January 18, 2026

            Indianola Presbyterian Church, Columbus

      “Turning Tables and Finding Our Place”

       by Rev. Trip Porch

January 18, 2026                                                                                                                                  Based on  John 2:13–25

 The temple. The most sacred institution in Jesus’ worldview. As a faithful Jewish man, Jesus would have revered the temple as the place where God dwelled, a place worthy of awe, devotion, and careful worship. It was the spiritual center of his people’s life together. It carried centuries of prayer, sacrifice, longing, and hope.

 And yet, when Jesus arrives, what he finds there is exploitation. Corruption. A system that benefits some while burdening others. The holiness of the institution is called into question, and with it, the trust people had placed in it.

 We do not need much imagination to hear this story right now. If there has been a defining trend over the last twenty years, it has been growing institutional doubt and questioning. Political institutions. Financial institutions. Religious institutions. Educational institutions. The media. Policing. The economy.

 Trust feels thin. Corruption feels pervasive. And more and more people are asking a hard, honest question:

If our institutions are no longer fulfilling their mission, what do we do with them?

 For some, the answer has felt simple. Burn them down. Dismantle them completely. Start over.

The belief is that corruption has gone so far that there is nothing worth saving.

 And I get it. That impulse comes from real pain. Real harm. Real betrayal.

 But maybe it is the Presbyterian in me, the part of me shaped by a tradition that believes reform is always possible, that wants to hold onto hope for redemption even in far gone situations. And I do not think this instinct stands alone. Because when we turn to Jesus in the temple, we find something more complicated.

And something more hopeful.

 Unlike the other gospel writers, John places this story at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry rather than the end. Jesus has just shown up. He has just revealed himself at a wedding feast by turning water into wine, a sign of abundance, joy, and God’s generosity.

 And now he walks straight into the heart of the most important institution of his faith. The temple.

This was not simply a building. It was the center of Jewish life, identity, and hope. The place where heaven and earth were believed to meet. The place where God’s presence dwelled among the people.

 Jesus enters it. He sees animals for sale, which in itself is not the problem. Pilgrims needed sacrifices. Worship required provision. The problem is the money changing. The price gouging. The loan shark economy that had taken hold.

 Some people were profiting greatly. Many others were being excluded. Faith had become unaffordable for the poor. Jesus sees a system enriching a few while harming many.

 He turns the tables. He upsets an economy that privileges insiders and burdens the vulnerable. Not

quietly. Not politely. He fashions a whip. He overturns tables. He drives out the money changers.

 Yet, Jesus does not burn the temple down. He does not declare the entire institution beyond redemption.

 He calls it my Father’s house. That matters.

 Jesus’ action is not about destruction. It is about revelation and truth telling. He exposes how something meant to serve life, healing, and reconciliation has drifted. How an institution created to make God accessible has become transactional. How systems meant to support people and nurture faith have begun to replace it.

 This is the difference between dismantling and re-centering. Jesus does not come as an anarchist.

He does not come as an institutional loyalist. He comes as a reformer who knows what the institution is for.

 When the leaders ask him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” they are really asking, “By what

authority do you challenge this system?”

 And Jesus answers with a riddle: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

They think he is talking about the building. John tells us otherwise.

 Jesus is speaking about his body. John uses this story to make a theological claim. God’s presence on earth is no longer ultimately located in an institution built by human hands, no matter how sacred. God’s presence is now located in Jesus. Which means institutions are no longer the source of faith. They are no longer the center. Jesus is.

 This does not mean institutions lack meaning. It means they are accountable. Accountable to the God who chooses to dwell in a person. Accountable to a mission rooted in mercy, justice, and love. Accountable to the human lives they were created to serve.

 And when institutions forget their purpose, Jesus does not walk away. He shows up and starts turning

tables.

 That should challenge us across the spectrum of our public debates. To those who believe everything must be torn down, Jesus insists that this is still his Father’s house. To those who believe institutions must be protected at all costs, Jesus demonstrates that confrontation and correction are part of faithfulness.

 Jesus models a third way. He stays engaged. He disrupts corruption. He recenters what has drifted. He

refuses both blind loyalty and despairing destruction. That is a demanding way. It requires discernment.

Patience. Courage. And it requires remembering what institutions exist to do.

 The temple existed so people could encounter the living God. When it stopped doing that, Jesus

intervened.

 Our institutions exist to serve human flourishing. When they stop doing that, the question is not whether they should be challenged. The question is how.

 Jesus shows us that faithful critique does not grow out of cynicism. It grows out of love. Out of knowing the heart of the mission. Out of believing that some things remain worth saving.

 John then adds one more telling detail. Jesus does not entrust himself to the crowds. Because he knows the human heart. He knows how quickly reform can become spectacle. How easily one broken system can be replaced by another. How tempting it is to confuse power with faithfulness.

 So Jesus refuses to be claimed by any institution, even those that speak his name. Instead, he offers

himself. His body. His life. His presence.

 God does not retreat when institutions falter. God moves closer. Into a person. Into relationships.

Into communities that follow Jesus rather than defending systems.

 This is good news for this moment. It means we do not have to choose between clinging to what is failing or burning everything down. We are invited to follow Jesus into the temple. To tell the truth about what is broken. To turn tables where harm is happening. To remember where faith finds its center.

 Tables are being turned all around us. We see it every day. Sometimes in ways that expose injustice and create space for healing. Sometimes in ways that feel reckless and unmooring.

