Flipping Tables

It's Holy Week, and here in blog-land I want to celebrate that! Check out yesterday's post on Palm Sunday if you missed it.

When I was in middle and early high school I was in a youth band called Flipping Tables. I don't exactly remember how we landed on that name, but I do know it was a step up--we had called ourselves "Hello Kidney" for a significant period of time (if you're super curious, ask me in person for that long story sometime). We'd point back to the moment in Jesus's ministry where He tossed the temple tables as our springboard for the name, talking about how we all loved that passage in the Bible. I'm sure we all did, but I must admit, I don't think many--if any--of us cared about the point of the passage. I don't want to miss it this Easter.

Soon after arriving in Jerusalem and during the last week of His ministry, Jesus ended up in the temple. He saw people changing money, buying, and selling in the courts. He became angry and consequently... Flipped some tables. Check out Matthew 21:12-13, Mark 11:15-17, Luke 19:45-46, or John 2:13-17 to learn more about it.

The problem was that the people in the temple weren't treating it the way it was supposed to be treated. Rather than a place of worship, in many ways it had been debased into a mere market place. Jesus had a right to be angry. Rather than being a "house of prayer," Scripture reads, it had become a "den of robbers."

I must admit, I always have loved this passage in the Bible. To me, it shows more of Jesus's character. Yes, Jesus is the strongest advocate for peace and love, but He's not this wimpy guy that we so often make Him out to be. He's willing to get angry when it's worth it. He has hard conversations and says harsh things. He holds people accountable for their actions. But here's the thing: He always loves them through it. Today He'll toss the temple tables, but in a few days He'll go and die for those same people.

As I sit here dwelling on this passage, here are the elements I'm pondering:
  1. There is such a thing as righteous anger. We see it right here. The Bible constantly champions justice, love, redemption, and mercy. I think it's safe to say that when there is injustice in this world, when people lack love, when we don't show mercy, it's okay to be angry about it. It's an anger that stirs us to do something to change it. I must admit, I don't get angry often enough. It's all too easy for me to look at the world and apathetically shrug my shoulders, when I need to be tossing some tables.
  2. If Jesus walked into our churches today, what tables would He be tossing? In what ways are we missing the point? I want our churches to consistently be a house of prayer, but in many settings it's easy to get distracted. Are there areas of the Christian church where we're not living this out?
Here's praying that we model ourselves after Jesus, standing up for what's right, seeking to glorify God in all things--even if it means we have to start flipping tables.

What about you? Are there issues that you feel righteous anger for? Can you think of places in our churches where you think Jesus would start tossing tables? How can we work towards restoring God's kingdom in these areas?

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