A Whip in His Hand

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Compassion is not having a bleeding heart full of sympathy for others -- compassion is such a depth of love that one is willing to do whatever it takes to bring awareness to a situation.

Let me remind you of a situation that happened in Jesus' life. He took a whip and entered the great temple of Jerusalem. A whip in the hand of Jesus? Yes, Jesus can handle a whip, no problems; the whip cannot overpower him. He remains alert, his consciousness is such.

The great temple of Jerusalem had become a place of robbers. A subtle robbery was going on. There were money changers inside the temple, and they were exploiting the whole country.

Jesus entered their temple alone and upturned their boards -- the boards of the money changers -- threw their money and created such turmoil that the moneychangers escaped outside the temple. They were many and Jesus was alone, but he was in such a fury, in such a fire!

Now, how do we explain this? Jesus is the dove, a man of peace. How could he take a whip in his hands? How could he be so angry, so enraged, that he upturned the boards of the moneychangers and threw the moneychangers out of the temple? And his energy must have been in a storm. They could not face him. The priests and the business people and the moneychangers all escaped, shouting, "This man has gone mad!"

Jesus is absolutely innocent! He is not violent. He is not destructive. It is his compassion. It is his love. The whip in his hands is the whip in the hands of love.