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For example, we sometimes find Him using shame to motivate: "Those who are ashamed of Me and of My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels" (Mark 8:38, NRSV).

And He sometimes intimidates with threats: "Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send His angels, and they will collect out of His kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matt. 13:40-42).

And once Jesus used physical force to make His point: "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" (John 2:14-15).

Not only would Jesus not win teacher of the year, He would probably be arrested for abuse.

We become more uncomfortable as we look at the details of the incident in the temple. The account begins innocently enough, with people going about the commonplace religious business of buying and selling animals to sacrifice in the temple.

To this very ordinary scene, Jesus reacts viscerally. He doesn't calm himself down with self-talk about patience and longsuffering love or remind Himself of the good intentions of these folks—after all, the whole place was designed to facilitate the worship of God. Instead anger rises up like bile—an anger, we should note, He harbors long enough to fashion a whip of cords.

Then suddenly, someone is shouting something about "prayer" and "my Father's house." His voice rages. The crack of the whip resounds again and again as it stings human skin and animal hide. Sheep scatter in all directions. Cattle bolt and run over people. Everyone panics. There are people running this way and that, sellers reaching for their coins as the whip lashes at their hands, parents desperately grabbing children, someone shouting, "Run. There's a demoniac about!"

The incident remained a vivid memory for the disciples for decades—all four Gospel writers include it in their accounts. If these men wanted to portray only the compassionate Jesus, it would have been rather easy to quietly drop the story. Even Luke and John, known for penning Gospels that portray Jesus in an especially loving light, refuse to leave it out.

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