When Jesus Turns The Tables On Us… Hello Hump Day Readers. In this week of Holy Week we find a story of Jesus that has always captivated me—when Jesus turned the tables in the temple. So, I thought it may be prudent to dive into this “table-turning moment” which was so counterpoint to the loving Jesus we know and want.

Let’s start with the story from Matthew 21:12-16 using the Voice translation:
“Jesus came to the temple. He drove out all those who were buying and selling. He upended the moneychangers’ tables and the dove-sellers’ benches.

 Jesus: It is written, “My house will be a house of prayer for all people,” but you have turned this house of prayer into a den of robbers. Then the blind and the lame came to the temple, and Jesus healed them. Rings of children circled round and sang, “Hosanna to the Son of David.” But the priests and scribes didn’t understand. When they saw the upturned tables, the walking paralytics, and the singing children, they were shocked, indignant, and angry, and they did not understand.

Priests and Scribes: Do you hear what these children are saying? 

Jesus: Yes. Haven’t you read your own psalter? “From the mouths and souls of infants and toddlers, the most innocent, You have decreed praises for Yourself.”

Many of us pour ourselves into our jobs, our families, our friends, etc., trying to build-up everything just right so God will be happy with us. Well, how is that working for us? Most of the time we hit burnout and we feel that we’ve let God down and others down. But God doesn’t feel that way about us. Instead, God says (sometimes sternly) “step back for a while, slow down, you are going at a pace I have never told you to do.”

How easy is it for us to back down and take a back seat? Yeah, rarely works more than a few days. And there we are again, pushing to the limits that are exhausting our strength and giving us sour attitudes-ugh! I call it that “quiet exhaustion that slowly builds as we try to hold everything together.” In the end, my best intentions somehow get off the journey and I am carrying more than God ever wanted me to do.

Now, let’s look at the tables turned over in our Scripture. What does that mean to us? For me, it is that warning—yes, Jesus was mad and he was warning them as they desecrated the temple for their own means. And Jesus says the same to us! Perhaps you didn’t know that there was a place in the temple for those who were not Jews; it was open to Gentiles, and that is what the greedy money-changers were using so these people could not pray and praise the Lord. No wonder Jesus changed everything upside-down!

And that is what Jesus is doing for you and me; disrupting us so we can find peace, so we can sit with Jesus and meditate and have a conversation that uplifts our hearts and souls. It is in those moments with him, the weight that has been pressing in us goes away and we can breathe again!

If your life seems like it is unraveling, remember that Jesus’ disruption in your life is NOT a setback, but an invitation! Jesus is inviting you to come close so you can always remember the “temple’s true purpose”—a time of prayer and praise to the Lord. Let your identity be what God made you to be—his beloved child. And embrace God’s ‘disruption’ so you can enjoy God’s most beautiful mercies that always meet us at the end of ourselves. AMEN.