Prepare the Way of the Lord (overturning tables in our own temples)

I’ve been thinking a lot about Jesus overturning the tables in the temple.

Such a departure from our modern images of the Jesus who “gets us.” We much prefer His compassion on the woman caught in adultery or His miracles with fish and bread (or maybe that’s just me).

A Savior who, whip in hand, expresses outrage, disrupts the economy, and scolds small business owners, even spilling their products into the dust– this Savior only seems heroic when He’s aiming for others– not when He’s headed in our direction.

And yet, this was no “loss of temper.” Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, was never out of control. This was a measured, albeit dramatic display of righteous anger stemming from zeal for His Father’s house emerging from a holy heart of perfect love.

I have felt a similar build of rage at the stubbornness of a child I love turned to their own ways and heading toward the worst kinds of danger, unwilling to hear my pleas for return.

So I’ve been asking Him, what tables need to be overturned on the steps of His temple in my heart?  “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 ESV

We are the church.

The Holy Spirit lives in us and we are repeatedly commanded to pray without ceasing, making us mobile houses of prayer. And yet, we face the same temptations of these shopkeepers and moneychangers and corrupt religious leaders who thought of others ways to profit from God beside the salvation of their souls (as if that was not enough).

Dayenu. A Hebrew word meaning “it would have been enough.” I encourage my heart to repeat this often to the Lord, who left His throne in Heaven to become human, live here in our midst, die on the cross for my sins, and be raised from the dead on the third day. (Dayenu)

Still, I ask for more. And when I wear the mask of the moneychangers and temple leaders, I am tempted to be a glory thief, a merchant trading on my reputation as one of His, an exchanger of gold for a little favor, a sense of purpose, a taste of the power to influence, or just a jangle of fame in Christian circles.

So when Jesus tips my tables, I receive it as a dramatic display of love and a wrath born of knowing that I was designed for so much more. I know if He’s upsetting my tables, then I refused to hear when He warned me with

Image by Bakhrom Tursunov from Pixabay

stories, parables, proverbs, and simple commands so that now I’m surrounded by the din of my own rebellion and He must be dramatic to save me from my own foolish ways.

In the stillness that follows the settling of the golddust amid the incense of my mixed motives, I see the poverty of my soul, my desperate need for Him to save me, not only on that first moment of conversion but today and every day (Dayenu). He hears the Hosanna escape from the exposed places in my soul and He answers with Himself and I am satisfied. Scattered around me, the treasure I thought I wanted looks like so much painted plastic, more cardboard than gold, and certainly nothing that would survive the refining of fire on this outpost of glory.

He is greater than riches, than popularity or power, than purpose and meaning, than inclusion and security, or even the love of the masses. He is everything and I bring Him nothing but He gives me all.

There is a prayer in the Weslyan tradition, a covenant prayer that I treasure. It is often hard to pray but I return to it when my soul needs recentering on Jesus.

“I am no longer my own, but yours. Put me to what you will, place me with whom you will. Put me to doing, put me to suffering. Let me be put to work for you or set aside for you, Praised for you or criticized for you. Let me be full, let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me have nothing. I freely and fully surrender all things to your glory and service. And now, O wonderful and holy God, Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer, you are mine, and I am yours. So be it. And the covenant which I have made on earth, Let it also be made in heaven. Amen.”

What tables have I set up in the temple of my soul that He calls to be a mobile house of prayer?

Why would I set up my own tables when there is one prepared for me, even in the presence of my enemies?

What tables are set up on the steps of your table today? Prepare ye the way of the Lord.

Thoughts? I respond to every comment and reply to every email.

Are you following me on YouTube? I’ll be posting a series of videos for Advent and have started this week! I’d love to see you over there! Here are two you may have missed:

If your women’s ministry is planning an event, I’d love to serve as your speaker! Reach out and let’s chat about. You’ll find some of my topics HERE but I’m happy to work with your theme.

Have a beautiful Thanksgiving, loved ones. Know He is with you.

What tables have been erected in your heart? https://t.co/FqLITjOhFg #preparethewayofthelord #overturningtables

— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) November 25, 2025