Jesus Meek and Mean?

Have you read a familiar Scripture passage, only to discover something you never saw before?

It happened to me the other day. I was reading John 2:12-25 and the story of Jesus clearing out the Temple. After Jesus sees the merchants and the money exchangers and before he runs them all out, John tells us one action of Jesus. This is what I never noticed.

"So he made a whip out of cords..." (2:15)

Jesus didn't grab an existing whip. He didn't buy one. He didn't commission one. He even didn't snap his fingers and have one appear.

He made it himself.

I wonder, where did he get the materials? What was he thinking about when he was making it? How long did it take him to finish?

Before I noticed this, I assumed that Jesus simply shooed everyone off.

We often picture Jesus is meek and mild, almost a sissy-like. This isn't the Jesus I grew up hearing.

Jesus, meek and mean.