cogs of the entire apparatus! Fashioning something like a whip, Jesus drove out all the livestock! With a thundering voice, he ordered those selling doves for sacrifices to get out of the temple. And with holy zeal, unlike anything the disciples had yet seen, Jesus flipped over the tables and poured out all the coins of those exchanging pagan money for religiously sanctioned tender.
Before the ordeal was over, Jesus had brought the entire proceedings of the day to a grinding halt. Watching the scene play out, the disciples couldn’t help but remember a stanza from the beloved 69th Psalm, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
It’s an alluring thought. Isn’t it? To be consumed by something. Our great artists, athletes, and inventors often speak of a burning desire that drove them to achieve their incredible feats. There’s something romantic about the thought of giving yourself over entirely to one pursuit or another.
I have to ask, though, have you ever actually been consumed by something? It’s not a way you’d want to live! It’d be like experiencing the exhilaration and desperation of new love nonstop! It’s nice in little bits, but you can’t live like that all the time!
The closest I’ve ever come to anything like this is is my need to be well-liked and in control. While this impulse may drive me to keep organized and productive. More often than not, it just keeps me awake at night worrying about people I might have offended and tasks I might have left undone. And I bet you have similar compulsions in your life, too. Don’t you?
This nearly goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway; on this side of Eden, our ambition is an ambiguous thing. It can drive you to wonderful achievements. And it can drive you straight into the gutter.
Zeal for your house will consume me. One of the movies that portray this best is “Brittany Runs a Marathon.” This film came out in 2019 and is based on the true story of the writer and director’s roommate from his early 20’s. In the movie, Brittany is struggling to enter adulthood. Her personal and physical health are suffering from poor decision-making.
After coming to dead end after dead end, Brittany takes up running to try to inject a little positive momentum into her life. And as any of you who’ve taken up a good habit know, it works! Brittany’s health and outlook improve almost immediately.
Desiring more of this, Brittany increases her efforts. She becomes more zealous in her exercise regiment. She becomes so driven, in fact, that she alienates those closest to her. So single-minded is Brittany that she ignores the costs, considering them collateral damage to her progress.
Brittany fails to see that her ambition is driving her straight back into the pit she’s been trying to claw her way out of! And it’s not until Brittany finds herself on the wrong side of her zeal that she realizes the costs. Like the fruit in Eden, the object of Brittany’s appetite turns on her and threatens to consume Brittany herself.
Zeal for your house will consume me. As this Psalm understands so well, behind every achievement is a string of losses. And at a certain point, no matter the object of your zeal, your own very self will become the fodder for your pursuit. At some point, zeal will consume you.
Jesus, though, in today’s Scripture, evinces another way! Jesus doesn’t happen to be consumed by his zeal. No, he initiates it! He instigates it! Jesus willingly institutes the banquet at which he’s consumed himself! Jesus, by his own zeal, makes himself comestible!
That’s what’s so striking about this scene. Isn’t it? It’s not that Jesus displays a little holy anger. No, it’s that you can tell, already, at this early stage in his ministry, that it won’t end well for Jesus. Zeal for your house will consume me.
That’s the difference between Jesus and us. Isn’t it? It’s not that Jesus doesn’t know what will happen to him. Jesus isn’t consumed because he doesn’t realize the cost. No, Jesus sets the meal in which he’s consumed in motion himself! Jesus throws himself into the cavernous maw of a world gone mad with insatiable hunger of his own accord! By his own doing! Of his own volition!
That’s why Jesus has the authority to bring the entire sacrificial system to a halt! He voluntarily becomes the sacrifice! Thusly, Jesus makes himself the ultimate and the final sacrifice! In Jesus, the price has been paid once and for all! By instituting himself as the conclusive sacrifice, Jesus brings them all to an end! Including yours.
One way or another, we all know what it’s like to be consumed by something. And it’s not a pleasant experience either. Is it? We’re all Brittany at her lowest. We’re all Adam and Eve at their most pitiful. Every last one of us has seen parts of our lives get chewed up by the pursuit of some fruit we thought we were the ones consuming.
Today, though, Jesus storms in and terminate this parasitic feast! He throws himself upon the gears of all our futile sacrifices. Jesus flips those tables we’ve been trying to build our lives on. And he pours out all the coins we’ve been trading in to try and prove our worth, too! He thunders that those empty offerings have no place in here, his Father’s house! Indeed, zeal for God’s house has consumed Jesus!
And in that holy zeal you are fed and nourished, too! Jesus won’t let you go hungry! He refuses to leave you bereft! In the place of all those empty sacrifices, Jesus offers himself! His sacrifice! His body and his blood! Jesus holds nothing back from you today!
And in this offering all the love and acceptance you’ve been chasing are finally given! And really given, too! This isn’t a legal exchange Jesus has instituted! No, there’s nothing you have to offer Jesus before he offers you everything he’s won by his perfect sacrifice! Jesus gives it all to you for free! Of his own accord! By the sheer holy zeal of his love for you that consumes him!
And in his offering, you are freed from all those other bankrupt sacrificial systems out there! You don’t owe them anything! They never had anything to offer you, and now Jesus goes ahead and brings them all to an end by his holy, all-consuming love!
And in this love, your life can truly begin! A life freed from contingent acceptance! A life freed from constantly having to prove your worth! A life freed to be the creature God made you to be! As we like to quote around here, God doesn’t love you because you’re beautiful. No, God loves you, and that makes you beautiful!
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