Again & Again: We are Shown the Way

Scripture: John 2:13-22

Quote: Will we join Jesus in overturning the tables that keep people out, that press people down, that turn people away? Or will we, like the disciples, question Jesus methods?

https://youtu.be/AMX69QkZO9M

 

The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. Making 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.

He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!”

His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?”

Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?”

But he was speaking of the temple of his body. After 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.

– John 2:13-22

We might call this story a “miracle of movement.”

Picture the scene…

The temple courtyard is set up like a street fair with dozens – maybe hundreds – of vendors. Like the cotton festival…except that these vendors are not selling funnel cakes or Hot Dogs or handcrafted trinkets. They are selling large animals. They are feeding, grooming, and cleaning up those animals.

The noise and smell would be overwhelming. To be fair, the sacrificial system as mandated by Torah is a messy, bloody, smelly business, but still the presence of these vendors in the temple adds an extra layer to that which included overcrowding and a commerce. There would be the danger that a crazed animal might break loose and desecrate the holiest parts of the temple. There would be the opportunity for theft, for price gouging, for all manner of unholy things to happen in this sacred space.

In steps Jesus with a whip trying to clear the space. Trying to move dozens – maybe hundreds – of animals in a particular direction at the same time amidst all the people.  A challenge to say the least. Probably about like “herding cats.” Sure those animals are used to being herded, but not in conditions like these.

So all the artwork that you have seen of Jesus turning over a single table in the midst of a spacious room with a few people in it…yeah those don’t quite capture the scene!

Pattern:

God calls people of faith to correct a wrong (to right a wrong)

• In the story, Jesus comes in the temple with a whip herding animals away and turning over the tables

People are shocked, can’t believe it, question it, don’t like the answers, and push back against what God is doing

• In the story, people are shocked, they question Jesus (perhaps he is a prophet!)
• But they do not like his answer. The real problem is they fail to understand his answer.
• They hear Jesus explanation – his sign- and they don’t believe it, they think it is heretical, wrong, sinful.
• They push back against Jesus – the other gospels say this event leads ultimately to Jesus death – so they push back enough to kill Jesus

Finally, down the road, people realize that what God was doing was right all along

• The story specifically states that after Jesus dies and is raised the disciples remember this experience and Jesus words, and they then believe. That is, they finally realize what God was trying to do all along.

This is the way!

So the question is:

What table is Jesus flipping today?

I did not ask what table you want to flip. Not which one you want to see flipped. Not which one you think Jesus will flip.

You see, the table that Jesus flips is unexpected. It is shocking. We don’t expect it. It seems wrong. It seems inappropriate. We think how dare you. This goes against what we have “always done.”

People have to make their sacrifice, people said. The pilgrims needed to be able to buy their calf or dove. You can’t expect them to take animals this far from home. This is a needed service at the temple in order to follow God’s word – and God’s word says to make the sacrifice!

Think about how we do this today…

• We can’t worship that way.
• We can’t change our building….our Sanctuary.
• We have to worship inside because that’s where we meet Jesus.
• Those people can’t be Christians because they live this way or that way.
• We can’t let this person or that person be a minister.
• You can’t pray like that.
• You can’t sing that way, play those instruments in this place.
• You can’t do this or that during communion.
• You must dress this way, you can’t dress that way.

You get my point?

And think about all the things that have been changing….just over the past year. For example, Jesus didn’t found the church in a building. Neither did his disciples. But people started going in building. For hundreds and hundreds of years people kept going in buildings. And here over the past year, Jesu has flipped the table on us!

Did Jesus start the pandemic? No. Some people made some bad decisions that caused a new virus to infect some people and it spread like crazy across the globe. Jesus didn’t do that. People did that. But God, through Jesus, has been creating new things out of chaos, been making light from darkness since the beginning. And I believe that is exactly what God has done through this pandemic.

Jesus used this pandemic to flip our tables. Push us out of our building. Push us to get online. Push us to get creative and innovative, to do things like parades to our shut ins, increase our mission work in the community, start worshipping outside in the beauty of the earth God gave us.

This is the way!

I wonder how else God might be flipping our tables…?

• Some early Christians said you need to follow Paul. Others said you needed to follow Apollos. And Jesus flipped that table.
• Some said you couldn’t eat certain unclean meats. And Jesus flipped that table.
• Some said you couldn’t be Christian if you were gentile. Some said if you were Gentile you needed to be circumcised. And Jesus flipped that table.
• Some Christians said you have to confess all your sins to a priest and pay a fee if you wanted forgiveness. And Jesus flipped that table.
• Some Christians once said you couldn’t have instruments in a church like an organ. And Jesus flipped that table.
• Some people over a hundred years ago said the Bible justified the enslavement of people with dark skin. And Jesus flipped the table.
• Some people said women can’t and should not preach. And Jesus flipped the table.
• Some people said you weren’t a Christian and couldn’t be a pastor if you loved someone of the same sex. And Jesus flipped the table.
• Some people say you can’t be a Christian if you are a democrat. Other say you can’t if you are a republican. And Jesus is flips those tables.

You see the pattern?

Jesus has shown us the way. It is a way that frees us. A way that brings liberation to people who are cut off, pushed outside, told they are wrong and evil and sinful. And Jesus turns a table to open the door to the people who we push out.

That is part of what some scholars claim was happening with the temple. They say that all the vendors in the temple courtyard filled it up. And the courtyard was the one place that Gentiles could come to in the temple. They were not allowed to go any further in the temple. So the salespeople were keeping the gentiles from having a space to be, to worship, to pray, in the temple. And Jesus kicking them out was his way of opening the door to the gentiles.

Other scholars say it was the salespeople’s unfair and unjust prices and sales tactics. And so kicking them out opened the doors to the poor.

And other scholars have other theories. But all of them lead to Jesus opening the door of faith to people who had been wronged, tossed out and set aside.

This is the way!

I imagine there is a table – maybe one of the ones I have mentioned – that you have a hard time with. That you don’t agree with. That you think is wrong, sinful or unbelievable. Maybe you have heard folks explain it, and you can’t agree, don’t agree, won’t agree, with their response.

Well, your not alone. The Pharisee and Sadducees and Priests felt the same way about Jesus.

Still, the tables were flipped and Jesus was right all along. And eventually many of those very folks realized they were wrong, not Jesus. Even the disciples were part of this group. So you are in good company. But make no mistake – Jesu will flip the  table and as much as you or I have a problem with it, Jesus is always right!

So maybe instead of balking at the flipped table, maybe instead of pushing back and disagreeing, maybe we could listen, maybe we could think more deeply, maybe we could open our hearts and minds, maybe we could be proactive and consider a question like this:

What is God pushing the church to do to be more open to those who have been cut off?

Will we join Jesus in overturning the tables that keep people out, that press people down, that turn people away? Or will we, like the disciples, question Jesus methods?