 And when everything feels up in the air, when trust erodes and the future feels unclear, the question

becomes not only what we believe, but where we look.

 John gives us an answer. Look for Jesus. Because when the temple is in turmoil, Jesus does not disappear.

He stands in the middle of it. God’s presence on earth is embodied in him. And Jesus consistently stands with the people being pushed aside, priced out, or shut out.

 He stands with those harmed by exploitation. He stands with those for whom faith has become

inaccessible. He stands with the ones institutions were meant to serve in the first place.

 So when the world feels unstable, faith means watching Jesus. Where he goes. Who he stands with.

What he protects. What he confronts.

 And then choosing to stand there too. Jesus does not offer us a system to defend. He offers us a way to walk. A way grounded in justice for the vulnerable. A way shaped by truth telling. A way carried by love that refuses to look away.

 When tables are turned in ways that build life, may we help turn them. When tables are turned in ways that dismantle goodness, may we stand with Jesus and refuse to join the harm. Even when everything feels

 unsettled, God’s presence is not adrift. God remains among the people. Still embodied. Still at work.

 Christ still stands in the temple, calling us to follow.

 Thanks be to God.

WE GATHER IN AWE AND PRAISE 

PRELUDE                                                                    “Ye Simple Souls Who Stray”                                        arr. Anne Britt

INTROIT                              “The Night Has Passed”                                 Emma Lou Diemer

WELCOME                                                                    Rev. Trip Porch

One: This is the day that the Lord has made

All: Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

*CALL TO WORSHIP                                                                   

One:  Come and gather, all who are tired of carrying the weight of the world alone.

All:  Come, all who long for joy that feels real and shared.

One:  Come with your weariness and your hope, your laughter, and your longing.

All:  God meets us not only in moments of crisis, but in moments of celebration.

One:  Let us worship the God of abundance and joy..

*HYMN 394                         “Christ Is Made the Sure Foundation”                   WESTMINSTER ABBEY

*PRAYER OF CONFESSION                                                            Peter Maurath   

God of mercy, you know our hearts and our hopes. We confess that we often place our trust in systems and structures that fall short of love. We struggle to respond faithfully when institutions drift from their purpose. We carry fear, frustration, and weariness into decisions that require wisdom and care.

Draw us back to the heart of faith. Form us in the way of Jesus. Teach us how to live with integrity and compassion. Renew us, O God, and lead us in your ways. Amen

*ASSURANCE OF PARDON                                                          Rev. Trip Porch

*RESPONSE OF PARDON 583            “Gloria, Gloria” 2 times                                   GLORIA (TAIZE)

*PASSING OF THE PEACE                                                                  

One:   The peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all,

All:      And also with you.

WE LISTEN FOR GOD’S WORD 

ANTHEM                      "Wash, O God, Our Sons and Daughters”        arr. Carlton R. Young

                                                                         Music from The Sacred Harp                                        text by Ruth Duck             

CHILDREN’S MESSAGE                                                                  Sharon Renkes

PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION                                                                 

SCRIPTURE      John 2:13-25         adapted from The Message

 When the Jewish Passover Feast was about to take place, Jesus traveled up to Jerusalem. He found the Temple teeming with people who were selling cattle and sheep and doves. The loan sharks were also there in full strength.

Jesus put together a whip out of strips of leather and chased them out of the Temple, stampeding the sheep and cattle, upending the tables of the loan sharks, spilling coins left and right. He told the dove merchants, “Get your things out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a shopping mall!” That’s when his disciples remembered the Scripture, “Zeal for your house consumes me.”

But the temple’s leaders were upset. They asked, “What credentials can you present to justify this?” Jesus answered, “Tear down this Temple and in three days I’ll put it back together.”

They were indignant: “It took forty-six years to build this Temple, and you’re going to rebuild it in three days?” But Jesus was talking about his body as the Temple. Later, after he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered he had said this. They then put two and two together and believed both what was written in Scripture and what Jesus had said.

During the time he was in Jerusalem, those days of the Passover Feast, many people noticed the signs he was displaying and, seeing they pointed straight to God, entrusted their lives to him. But Jesus didn’t entrust his life to them. He knew them inside and out, knew how untrustworthy they were. He didn’t need any help in seeing right through them.

One: Holy wisdom, Holy Word,
All: Thanks be to God                                                                                        

SERMON                                                                              Rev. Trip Porch

WE RESPOND TO GOD’S WORD

*HYMN 5                       “God, the Sculptor of the Mountains”                 JENNINGS-HOUSTON

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE  followed by the Lord’s Prayer

TIME OF OFFERING   online giving is available at  www. indianolapres.org/give

OFFERTORY                         “Lilies” from Blumenleben, Op. 19                          Dora Pejacevic

*OFFERTORY RESPONSE 607       “Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow”        OLD HUNDREDTH       

*PRAYER OF DEDICATION 

Gracious God, receive these gifts we offer today. May they be used to build up your body in this world. May they serve your work of love, justice, and renewal, and help make your living presence known in the world. We give with gratitude and trust. in the name of Christ. Amen.

*HYMN 157                                     “I Danced in the Morning”                                            LORD OF THE DANCE

TIME OF COMMUNITY SHARING

CHARGE & BENEDICTION

CHORAL RESPONSE                    “Go Forth for God”                                           Kenneth Dake 

POSTLUDE                                  “I’m Trying to Be Like Jesus”               arr. Danielle Isaacson

Acknowledgments: Unless otherwise indicated, all texts and music are printed and broadcast under OneLicense.net license #A-702452