Turn Over the Tables (Artful Devotion)

When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

—John 2:13–17 (cf. Matthew 21:10–13)

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SONG: “Turn Over the Tables in My Heart” by Wesley Randolph Eader, on Of Old It Was Recorded (2012) [Chord chart]

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Hosanna! Welcome to our hearts! Lord, here
Thou hast a temple too; and full as dear
As that of Sion, and as full of sin:
Nothing but thieves and robbers dwell therein:
Enter, and chase them forth, and cleanse the floor:
Crucify them, that they may never more
Profane that holy place
Where Thou hast chose to set Thy face!

—Jeremy Taylor (1613–1667)

Savior, who dost with anger see
The lusts which steal my heart from thee,
The thieves out of thy temple chase,
And plant thy Spirit in their place,
And when my God inhabits there,
My heart shall be thine house of prayer.

—Charles Wesley, from Short Hymns on Select Passages of the Holy Scriptures (1762)

This post belongs to the weekly series Artful Devotion. If you can’t view the music player in your email or RSS reader, try opening the post in your browser.

To view all the Revised Common Lectionary scripture readings for the Third Sunday of Lent, cycle B, click here.