Flipping Tables: Don’t try this at home

John 2:12–25

Last week we looked at the miracle of water turning to wine and why John called it a “sign.” We came to see that everything he did and, by extension, everything you do is a sign as well. 

John recorded the miracles of Jesus to teach people about the nature and the character of God and, like Jesus, everything you do is a sign which speaks volumes about who you are. Everything you do is a glimpse into who you are, what you believe, and who you want to become. 

What you do makes it possible to more fully understand who you really are so when what you do contradicts what you say, you are a hypocrite. As we’ll see, Jesus hates hypocrisy.

13 The Jewish Passover was near, so Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple complex He found people selling oxen, sheep, and doves, and He also found the money changers sitting there. 

John 2:13-14

Passover was the greatest of all the Jewish festivals and the law required that every adult male, within fifteen miles of Jerusalem, was required to attend and bring sacrifices. This meant that at any given time during the festival there could be up to 2,000,000+ Jews in the holy city.

Despite the 15 mile expectation, many people traveled much further which meant that there would be a lot of people in need of sacrifices, so the High Priest Caiaphas created a system for people to exchange their currency and purchase animals all in one place. The problem was that, over time, this much needed ministry ceased to serve the people and it became a business.

As time passed those involved began to cheat God’s people. Ex: If a worshiper brought an animal with them it had to be examined for purity and this led to animals often being rejected forcing people to buy an approved animal at up to fifteen times the original cost. 

Secondly, because foreigners were considered unclean, foreign currency was also unclean so the travelers had to exchange their dirty coins for clean Jewish shekels. This would not be a huge deal until you realize they were charging a commission for half-shekel they changed.

15 After making a whip out of cords, He drove everyone out of the temple complex with their sheep and oxen. He also poured out the money changers’ coins and overturned the tables. 16 He told those who were selling doves, “Get these things out of here! Stop turning My Father’s house into a marketplace!” 

John 2:13-16

17 And His disciples remembered that it is written: Zeal for Your house will consume Me. 

Jesus responds this way as a sign to all those present that judgment is coming because the state of the temple was itself a vivid picture of the spiritual condition of the entire nation. They had left behind the principles of love and its religious leaders were using it to get rich.

18 So the Jews replied to Him, “What sign of authority will You show us for doing these things?” 

John 2:18

In the Old Testament the prophets taught that the final renewal of the temple would coincide with judgement day (Isa. 56:7; Mal. 3:1). This is why the priests had every right to demand a sign and ask Jesus to prove that he was the prophesied messiah  but Jesus didn't give them a miracle, he pointed them to the double prophecy of the temple’s destruction and his own resurrection.

19 Jesus answered, “Destroy this sanctuary, and I will raise it up in three days.” 

this response was a reference to the belief that the day of the Lord would bring with it a new temple (Ezek. 40–46; Tob. 14:5) but, even deeper yet, Jesus is claiming that this new temple would be his body. Again, if you focus too much on the sign you may miss the truth behind it.

20 Therefore the Jews said, “This sanctuary took 46 years to build, and will You raise it up in three days?” 21 But He was speaking about the sanctuary of His body.

22 So when He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this. And they believed the Scripture and the statement Jesus had made.

John 2:19-22

Here Jesus shattered the theology of the leaders by telling them that all the temple’s prestige and splendour, as well as all the money and skill that had been poured into it, were completely pointless because he had come to show people a way to worship God without the Temple.

Being spiritually blind the priests couldn’t see past the sign so they also misunderstood what Jesus said. Jesus was saying that his body was to be the new temple and, simultaneously, he warned them of the coming destruction of the temple in 70AD which was itself a sign of the destruction of the Old Covenant and the creation of the New.

In response to these signs, many believed in Jesus but did not really trust Jesus. 

While He was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many trusted in His name when they saw the signs He was doing. Jesus, however, would not entrust Himself to them, since He knew them all and because He did not need anyone to testify about man; for He Himself knew what was in man.

Jn 2:13–25

Interestingly, the words here are the same Greek word which means to trust or believe. As difficult as it is to understand, these people believed in Jesus, but He did not believe in them. They believed what they saw but they did not want to follow or have a relationship with Jesus. “He did not entrust himself to them” meaning he did not treat them as true disciples. 

They believed in the signs but they did not commit to Jesus. Like the seed on rocky soil, they sprouted but it never grew roots. The fact is that people are happy to accept freedom but we are often unwilling to sacrifice and serve so others can have the same freedom we received.

People like this are unwilling to imitate Christ and make God’s will their purpose in life. This is why the same miracles that attracted Nicodemus caused others to want to kill Jesus. They saw the signs but refused to look past the symbol and see the more important meaning behind it.

