Guest Post by Valerie Boyer
We’re at the Monday of Holy/Hell week, and like most Mondays many years after that, it was an amazingly aggravating day in all of the ways. Jesus decided that it was necessary to stop by Pops house, and see how the house and family were doing, only to get there and see they had lost their natural born minds. You know goodness well about how children feel about you disrespecting the family house.
And yes he could’ve gone in, and had a bit of complicated conversation with the people gambling and peddling in the temple, or even reasoned with the corrupt authority figures in place, but instead, takes the rational route here and does the only diplomatic thing that makes the most sense. He flips the tables, and starts throwing hands to get people out.
Fun times.
And here is where Jesus becomes my role model, because a table flip, in the greek is translated too “I’ve had enough of this.” His father’s house was supposed to be a place of helping, and healing, and hope. It had become the opposite, and religious authorities let that happen.
As much as Da Rona has been such a ruthless unwelcome visitor, with her raggedy tail, like most chaotic unwelcome visitors, she too, has yielded some gifts. She actually has helped us be a little bit more like Jesus. The unhealthy structure that is the capitalism table? Flipped.
Forcing people to be in office, because somehow suffering has been equated in the name of productivity? Flipped. Unhealthy work conditions without getting anywhere livable compensation? Flipped. Being forced to pay for things that should be basic human rights, without being able to work, like water, electricity, etc.? Flipped.
An awareness that the internet is not a luxury, but a necessity, and everyone should have access? Flipped. Food apartheid, being masked in some places as food desserts, because one we can blame as a result of natural consequences, instead of calling out the discriminatory practices of choosing who eats in America? Flipped.
All of the artists and creatives that we said needed to find “real jobs”, now carrying us through one of the roughest time periods in history, being respected for the brilliance they should’ve been all along? Flipped. Flawed healthcare system, lack of access, resources, and people suffering and dying thereof? Flipped. I could go on, but I’m sure you get it.
Da Rona might be a piece of work, but what she’s done is open this long overdue conversation that has made us look at the dining room of our hearts, and tables in our souls, and evaluate whether or not we should flip them. My, how the tables have turned — no, flipped. And they should’ve. It was necessary to look at what was being served at our economical, sociological, psychological, patriarchal, xenophobic, misogynistic, masochistic, all of the other -isms and -istics of the world. They needed to be looked at, and in the age of Da Rona, they are. But, none of those things will be flipped properly, lest we check on the tables set up in our hearts, and engraved in our souls. That’s right. The systems are not alone.
In Matthew 21:13, it states “He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’; but you are making it a den of robbers.” I always thought this was an external scripture, a nice way to call out corrupt systems and organizations. But when I looked at my own table spread, I had to ask myself, when had my spread become so full of doubts, shames, insecurities, shame, grudges, shame, giving-up, shame, regrets, and more shame. This spread was full of shame. There are some beautiful things in it as well, but they sat on the same table as the ugly things too. If I consider my body and my being the temple, that holds my soul, I can’t keep this here. Frankly, I’m going to have to flip it, like Jesus, one table at a time. My, how the tables have tu — flipped
It’s hard work, but frankly, I just want to be like Jesus…starting with me.
To the Jesus who leads by example, we give thanks. Let us journey on, because Calvary soon come.
Born and raised in Galveston, TX, curated at Howard University, journeying to Detroit, and now Columbus, OH, Valerie has spent her life through the lens of preaching, praying, poetry and activism. Today is no different. Her love for her God, family, community, both locally and global fuels her passion for all that she does. Her favorite quote is “when life gives you lemonade, sprinkle black girl magic, make apple juice, and leave people wondering how it happened.”
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