“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

“Pull out all the stops”

Today, this phrase has come to mean “to do everything you can to make something successful”. The origins of this idiom come from the music industry. It is alluding to the piano-like instrument the organ, and so refers to when the “stops”, or levers that control the volume and sound are pulled out to turn on all the sounds in an organ, allowing the organist to play all the sounds at once and, therefore, be as loud as possible.

Many look at the event in the Temple the day Jesus arrived and drove out the money changers as a moment where he “pulls out all the stops”. It is true that Jesus was angry with the way the Temple had been turned into a market place – instead of a place where people could worship the Father. But, a closer look at the event shows us that, though Jesus did not “fly off the handle”, to use a previous idiom, while he took his time to weave together the cords, he was planning to “pull out all the stops.” Perhaps he kept saying to himself over and over again “Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” – until he finally moved slowly through the Temple, driving the people out. The anger we feel when we see the wrongs of our society, when we see the way people are treated, or when we become angry when we see how G-d is being removed from our society, well, this anger is righteous anger. Sometimes, we need to act, in righteous anger, to say to the world, “We too, have a zeal for the Father, and the Son.” It is ok once in a while to pull out all the stops and stand up for our faith.

Pastor Dave