Ashes on the Altar
When Love Braids A Whip
“But He flipped tables!”
They say, to prove their point.
With a God
Re-imagined
In their own image,
Who only flipped the tables
They hate the most.
If we look to the Word,
Red letters or black,
We can miss the core,
Our blaming fingers
And log-filled eyes
Blocking us from seeing more,
Because blame is more satisfying
Than repentance.
The faults of others always seem
More egregious
Than our own.
Reproach meets with recrimination,
On and on it goes,
Anonymous internet conversations,
Like Cain and Abel,
All over again.
Hating hearts,
Beget hating thoughts
Producing hateful words,
Driving us to sinful actions.
Yet God’s warning rings out
From Genesis Chapter Four
Watch out!
Sin is crouching at the door!
Its desire is to dominate you,
But you must subdue it.
Our sinful desires
Tell us the lie
That Jesus wouldn’t flip
The tables we secretly enjoy.
The table of our pride
The table of our greed
The table of our lust
The table of our gluttony
The table of our adultery
The table of our promiscuity
The table of our idolatry
The table of our prejudice
The table of our broken promises
The table of our drunkenness
The table of our thoughtlessness
The table of our selfishness
The table of our hatred of “the other side”
The table of our abortions
The table of our atheism
The table of bearing the name of Christ without repentance.
Holy Spirit help us!
For if we only remember Jesus
When He is a weapon to wield
Against our enemies,
Then we do not know Him,
Nor do we love Him.
Yes, Jesus flipped tables.
His anger was righteous,
As He braided a whip.
Consumed with zeal for the purity
Of His Father’s house.
He cast the greedy money-changers out,
Overturned the tables
Of those who made
His Father’s Sacred space,
Into a marketplace
Of profane transactions,
Without care for the sanctity
Of the Holy Sanctuary,
Without care for the Imago Dei
The sacred image of God
In fellow humanity.
Yes, Jesus cleansed the temple,
Upending the tables of our hardened hearts.
Capsizing our sinful ways,
Overturning death,
Hell and grave.
The sacrificial system
And God’s holy wrath
Satisfied at last,
As Jesus Christ died
And was raised,
He put His heel
On the neck of the snake.
He made a Way
Because He is The Only Way.
The price was paid,
That woefully fatal cost
Of our transgressions,
Our sinful transactions.
He brought us Grace.
Saved our souls,
Cleased the temple
Of our hearts,
And mercifully reconciled
Us to Himself.
So in light of this Victorious Day,
I plead, fellow Christians,
Allow Christ to overturn
Our tables of self-righteousness.
Let us reorient our hearts
Toward the One who is Love.
Repent and turn away,
From our own sin and shame!
Jesus, King of Kings, You can have my tables too. The ones I sinfully cling to. Cleanse this temple, Burn away these strongholds, With your consuming, pruning fire. Let them smolder Like ashes on the Altar. Let me be cleansed again, Free to turn
Toward You, in Love,
Toward my neighbor, in Love.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.
—AW