Zeal - Pastor's Pen for 27th July 2025

Blurred Cityscape

The word Zeal comes up in the reading from John 2 this week, traced back to Psalm 69; "Zeal for your house will consume me." The disciples observed Jesus' righteous anger upon realising that the temple was being used as a kind of marketplace with money-changers and merchants of livestock keeping the sacrificial system of temple worship going.

Zeal is a strong word. Zēlos in the Greek with a rich palette of meanings such as; "ardent concern, enthusiasm, an attitude or emotion of deep, earnest concern; jealousy, envy, rage." The Hebrew in Psalm 69 is a little more narrow; "Envy, jealous anger." Jesus is clearly confronted by what he sees and motivated by the holiness within himself and Abba Father with whom he is in deep communion.

No doubt it would be exhausting to be in a jealous, indignant rage the whole time. Clearly Jesus was not. The sudden up-welling of zeal in his character is balanced with deep compassion, wisdom, fortitude, solitude and insight, among other things. We can learn from his example.

Apostle Paul helps us understand this in 1 Cor 13: 1-3; "If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing."

Zeal without love and gentleness is a dangerous thing. Fundamentalists, activists, inquisitors and fascists of every kind teach us this through history and sadly, in the present day. William Penn, English Quaker and a founder of Pennsylvania as a colony of religious liberty, wrote this; "Zeal dropped in charity is good; without it, good for nothing; for it devours all it comes near."

Jesus is whom we follow, a perfect balance of zeal for God and compassion for human beings. May we know the fullness of His life in our own faith journey and may our ardent concern be matched by our love, our zeal seasoned with charity.