The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, "Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father's house a marketplace!"   

His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for your house will consume me." The Jews then said to him, "What sign can you show us for doing this?" Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." The Jews then said, "This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?" But he was speaking of the temple of his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

"What in the world does 'zeal' mean?", my 12-year-old daughter asked during one of our recent family devotions after dinner. Indeed, this is a word that I honestly have not used unless I was reading from the Bible. We discussed current definitions such as enthusiasm, devotion to a cause, tireless diligence and, of course, passion. Our family discussed those things or ideals that we are "zealous" about, and I began to wonder about what our society is zealous. During the holidays I would guess it is the new Wii Fit program (as was evident during shopping rushes), the Acai Berry Diet plan (how many hits on the Internet so far?), and, during our election, it was about a change in our current government. "Yes we can…" echoed throughout the campaign, and the energy level here in the Washington, D.C., area continues to have many of us hopeful for a new journey in the United States. 
 
As I began to prepare for this devotional opportunity, I read different commentaries and footnotes. We see a picture of Jesus that we are not accustomed to hearing a lot about. To put it mildly, Jesus was not happy with what was happening in the temple area. Really, he was very angry. The gentle teacher, kind healer, and patient role model was turning over tables, using a whip, and, I am guessing, raising his voice a notch or two. It then occurred to me that to have zeal really is a lot more than being passionate or enthusiastic about something. In this verse we see Jesus responding to an injustice that has touched his soul. This injustice was so great that he could not just sit by and allow the old way of being to continue. He stepped into a place that was very different for him to address an injustice that could not continue.
 
So my question for us all this Lenten season is this. What are you zealous about? Where do you see injustice? Where do you see the need for change? What have you been not talking about because people may not recognize you in such a conversation? What are you zealous about?