Overturning Tables
March 22, 2009
John 2:13-24
13The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus
went up to Jerusalem. 14In the temple he found people selling cattle,
sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. 15Making
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. 16He
told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of
here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” 17His
disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will
consume me.” 18The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you
show us for doing this?” 19Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and
in three days I will raise it up.” 20The
Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for
forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21But
he was speaking of the temple of his body. 22After
he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said
this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had
spoken.
23When he was in Jerusalem during the Passover
festival, many believed in his name because they saw the signs that he
was doing. 24But Jesus on his part would not entrust himself
to them, because he knew all people 25and
needed no one to testify about anyone; for he himself knew what was in
everyone.
John 2:13-24
In today’s Scripture
we come face to face with a Jesus, we don’t encounter all that
often. This is not Jesus
meek and mild. In fact, in
some ways it is hard to reconcile this angry violent Jesus with the
calm gentle Jesus teaching the crowds to turn the other cheek or the
Jesus in the garden telling Peter to put away his sword.
Rather than the gentle,
loving Jesus we talk about most often, this is the angry prophetic
Jesus. This is the Jesus
who said he came to bring not peace but a sword! This is a Jesus most of us
don’t want to face. Yet,
this is one of a few stories that all four gospel writers felt
important enough to share.
I have to admit that
while I’m a bit uncomfortable with this angry, whip handling Jesus,
I love how Jesus refuses to stay in any box that we use to define him!
In any case, whether we
like this story of not, all four gospel writers tell us that we have
to deal with it.
So what can we learn
from this brief and passionate moment in Jesus’ life?
Matthew, Mark and Luke
suggest this event occurred during the last week of Jesus’ life
immediately following his triumphant entry into Jerusalem on Palm
Sunday. John, however,
places this story at the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry. According to John, Jesus is
baptized; he attends a wedding in Cana where he turns water into wine,
and then a few days later, Jesus is in the temple creating havoc. In fact, according to John,
this is how Jesus’ bursts onto the stage of 1st century
Judaism.
And what a scene it was! Jesus walks into the temple
during Passover—the busiest time of the year. There in the huge courtyard, he
discovers merchants exchanging money and selling cattle, sheep and
doves. Jesus becomes mad. So mad he grabs some cords,
makes a whip, drives out the animals, overturns the moneychanger’s
tables, and says, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house
a marketplace!”
Now you’d think that
Jesus had wandered into something he didn’t expect. However, this was business as
usual at the temple. In
fact, the merchants were providing a necessary ministry by providing a
convenient place for people who had made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem
to purchase blemish-free animals and coins, which did not have the
idolatrous head of Caesar, stamped upon them. Therefore, no matter how
impromptu this event seems, Jesus appears to have known what he would
find in the courtyard and what he intended to do about it! Jesus fully intended to get our
attention by throwing everything into disarray!
Actually, isn’t that
what Jesus continues to do with us today? We are introduced to Jesus and
we invite him over. He
comes and knocks on the door and we let him into our living room,
which has been carefully prepared for his arrival. We vacuumed the carpet. Dusted the furniture. Straightened all the pictures. We like having him
there. He turns our
water into wine and we sit down with him to discuss love, faith and
life after death. He makes
us feel warm and cozy, loved and accepted.
Then Jesus does what no
good guest ever does, he starts peeking around. He looks under the cushions of
the couch to see what is hidden there.
He walks right up to your closets and opens them to see what is
inside. He opens your
cabinets, your medicine chest, your dresser drawers, even your
financial files. Your
secrets . . . all those things you chose to hide . . . are pulled out
and brought into the light and in the light of Jesus they look dirtier
than you ever dreamed. In
the light of Jesus, they are shown for what they really
are—sins—obstacles to your true worship of God! Moreover, the same Jesus
who overturned the tables in the temple will not hesitate to turn over
the tables in your life!
