Turning the Tables: John 2:13-25 - Second Sunday after Epiphany

In my prior vocation, we always knew we were going to be in for a stressful week when it was announced that “the suits” from corporate were coming to inspect and evaluate our store.

One executive was notorious for writing up stores for the pettiest infractions, like chewing gum on the front sidewalks or dust on the tops of restroom stall dividers. My boss learned that he enjoyed premium cigars. Thanks to his cleverness, the two men spent over two hours outdoors enjoying their cigars instead of looking for fingerprints on the glass or black heel marks on the tile.

This makes me wonder: what would Jesus say about our church if he came for a visit?

Hopefully, it wouldn’t be a repeat of Jesus’s visit to the temple in Jerusalem at Passover. In the temple, he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves and the money changers seated at their tables.

Abandoned? by Wouter de Bruijn on flickr. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Jesus makes a whip of cords, driving all the vendors and money changers out of the temple along with all the animals they were selling. He overturned their tables and spilled their coins all over the ground. “Take these things out of here!” he exclaimed. “Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!”

It’s hard to believe that the Jesus who was turning water into wine and showing everyone a good time is now a one-man wrecking crew rampaging through the temple like a bull in a china shop. This wasn’t pagan idolatry Jesus was destroying. Jesus was attacking the way pious Jews worshiped God for over a century.

Roman coins contained images of the emperor, who proclaimed himself to be god. Blasphemous images had no place in God’s house, so the money changers served to maintain the holiness of the temple institution.

Surely, there were abuses. But this are not the reason why we see Jesus overturning tables; brandishing a whip made of cords; destroying property; acting violently.

After the temple guards apprehended Jesus, the leaders ask him, “what sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus says, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

Naturally, they thought Jesus was talking about the temple, which had been under construction for 46 years. But Jesus knew something the temple establishment did not: his body was the new temple; the dwelling place of God on earth. Unlike the temple building, which Rome will destroy four decades later, he will rise from the dead after three days and render the temple obsolete.

But there were a lot of people who stood to lose a lot of money, a lot of power, and a lot of prestige, if the temple were to go away. And they were not about to leave all at the feet of Jesus.

So, what would Jesus do if he came to our church? If he saw our service, our annual reports, our budget? What would Jesus say about your life if he visited your home? If he saw your schedule book or your bank book? Your social media or your browsing history?

Jesus was zealous for his Father’s house. What are you zealous for?

It’s one thing to have interests, preferences, and goals. To be zealous, on the other hand, is to be aggressive in your pursuit and possession of what you believe is rightfully yours. To be zealous is to take offense and then go on the offense against anyone who expresses a viewpoint that contradicts your own. To be zealous is to constantly be at war with people whose very existence threatens your own.

We all want power, control, security, and recognition. To secure our claim, we cling to charismatic leaders, ideologies, as well as social and political movements. We attempt to rewrite history. We twist and distort the teachings of Scripture. We convince ourselves that God is on our side. If God is on your side, anything goes. Everything you say, do, and believe is right. Little wonder you are so zealous: you are part of a cause greater than yourself, in a cosmic war of good versus evil, fighting for God.

This was the mindset of those who restrained Jesus at the temple—along with those who will accuse Jesus of blasphemy, demon-possession, and treason. They were so convinced of their righteousness that they couldn’t recognize God standing before them. How wretched the power of sin to believe you are doing God’s work by crucifying God’s son.  But that’s what sinners do. All sinners…

We need Jesus to be zealous for us because without him, we’re hopelessly zealous for sin. If we think that we only need Jesus to come into our lives and make a few small repairs, we are sorely mistaken. Our souls don’t need remodeling. We need Jesus to come into our lives and break things. Make no mistake: Jesus cannot live in you until he overturns, scatters, and destroys the things you hold sacred but stand in the way of his lordship.

Repentance begins by giving Jesus unfettered access to everything you hold near and dear, including your right to yourself. Otherwise, your faith will be a façade, little more than a means to gaining power, control, security, and recognition.

Jesus is not merely a piece of furniture inside the temple of your soul. Jesus comes to occupy your soul and body. Forgiven of your sins, liberated from death, you don’t need to spend your life fighting for your own survival.

So let Jesus have his way. Let his zeal for you give you a zeal for righteousness. Let him build your life as a temple where all your words, all your works, all your hopes, all your strivings worship him.

John 2:13-25 (NRSVue)

¹³ The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves and the money changers seated at their tables. ¹⁵ Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, with the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. ¹⁶ He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” ¹⁷ His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” ¹⁸ The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” ¹⁹ Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” ²⁰ The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” ²¹ But he was speaking of the temple of his body. ²² 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.

²³ When he was in Jerusalem during the Passover festival, many believed in his name because they saw the signs that he was doing. ²⁴ But Jesus on his part would not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people ²⁵ and needed no one to testify about anyone, for he himself knew what was in everyone.