Jesus was usually quite subtle. He loved to speak in parables. It confused all the folks that thought they had it all figured out. It still confounds, as a matter of fact.
One can only imagine what his contemporaries said. “Why don’t you come out and say it? No mustard seeds, no yeast. Stop talking about dishonest managers, punk sons, giddy farmers, and good Samaritans. And if you think you’re the Messiah, just come out and say it.” Yes, Jesus was usually quite subtle.
But there were other times when he was about as subtle as a ton of bricks.
During his last week, Jesus went to the Temple. There is something about this that is hard to understand if you grew up in a place where there is a church on every corner. The Temple was the place to worship. This building is the epicenter of Judaism and it is also Passover week, which is one of the most important weeks in the Jewish calendar. Jesus comes to this holy place at a holy time and he finds a sales bonanza. Every dove must go!
Which is when the ton of bricks happen.
Jesus starts knocking over the tables and driving the salesmen out of the Temple. People are scrambling all over the place. Birds are squawking and flying about. Probably some of the disciples, likely Peter, were saying to themselves (in Aramaic), “Sweet, we get to bust some heads.” The disciples didn’t always get the point.
Amidst the chaos Jesus proclaimed, “It is written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it a ‘den of robbers.’”
Footnotes can be a beautiful thing. If you look at the bottom of the page in the Bible, you will find the “den of robbers” reference goes back to the seventh chapter of Jeremiah. In this passage, God sends the prophet to stand at the gate of the Temple. Here is a sample of what Jeremiah said to the people that day:
“This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place. Do not trust in deceptive words and say, ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!’ If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your forefathers for ever and ever....Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you?” (Jeremiah 7:3-7,11)
Jesus was not one to drop references just to be trendy, which should make us wonder if the point is not simply selling stuff in the Temple.
The people are selling out.
In Jeremiah’s day, the people were doing whatever they saw fit: dealing with each other unjustly, oppressing the vulnerable around them, killing, going after other gods, etc. But the people felt okay because they still went to Temple. After all, the Sabbath (or Sunday) is the only time God pays attention. Right?
The people were out of sync with God and just going to Temple didn’t fix things. They were trusting in deceptive words. Jesus saw the same types of people that Jeremiah saw and it lit a fire in him.
It makes you wonder what would happen if Jesus came to one of our churches today. Would he turn over the tables all over again? We often think we are safe or on God’s side just because we’re in a building with a steeple. But we should look at this story and ask us ourselves some tough questions.
Are we doing what God asks of us or are we merely trusting deceptive words?
Grace, atonement, and redemption are themes of this week. But there is also this stark warning against shallow religion. We can’t sell out. May Jesus turning over tables be remembered alongside the other images of Holy Week.
