Would Jesus Flip Tables in Your Church?
We might not like the answer.
At the beginning (John 2:13-22) and the near the end (Matthew 21:12-13; Mark 11:15-17) of Jesus’ ministry, He flipped the moneychangers tables in the temple area.
The church - Christians - are called the temple of God today (1 Corinthians 3:16-17; 6:19-20).
So what do we learn from when Jesus flipped tables at the temple? Well - I think we learn that if Jesus came to our church today and considered our lives, there would be some “tables” He would be willing to overturn.
The Table of Cruelty.
In John 2, Jesus overturned the tables of those selling animals and exchanging money, drove out the animals, and gave a stern rebuke.
And He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!” Then His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up.” (John 2:16-17)
The passage the disciples remembered was Psalm 69:9. In that psalm, the narrator is suffering and relies on God for deliverance. He also points out what his enemies are doing to him and calls upon God to see their evil deeds and to act justly.
What exactly were they doing?
For they persecute the ones You have struck, And talk of the grief of those You have wounded. (Psalm 69:26)
They were adding to the misery of those suffering and were eager to share the news of the ones God had (supposedly) made to suffer. There was no compassion, no mercy for the one who was suffering. It’s as if they stood back and watched the psalmist's suffering with glee.
Interestingly enough - this is what happened when Jesus was crucified. They even referred back to what Jesus said in John 2:18-19 in response to why He flipped the tables.
And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, “You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” Likewise the chief priests also, mocking with the scribes and elders, said, “He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him. He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said, “I am the Son of God.’ ” (Matthew 27:39-43)
If Jesus came to your church today, would He overturn the table of no compassion - no mercy - for those who are suffering? Would He call us out for merely talking - perhaps even gossiping - about those going through a challenging time in their life?
The Lord calls His church to be like Him, a people of compassion who tend to the needs of the suffering and neglected.
Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their adversity and to keep oneself unstained by the world. (James 1:27)
The Table of Prejudice.
Moving ahead to the final days of the Lord’s earthly ministry, we find Him flipping tables in the temple grounds again (Matthew 21:12-13; Mark 11:15-17).
This time, Jesus quoted from two different Old Testament passages. The first came from Isaiah.
Also the sons of the foreigner Who join themselves to the LORD, to serve Him, And to love the name of the LORD, to be His servants— Everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, And holds fast My covenant—Even them I will bring to My holy mountain, And make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices Will be accepted on My altar; For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations. (Isaiah 56:6-7)
Jesus said His house was supposed to be a house of prayer - not just for the Jews, but for people from all nations.
But the Jews’ prejudice toward foreigners blinded them to God’s plan that was meant to include all people - regardless of nation or race.
Now it shall come to pass in the latter days That the mountain of the LORD’S house Shall be established on the top of the mountains, And shall be exalted above the hills; And all nations shall flow to it. Many people shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. (Isaiah 2:2-3)
By operating their “business” on the temple grounds, the Jews made it harder for people to come to God - especially the Gentiles. They showed no concern for the spiritual needs of the foreigner, and Jesus condemned them for it.
If Jesus came to our churches today, would He call out our prejudices against other nations or races of people? We sing “The Gospel is for All,” - but do we “practice what we sing?”
The Table of Stubbornness.
Jesus told the Jewish leaders they had turned the Father’s house into a “den of thieves,” - which was a quote from Jeremiah 7:11.
Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of thieves in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” says the LORD.
In Jeremiah 7, God’s people stubbornly refused to repent of their sin (Jeremiah 7:13). They trusted in themselves, they trusted in the fact that they had the temple - and God warned them to turn from their evil ways.
The Jewish leaders stubbornly opposed Jesus in His earthly ministry - and shortly before He was crucified, He warned them that their stubborn attitude would lead to their destruction.
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’ ” (Matthew 23:37-39)
If Jesus came to our churches, would He flip over the tables of our complacency and comfort in our sins? The Jewish people were mistaken in their thinking that just because they were “God’s chosen people,” they could live any way they pleased. Are we making the same mistake?
Jesus loves us and came to save us from our sins (John 3:16-17).
But beware lest we trample the blood which He sacrificed under our feet.
Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The LORD will judge His people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Hebrews 10:28-31)
