Flipping Tables
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Everything was normal that day. People from all over the region entering in. So many sounds…so many smells…so many people…but this was normal. The ground was covered in a thick layer of stones but had it been exposed earth, there would have been clear paths carved into the dirt made by the same souls every year for this was the week of Passover and this was the normal thing to do. The annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem was not only normal but expected among the Jewish people and so from near and far they gathered their families and supplies and made the journey.
While I didn’t walk the grounds of the temple 2000 years ago with a microphone and interview those passing by, I would venture to say that some came in the gates of Jerusalem eager for the sights, sounds and smells to awaken the nostalgia of tradition. I would also venture to say there were some entering the gates with less sentimental thinking and more so with the readiness to continue on with what society deemed normal practice.
Whether fueled by nostalgia or normalcy, the people came and knew what to expect while visiting the temple and in their understanding…nothing was amiss with the practice.
But as the proof of longstanding tradition wore down the grooves of the cobblestones beneath the feet of these differing pilgrims, the reverence that once placed those stones had begun to wane overtime.
And then He walked in. No doubt those cobblestones were ready to cry out in worship when they felt His righteous weight upon them. But these stones remained silent…for it was not the time for them to sing…it was time for Him to speak.
“Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.”
Mark 11:17
As Jesus spoke these words, He flipped tables and drove out the merchants and money changers who had been profiting from selling overpriced, sacrificial animals bearing pre-approved temple-worthy labels on them. These tables had been resting on the grounds of the temple…a place most sacred. But overtime people did as people do and they settled for new normals determined by the masses surrounding them. Where people once brought in their own animals for sacrifice in an act of reverence to God, now they simply exchanged reverence for convenience upon holy ground.
The people were shocked, the merchants were humiliated, and the religious leaders were angered as they watched Jesus make a scene. It seemed to them He was overreacting…for what is the big deal?? All they were doing was purchasing animals for sacrifice…right? They had traveled many miles to present sacrifices to God and were willing to pay whatever for those animals to be sacrificed. In their minds they were doing nothing wrong…they were simply doing what had been done for years. And why did He feel the need to flip the tables? Couldn’t He have just prayed for God to forgive them?
To those watching Jesus, they would claim He was clearly overreacting.
Would you agree with them?
Before you answer…let’s hit pause on the story…move our gaze away from the flipped tables lying on the temple floor…and set our eyes on the tables we find ourselves visiting. We may not journey to the cobblestones of Jerusalem’s temple, but we do gather around tables, neatly decorated by this world we live in, and expertly placed in the areas of our lives that teeter between reverence and convenience.
These tables appear harmless and normal by society’s standards, just like those at the temple, and the network of people we do life with will impact the sort of tables we allow to remain in our lives. But if we are in fact reaching for Jesus…then we need to ask Him…would He flip the tables we visit? To be clear, I am not referring to tables we literally sit at and dine…no I am referring to the tables the eye does not see.
As followers of Jesus, when we accept Him into our hearts, then the Holy Spirit takes up residence within us and our bodies become God’s temple according to 1 Corinthians 3:16. We no longer need to travel far away to visit one specific temple, for we ourselves have become living, breathing temples for our Lord. But just like the temple in Jerusalem, our hearts, minds and souls can become cluttered with tables decorated in worldly ways and so poluting the reverence that is meant to permeate throughout our temple being.
People were shocked when Jesus flipped tables…and people are still shocked when it happens today so don’t let that discourage you when you allow Him to clean house in your soul and people wonder what is going on. If you are in fact surrendering to His will and His ways…you are right where you are supposed to be. And when we do the work of allowing Him to cleanse our hearts, pruning away what need not be there — then we are blessed with a pure heart. And according to Jesus in Matthew 5:8
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
At the end of this reach I have attached a link to a video clip from the Chosen series depicting what it may have looked like when Jesus cleansed the temple. I hope that you will watch this and imagine how our Savior would respond walking into the temple of your soul. Would He pull out a bull whip and begin flipping furniture or would He look around and see a heart full of reverence for the Father and smile.
Whether you find many tables or few…remember just as easily as tables are flipped they can be set up again. So we must be diligent to keep our hearts, minds and souls on the Father.
King David understood this all too well which is why he said in Psalm 139
Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
As we journey closer and closer to Resurrection Sunday, I pray you will ask Jesus to do what David asked…
…search me…
…know me…
…test me…
…lead me…
And then allow Him to flip the tables within your soul that have been allowed occupancy for far too long. Remember…people thought Jesus overreacted so don’t push Him away when He points to a table you didn’t think was needing to be flipped. Trust your Savior. He desires a pure heart not just in you but FOR you.
