Midweek: Turning Over Tables

Whenever I read about "violent protests sweeping the city" and people "turning over tables," I wonder if what people are saying Jesus would have done is really what Jesus would have done.

In John 2:13-25, God, through its writer gives us the account of Jesus clearing the Temple during Passover. I think you all know the specifics: a city crowded with devotees coming to present their sacrifices, a Temple crowded with merchants looking to take advantage of the influx of consumers, and onto the scene arrives Jesus. Verses 15 and 16: 

When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. And He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!”

What's interesting here is that no one, apparently, questions the manner or necessity of Jesus' doing so. What they question (v. 18) is His authority to drive these people back to the streets. The Complete Jewish Bible renders their question in this way:

What miraculous sign can you show us to prove you have the right to do all this?

They wanted proof --tangible, over-the-top, immediate proof --that He was authorized to demand the House of God be respected and kept pure. Imagine that! People who were chosen by God, who had come to --allegedly --honor Him with their Passover sacrifices and feasts, wanted to know what right this man had to cleanse the place where God's presence dwelt of the familiarity and opportunistic exchange that had overrun its holy spaces. Surely, these worshippers should have joined Him in this restoration. At the least, shouldn't they have cheered His actions? What had they been doing when the first tables were put in place? Jesus' disciples, in looking back to these events recalled the psalmist's words in Psalm 69:9, Because zeal for Your house has eaten me up. As Jewish observers, where was their zeal? Weren't they all madly in love with the God who had chosen them and brought them out of Egypt? Isn't that the very thing they had come to celebrate --God's deliverance and mercy toward His people?

Their question proves just how they'd become people of hierarchy, laws, and manmade structures. Without a title or the sanction of religious leaders, they questioned anyone's authority to stand up for God's honor. They demanded Jesus do some sort of sign that He was entitled to respond to what they never should have allowed in the first place. (More on that sign another day.) They stood back and challenged Him because they didn't even understand what zeal for God's house should mean; the zeal that should have consumed every person present! They were, instead, methodical and cold. Their methodology did not stoke their fire but extinguished it.

We have, in this country, many Christians who demonstrate their love for fellow human beings, performing daily on a worldwide stage. But is this God's love? At times, God's love can seem harsh, disciplinarian, even unfair. But those are human terms formed as we see things from a finite and fallen perspective. Even we, however, can see that love sometimes requires inconvenient and unwanted boundaries, stern words or painful lessons. There are laws in this country which some may believe with all their hearts are unjust and harmful. There are events occurring which they may believe are despicable and discriminatory. But these laws, civic laws are designed to keep people of many different backgrounds, beliefs, and communities safe and in order. The zeal with which protests occur and opinions are exchanged is a wonderful thing to contemplate if that zeal is for the Lord above all. Jesus' turning over tables, Jesus' fury was for His Father and His Father's house which men had defiled. He pointed His attention toward God and God's holiness, not toward the deception of the moneychangers, the merchants selling inferior sacrifices, or even the unsuspecting victims of their corruption. There were civil courts to deal with all of those things. Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's, Jesus said; but render unto God that which is God's. 

God tells us that as Christians, as individuals chosen by Him, we are to welcome the stranger, love him as we love ourselves. He tells us to visit the prisons. First of all, these are commands for God's people. IF we were doing the job we are supposed to be doing within the confines of law established by the government of the land in which we live (for we are told also, to obey the authorities God has allowed to be put in place), IF we were using the voting power, the freedom to proclaim Jesus, and the God-given health and wealth to do as we have been commanded, we might see a different America. But the fiery protests and dangerous acts we see occurring today are attempts to close the gate after the horse has left the barn. And they are in direct disobedience to what God orders in Scripture. Which brings me to a second point.

Revolt against government is revolt against God. Who would throw stones at an undertaker because their child has died? Who would jump on a moving vehicle because the brakes on their own car failed? The Lord gives and the Lord takes away; blessed be the name of the Lord (Job 1:21)! In everything give thanks (1 Thes. 5:18) This is the nature of life on this orb. Sometimes we find ourselves in unwelcome situations and unfavorable places. That is not to say we don't work to change them, but we do it within the parameters of the law, obedient to God's Word and grateful for the opportunity He has given.

Lastly, to clothe the naked, to anoint the sick, to feed the hungry, and visit the imprisoned --these are Christlike habits formed within the confines of a heart turned toward Christ. They were never meant to legislated by the social justice police or the government. When was the last time you saw a protest demanding laws which compel every retiree to visit a prisoner at least once a month, or every childless couple to adopt at least two children? We vehemently reject the notion of a "God-fearing, Christian" country, a country where babies are not murdered in the womb and self-indulgence and debauchery are not celebrated in every aspect of culture; but then we call on our government, the leaders of this nation to force the rich to give to the poor and allow the stranger to reside among us unvetted and unaccountable. Kindness in its most authentic form, love as God loves cannot be legislated --least of all by a nation that rejects Him! True goodness and mercy can only be the evidence of a heart transformed by God's Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:22, 23). 

These unchecked, unpeaceful protests are not what Jesus would have done. His Word bears that out. Our goal is not radicalism, the turning over of tables or the fashioning of whips; it wasn't Jesus' either. As believers we are subject to the authority of our Redeemer and King, Jesus Christ; we act in obedience to Him and for the glory of our Father, going to all the world and making disciples (Mt. 28:19), consumed by zeal for our Lord and His name.