Most of us are pretty
quick to judge the Temple priests for their hypocrisy. They said they believed one
thing but they acted in just the opposite manner. They said they believed in a
God of justice and mercy and yet they allowed the merchants to make
money hand over fist at the expense of faithful worshippers (and they
even took a bit of the take themselves!). They said they believe
that they were representatives of a people chosen to be a light to the
world and yet they allowed the merchants to fill the one place
Gentiles were allowed with their booths and their noise so Gentiles
had a very hard time worshipping.
They said they were waiting for the Messiah and when the
Messiah walked into their midst they sought to crucify him. They truly did miss the
point and they truly deserved a few overturned tables and cattle
running wild.
But what about us? What does this passage say to
us?
A few years ago, there
was an article in Harper’s Magazine entitled, “The Christian
Paradox.” In the article, the author pointed out that while America
claims to be a Christian nation; our actions don’t back it up. 85% of Americans claim to be
Christian but only 75% pray daily and only 33% attend church
regularly. What is even
more disturbing while most want the 10 Commandments posted somewhere,
only 40% can name 4 of the commandments and a full 75% think that the
Bible says, “God helps those who help themselves.” (It’s Ben Franklin adapting a
saying from Aesop—and yes, I’ve had people double check me on this
one!) And let’s not even
go into the numbers who think Joan of Arc was Noah’s wife and other
such nonsense. Obviously,
while many of us say we believe in the Bible but we don’t actually
read it!
And if that doesn’t
disturb you, the overwhelming evidence is that most who claim to be
Christian don’t actually live their lives differently from everyone
else. Divorce rates among
Christians are about the same as the general population. Christian teenagers say they
believe in waiting until marriage to have sex, but they actually have
a slightly higher rate of sexual activity—starting a bit younger and
having slightly more partners.
Just last week, I read a
survey that indicated that Alabama is the 2nd most
religious state in the nation with 82% of us saying religion is an
important part of our daily lives. Yet we have one of the highest
poverty rates in the nation while taxing the working poor more than
most any other state.
There seems to be a
great disconnect between what we say we believe and how we actually
live! Truthfully, we are
not all that different from the scribes, Sadducees, priests and
Pharisees in Jesus’ time.
All of which led me to
ask the question: if Jesus
showed up here today, what would he overthrow?
Are there things we are
doing as a congregation that miss the mark—that misrepresent God to
the community around us?
And perhaps even more
discomforting--Are there things in my own life that need to be
overthrown? What
in my life does not reflect my stated belief in Christ? What stands between me and true
worship of God? What
stands between me and true love of the world God loves?
Yesterday, I gave my
practice talk for an Emmaus Walk I am working on Palm Sunday week. The
talk is obstacles to grace. And it seems appropriate for me to share
some of the obstacles to God’s grace mentioned in that talk because
these are tables that need to be overturned in our lives if we truly
want to worship God in Spirit and in truth.
I’d like to some
obstacles that stand between us and our relationship with God. Things in our lives which Jesus
would overturn.
First, there is
idolatry—putting ourselves or other things at the center of our
lives rather than God! Few of us would ever bow down to an idol, but
many of us are willing to order our lives around our pursuit of money
or career or family or even church rather than around the very one who
created us!
Second, there is
blasphemy or the inappropriate use of God’s name. But blasphemy is
more than just using profane words, blasphemy is using God’s name to
curse anyone or anything. As
a pastor, I see the results of blasphemy all the time as adults come
into my office and share their struggle to accept God’s love and
forgiveness because someone—usually a parent—told them that God
was going to punish them and that God was disappointed in them. That is blasphemy! But how often do we use
God to manipulate people into doing what we want.
I’m reminded of a day
when Chuck Van Etten, in full police uniform, was leaving the church.
He stopped to hold the door open for the father of one of our
Christian Academy students. The
boy was taking his time coming down the hall and I seem to recall that
he may have been acting up a bit and when he finally caught up with
his dad, his dad said, “If you don’t behave, I’ll have that
policeman arrest you.” I
remember Chuck commented on how much he hated it when people did that. And I wondered how much more
God hates it when we use him to manipulate and to abuse!
Third, resisting
God—refusing to obey the will of God.
