Turning over tables

In the third and final part in our series exploring challenging Bible passages for peacemakers, Victoria Mason explores the story behind Jesus turning over the tables in the temple.

As a reader, I love a plot twist. The ending you didn’t see coming, the ‘villain’ who turned out to be the hero, the unexpected joining up of several seemingly unrelated stories. When it comes to real life, though, plot twists can be unsettling.

In the Bible, all four gospel writers describe the moment that Jesus entered the Jewish temple and took decisive action against the activities happening there. Matthew describes it like this (Matthew 21:12-15):

Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. ¹³ “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”

¹⁴ The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. ¹⁵ But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant.

From one angle, it looks like a huge plot twist. Jesus, who had been teaching his followers the ways of creative non-violence, saying ‘Blessed are the peacemakers’, is now turning over tables.

So what is really going on here?

Why the protest?

This passage has challenged me deeply and reflecting on it has been a wrestle. I offer these thoughts in humility, knowing that many more learned theological minds will have much more to say on all of this.

Scholars differ as to the exact reason for Jesus’ indignation in this passage. The business of money-changing and selling animals was an essential element of temple life. People travelling to Jerusalem couldn’t bring their animals for sacrifice with them because they might not survive the journey – and  would also need to be declared fit for sacrifice. They needed to buy them on arrival, as well as pay the temple tax with Tyrian Silver (a special Temple coin). This was an accepted part of worshipping at the temple and may not be, in itself, the reason for what Jesus does here. The New Testament scholar R T France writes ‘It seems…that it is not any specific malpractice that Jesus rejects but the whole system of sacrificial worship which had developed into big business, and particularly the temple authorities who had allowed its commercial aspect to become enshrined within the temple precincts.’

The theologian Tom Wright, however, sees things differently. He suggests that Jesus’ protest is because the meaning of the temple had become distorted by a violent vision of God’s kingdom. He suggests that the phrase ‘den of robbers’ would be more accurately translated ‘brigands’ lair’: ‘Brigands’ were, in Jesus’ day, the holy revolutionaries, the terrorists, eager to overthrow pagan rule by violence.’  So Tom Wright sees in Jesus’ actions a judgement on this distorted vision: ‘Jesus has been warning his fellow Jews…that God’s kingdom is coming. But they, for the most part, have preferred their own aspirations, their own agendas…Within the society, the rich have been getting richer, and the poor poorer. The self-appointed religious watchdogs have been concentrating on the outwards rules and purity regulations, rather than on the human heart. The Temple itself, the place where heaven and earth were supposed to meet, where God’s forgiveness was supposed to happen, has been used as a symbol of national pride.’

Another aspects of Jesus’ words and actions is that God’s house was intended ultimately to be ‘a house of prayer for all nations’ (Isaiah 56:7 – the verse Jesus himself quotes here). The implication is that all nations were meant to look to Jerusalem and see a beacon of hope, pointing to the future reconciliation of all things. But it seems this is no longer what the temple had come to represent. Notice that immediately after his dramatic actions, Jesus then heals those who came to him in the temple.

It’s clear that, for Jesus, the temple had stopped being a reflection of what God’s kingdom was all about. Jesus’ actions were an act of defiance – and a pronouncement of God’s judgement – against systems which had become corrupted and misguided. We are invited to reflect that peace does not equal passivity. It is good to name what is wrong and to stand up for what is right. There are hints here of Jesus’ words ‘I did not come to bring peace, but a sword’.

Grappling with the physicality of Jesus’ actions

But what about the physicality of what Jesus does here? The turning over of tables. Perhaps it’s particularly tricky to grapple with this story when we live in such a volatile world. We don’t have to look further than recent events to see the catastrophic impact of violent words and behaviour on our communities and nations. Christians, too, have sometimes used this passage as justification for aggression and domination.

Firstly, It’s important that we put this story within the bigger narrative of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. Throughout his ministry, Jesus has rejected violence, aggression and force. Just prior to the scenes in the temple, Luke’s gospel records Jesus weeping over Jerusalem and saying ‘Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace!’. Matthew, Mark and Luke all place this episode in temple in the days immediately before Jesus’ death. Not only did Jesus accept this death willingly, he even rebuked his friend who tried to resist Jesus’ arrest by force (Matthew 26:52).

Secondly, we must understand that Jesus’ actions in the temple are part of a much bigger story – one of cosmic significance about who Jesus is and what God is doing through him. This bigger story is one of reconciliation in which all people are invited into God’s family and in which unreconciled realities are overturned to make way for peace. In these scenes from the temple, Jesus is not seizing power by force, nor is he simply overcome by frustration in the moment. Rather, he is making a prophetic statement – what one scholar describes as ‘an acted parable’.

The theologian Richard B. Hays puts it like this: ‘Jesus’ actions must be understood as acts of prophetic symbolism…No one is hurt or killed in Jesus’ Temple demonstration. The incident is a forceful demonstration against a prevailing system in which violence and injustice prevail, a sign that Jesus intends to bring about a new order in accordance with Isaiah’s vision of eschatological peace.’ ‘Isaiah’s vision of eschatological peace’ refers to the vision the prophet offers of a future where violence is no more and all coexist peacefully, united in worship of God.

Throughout the Old Testament, God’s messengers – the prophets – were asked to carry out striking and symbolic acts to point to bigger truths and to encourage people to sit up and listen. This is true for Ezekiel, Isaiah and Jeremiah. This is also what Jesus is doing here. In fact, to explain his actions, Jesus cites both Isaiah (as we explored earlier) and Jeremiah (‘You have made it a den of robbers’). The example from Jeremiah is taken from the prophet’s ‘Temple Sermon’, which condemned Israel for putting their trust in the temple while committing numerous wrongs against God and others.

Jesus’ actions are also a powerful proclamation of his identity. Earlier in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus told his critics ‘something greater than the temple is here’. This symbolic act points people to that truth.

Engaging with the tension

In all of this, we become aware of an important dynamic tension. Jesus, the Son of Man, shows us what it means to be human and what love looks like in action. It is good for us to seek to be like him. His symbolic, prophetic actions should prompt us to reflect on where we see injustice, corruption and wrong in our own contexts. But Jesus is also God. He is the only person in history who is infallible – whose judgement isn’t clouded by selfishness or prejudice, who has not done wrong to others. We seek to become like Jesus, living as he lived, caring about what he cares about. But we do this with an awareness of our own limitations and failings, knowing that we are not God.

For me, this passage offers no easy answers but invites me to balance boldness and discernment, passion and humility. The biggest call I hear is for my actions – whether overt or understated – to be motivated by love and not hate. In a world of uncertainty, instability and violence, this call couldn’t be more urgent.

Reflect:

• What situations or issues need urgent attention in your community or in the wider world? What might meaningful protest – motivated by love – look like?
• How do you balance the invitation to imitate Jesus’ actions with the knowledge that He is God?

Pray:

• Ask God to show you where he is inviting you to act today.

Victoria Mason is Editorial Lead and Theological Manager for the Difference team.