So how do we find out whether we are lukewarm believers or a true disciple of Jesus?

1. Be zealous for God’s will to be done

The two greatest commandments are to love God with your heart, soul, mind and to love your neighbor as yourself but the true follower of Jesus puts God and human beings in the rightful place. We see that lukewarm, or fake, believers do not understand that God is first and ultimate.

These people tend to be confused, specifically, about our love for our neighbor. They seem to believe that our love for God and love for people is equal, but it is not. They tend to believe that human beings have some kind of inherent goodness but this is also not true; in both cases God is first and people are only loved through God’s grace.

The fact is that we are not good in and of ourselves. The only goodness in us is the spirit of God in us. So when Jesus told us to love God and our neighbor, he wasn’t saying this love was equal, he was telling us the order of priority.

Again, when people misunderstand the words of Jesus they often end up worshiping an attribute of God rather than God himself. Like some leaders who began to worship and serve the temple, many people today pick one attribute of God and make that his whole personality. Worse than this they tend to redefine those attributes in their own image.

Words like “love” are redefined in a modern sense which means, “love is to accept everything anyone does” but even though scripture says “God is love,” they forget that their definition of love is not God. God is love as he defines it and the best ex of love is found in Jesus Christ.

2. Be zealous for people to experience God’s love

As we learned, even the institute of marriage is grounded in our love for God first. If done right, our marriages are a sign of God’s love for his church. Love finds its value in the love of God, not love for love’s sake. Nowhere does Jesus ever command love for its own sake. 

The love of God is passion; the love of human beings is compassion. Our love for God is grounded in gratitude while our love for people is grounded in repentance and forgiveness. God is good and we are sinners, therefore the love for God must be higher. 

And this love for God translates into a love for people which is another reason why Jesus was so upset with the temple priests. It wasn’t just the money and the animals; the entire business was carried out in the court designed by God specifically for the Gentiles to worship in. 

The gentile followers of God were not permitted to enter the temple beyond this particular courtyard so, because of the priests’ actions, foreign believers had to fight through and share space with animals if they wanted to worship God. This was the last straw. 

…“I will come to you in judgment, and I will be ready to witness against sorcerers and adulterers; against those who swear falsely; against those who oppress the widow and the fatherless, and cheat the wage earner; and against those who deny justice to the foreigner. They do not fear Me,” says the Lord of Hosts. 

Mal 2:17-3:5

The love of God was always meant to spread to the rest of the world, not because people are special, but because God is love, therefore we have a responsibility to fulfil his will, based on his love, to help those outside the church have access to God’s presence and glory. Sadly, at the time of Jesus, the gentile court was now designed to hinder those seeking the presence of God.

By extension, we should never be the cause for the stumbling of others. 

“But whoever causes the downfall of one of these little ones who believe in Me—it would be better for him if a heavy millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. And if your hand causes your downfall, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and go to hell…

Mark 9:42-43

The fact is that you need to go out of your way to help and not offend people because the gospel itself is so offensive already. We do not want to put stumbling blocks in the path of those seeking God. This is exactly why Jesus cleansed the temple, He “declared war” on the hypocrisy of the religious leaders knowing full well this would lead to His death.

3. Be willing to die for your faith

In the same way, what separates a true follower of Jesus from those who simply believe is the willingness to die for our God because he is more important than us. This doesn’t mean you can go around flipping tables. Jesus had a specific right to do this, you do not. In fact, nowhere in the NT do we ever see the disciples repeating this level of violence, it was only Jesus.

Give no offense to the Jews or Greeks or the church of God, just as I also try to please everyone in everything, not seeking my own benefit, but the benefit of many, so that they may be saved.

1 Corinthians 10:32-33 

Unlike Jesus, we are not called to bring judgement. Jesus said, “Think not that I come to bring peace, but a sword” but that is Jesus. We are called to love God and love our neighbor. Those are our commands and those are God’s will. The only other portion of this command that we must submit to is a willingness to sacrifice and die, if need be, for his will and his commands.

"For me, living is Christ and dying is gain." 

Philippians 1:21

This is why we must not miss the sign of baptism. Baptism is a command given to us by God that, in and of itself, is not special but what it represents is the all-encompassing beginning and purpose of our faith. The symbolism of baptism is dying to this world and dying to yourself and being reborn into God’s kingdom as a servant of God. 

This is a sign to everyone who witnesses it that you are committing to die to yourself and live the rest of this new life for Christ first and to love others in a sacrificial way in response to Jesus dying for your sins and giving you grace even though you never deserved it.