Jesus made a whip and drove with zeal the moneychangers from His father’s house. His actions were deliberate. It appears that sometimes strong action is necessary. It is possible that he felt anger at this inappropriate behavior in His father’s house.

John 2: 13 – 16 “And the Jews’ Passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money and overthrew the tables; And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; and make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.”

My daughter told me I should try adding my own experience to these entries so, here goes.

I grew up thinking being angry was bad. I knew some angry people and they frightened me. I did not want to do this to others so, I generally didn’t do anger. Eventually, I did depression instead. I took all the anger I could not express because it was wrong and turned it on my own self. Part of my recovery from depression was this scripture. Jesus’ actions look like anger to me. However, He does not appear to be out of control with His anger. He calmly took action, (made the scourge) and then put things right (sent the people packing). There are times in life when things that are happening are wrong. Feeling anger, letting it motivate me to move toward an appropriate correction seems to be the example Jesus set.