“Stop trying to sit at the tables Jesus flipped.”
I saw this saying on a friend’s social media page, and it really spoke to me. Here is what I saw once I unpacked this phrase.
12 And Jesus entered the temple of God[a] and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 13 He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’; but you make it a den of robbers.”
-Matthew 21:12-13
Do you not know that your body is a temple* of the holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
In the first verse, Jesus cleansed the temple of the money changers and other merchants. (Perhaps symbolizing greed and all things unholy) This sets somewhat of a precedent for what activities and behaviors should be allowed to exist in God’s temple.
Then, in 1 Corinthians, Paul writes about how the body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. So. If our body is also God’s temple, what does this say about how we should act in regard to our bodies?
This hearkens to the Theology of the Body, a series of Sunday audiences written by St. Pope John Paul II. In it he presents an ‘integrate vision of th4 human person.’ “The human body has a specific meaning making visible an invisible reality and is capable of revealing answers regarding fundamental questions about us and our lives.” 1
Another thing I saw, is that once Jesus flipped the tables, people were unable to sit there anymore. When Jesus flips tables in your life, quit trying to go back and sit where there isn’t a seat. He has His reasons for flipping the table, closing the door, creating new opportunities. Instead of trying to sit at a flipped over table, let Him lead you to the seat where he wants you to sit!
