Tables: Sides in Every Stand

We’ve all seen the posts. Someone online, calling out false teachers, criticizing a local church, or angrily confronting another Christian over their beliefs. To the left! to the Right! this and that... and what’s all the justification? Jesus flipped tables in the temple! He called out hypocrisy and injustice. If Jesus can do it, so can I. and let us not forget that Jesus made a whip, (see, John 2:15) are we saying now that we ought bear arms and be like Jesus? This pastor does not think so, or approve violence in every shape or form --- Let me flip that table for you. We must be weary of weaponizing Jesus, even in the name of justice for you will never meet the eyes of someone that Jesus doesn't love.

It’s true—Jesus did flip tables. But is that really the model we should be following when we get upset? Or are we missing something important about the nature of his actions?

Here’s the tension: On one hand, Jesus was standing up to the exploitation of the poor, the commercialization of faith, and the hypocrisy of religious leaders. In that moment, he made a powerful statement about the sanctity of God's house. But there’s another layer here—an even deeper question we should be asking ourselves: Where are we sitting?

"My house will be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers." —Matthew 21:13

Jesus wasn’t throwing a tantrum. He was protesting, challenging the misuse of God’s temple, confronting systems that were profiting off the faith of the people. But here’s the thing: He wasn’t just flipping tables in a physical space. The true temple is no longer a building—it’s us. We are the living, breathing temples where God’s Spirit resides. So, the real table flipping we need to do isn’t necessarily out there—it’s right here. Right with you.

"Don’t you yourselves know that you are God’s temple and that the Spirit of God lives in you?" —1 Corinthians 3:16

We need to ask ourselves: Are we flipping the right tables? It's easy to point fingers, to let our righteous anger spill over online and call out what we perceive as falsehood or injustice. But what about the tables in our own hearts? Are we allowing things to take root that don't belong in God’s temple? Honestly, who cares about the tables in others' lives if we haven’t dealt with the ones in our own?

The sinful cravings, the idols, the things we’ve allowed to set up shop in our lives—those are the tables we need to flip first. Focus on the tables in your life, your mind, and your heart. Let those take precedence over the tables in someone else's life.

Jesus’ actions in the temple weren’t just about confronting the injustice around him; they were about purifying the space where God’s presence was meant to dwell.

He wants to do the same within us. We need to look inward and drive out the impurities that hinder our relationship with God. This isn’t about hypocrisy—it’s about spiritual integrity, about making our hearts a true house of prayer.

1. The truth is, Jesus shows us two sides of the table-flipping coin. One side is confronting the exploitation and injustice we see around us—whether that’s the commercializing of faith, the gatekeeping of grace, or the systems that profit off poverty.

   
   

2. But the other side is personal: We must confront the idols, the sins, and the spiritual complacency in our own lives. We are God’s temple, and we must purify the space within.

So, when we think about following Jesus' example of flipping tables, let's not just point fingers at the world. Let’s look at our own lives and ask: What has set up shop in our hearts that Jesus wants to drive out? What idols, what distractions, what impurities are cluttering the temple?

Yes, there’s a time for calling out injustice. I pray that I continue to be courages, when I am able to collaborate in the goal of justice. And yet, more often than not, there is work to be done within me before I can cast any more stones to build justice. So, while there is a time for standing up against hypocrisy, true transformation begins in the heart. Jesus shows us that flipping tables is about more than just public protests; it’s about personal purity—about making space for God’s presence in our lives. Ultimately, think about this: What do you think happened to the tables that Jesus flipped? Without a change of heart, those tables were probably put "right" the very next day. So, Jesus before the passover flipped tables, but then He moved to flip the tables in the hearts and mind of the disciples, pointing to us as well.

So, let’s flip tables like Jesus. Let’s confront the idols, the sins, and the falsehoods within us.

"Let it begin with me..." Let’s make our hearts a true temple for God’s Spirit to dwell. And when we do that, we’ll be better equipped to confront the injustices around us, not out of self-righteous anger, but out of a deep desire for transformation and justice in the world.