And the more you resist God and the longer you resist God, the
harder and harder your heart becomes to God’s love and grace.
Fourth, ignoring
God—not making time for God in our lives. This is so easy because we
are so busy! We have our families, our jobs, our church, and our
activities and our lives are full of so much busyness and noise that
we don’t even have to work at ignoring God—sometimes we simply
can’t hear him! How many
of us can find time for our favorite TV show but have difficulty
finding time to pray or to study the Bible? How many would never miss a
practice or a class, but can’t find time for worship or for Bible
Study?
Fifth is disobedience
or intentionally breaking God’s rules.
But disobedience is more than breaking rules; disobedience is
also intentionally rejecting the relationship that God is offering us. And disobedience is also
failing to develop the talents and abilities God has given us. Basically, disobedience is
saying “NO!” to God and all God wishes to give us!
We’ve talked several
times recently about how God grants all of us gifts to be used for the
building up of the body of Christ.
But are you actually putting those gifts to work in God’s
ministry? Do you show up
for an hour or two on Sunday, but fail to share your time and gifts in
the ministry of the church? The
Bible clearly says we were created for good works. Are you using some of your
time, some of your talents, and some of your energy to make a
difference in the world for others? If you are not doing good works,
then you are being disobedient!
Sixth is unbelief
–refusing to believe and obey the truth. By unbelief, I don’t mean
those doubts that occur to all of us during those times when it is
hard to see God at work in our lives and in the world. By unbelief, I mean looking at
the evidence of God at work in the world and in our lives and refusing
to acknowledge that God is there!
Unbelief is being blessed with great things like family, good
jobs, safe neighborhoods, and abundant food and focusing on what you
don’t have! Unbelief is
recognizing your sin and refusing to turn from it.
Seventh is Ignorance—
ignorance of sin is no excuse! Sin
is sin whether we acknowledge it or not, so we need to spend time in
prayer and Bible study asking God to search our hearts and show us
where we are missing the mark. That
is also why we should be actively involved in a small group or
spiritual friendship where we can be honest about our struggles and be
held accountable for our actions!
Eighth is
pride—focusing attention on ourselves rather than giving proper
honor and glory to God.
And ninth is
unforgiveness—toward God and toward others. In his Sermon on the Mount,
Jesus taught that if we forgive others God will forgive us and if we
refuse to forgive, God would not forgive us. It isn’t that forgiveness is
some sort of deal we make with God.
“Hey God! I’ll
forgive them if you’ll forgive me.”
Rather our ability to give forgiveness affects our ability to
receive forgiveness! Think
about it . . . if your
heart is so imprisoned by hurt and anger that you are unable to
forgive someone for what they did to you or if you are unable to
forgive God for what God did or did not do for you, how can you accept
forgiveness from anyone else?!
Of course, part of our
problem is that we don’t truly understand what forgiveness really
means. Forgiveness does
not mean you forget what happened nor does it mean that you have to be
in relationship with the person who continues to abuse or hurt you. Rather forgiveness allows you
to release the bitterness and pain and allows you to heal. The truth is that refusing to
forgive, nursing old wounds, and reminding yourself over and over
again of the hurt that was done to you doesn’t hurt anyone but you. I’ve always maintained that
forgiveness is the greatest revenge against an unrepentant abuser
because what they want is control and forgiveness cuts the chains and
frees you!
Jesus in the temple was
anything but meek and mild. He
made a whip and he sent tables flying.
He disrupted everything! If
this was anyone other than Jesus wrecking such havoc, I would be
afraid. But this is the
same Jesus who would take our sins to the cross for us. This is the
same Jesus who came so that all things could be made new. He breaks into our lives and
sends the tables of sin flying, but in doing so he frees us to be who
we were truly created to be and to worship him with our whole lives
and not just with our lips.
In 1 Corinthians, Paul
reminds us that we are God’s temple. What in your life would Jesus
want to overthrow today? Do
you believe in him enough—do you trust him enough to let him do it?
Can your life become a holy temple—a fit dwelling for God?
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