"The next time someone asks you 'What Would Jesus Do?' remember that flipping over tables and chasing people with a whip is within the realm of possibilities."

It's funny because it shatters our image of Jesus. We like the gentle Jesus holding lambs. We like the compassionate Jesus healing lepers. But this Jesus—the one with a whip cord, overturning furniture, shouting in the temple courts—this Jesus makes us uncomfortable.

But here's what we miss if we're not careful. We turn Jesus into an action hero. We celebrate the anger without understanding the reason for the anger. We cheer the table-flipping without noticing what happens after the tables are flipped. And it's actually what happens AFTER this scene that is, to me, the most beautiful part of the story.

So we are walking with Jesus through Holy Week. Last week we looked at Sunday, when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey as the humble King. This morning we will be looking at Monday, the day Jesus went into the temple, which was the very heart of the Jewish faith, the dwelling place of God's name. And what he sees breaks his heart.

Let me read from two Gospels today, weaving together Mark's account with Matthew's, because together they tell us the full story of what Jesus came to do.