For those who are enchanted with the picture of an ever peaceful, non-judgmental Jesus, I offer the following:
“It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration, so Jesus went to Jerusalem. In the Temple area he saw merchants selling cattle, sheep, and doves for sacrifices; he also saw dealers at tables exchanging foreign money. Jesus made a whip from some ropes and chased them all out of the Temple. He drove out the sheep and cattle, scattered the money changer’s coins over the floor, and turned over their tables. Then, going over to the people who sold doves, he told them, ‘Get these things out of here. Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace.’”
First of all, can you just see it?! It’s pandemonium! Animals running with fear, wild-eyed, totally confused and shocked merchants, onlookers jumping out of the way, dust and dung and straw being kicked into the air…it’s wild! And can you hear it?! Cattle bawling, sheep doing whatever sheep do, men screaming, pedestrians shouting, children screaming, and above it all the commanding voice of Jesus.
The Temple had a really lucrative thing going in collusion with the merchants. As pilgrims came to Passover, they came to make sacrifice. Any sacrificial animal had to be without blemish in order to be an acceptable sacrifice. The priests were the ones who determined whether an animal brought by the pilgrims passed muster. If not, the pilgrims had to buy one…from the Temple merchant, who passed a healthy cut back to the Temple. Same with the coins…the pilgrims were to pay their tithe to the Temple, but it had to be in Temple coin, coin not found anywhere else in the world. So they came to exchange, at a very expensive rate. Again, the Temple got a lucrative part of the money changing trade. It was a racket.
The thing that has always arrested my attention about this incident is Jesus. I mean, he ran a CROWD out of the temple…just Jesus. And no one fought back, or called the Temple soldiers, or stood up to him. His very presence must have been incredible to allow him to carry this off…they didn’t dare not do what he said. Not only did he have the presence of a thundering prophet, he had the filled out, muscular body of his trade. But best of all, he was right.
Those churches of today who ring their auditoriums with espresso stands, books to sell, give-aways, sermon C.D.s to buy, conference tickets to purchase, and booths for fund-raisers might do well to wonder if the simple call to worship and obedience isn’t sufficient.
Prayer: “Great and Majestic Father, thou who hast brought creation and beauty to fullness from thy incredible imagination, thou who hast delighted in the animals of this earth, and created love between youth and maiden, how wonderful are your ways! Do not let us fix our eyes on the works of man, to delight in them, but fix our minds on your presence in us that causes the creation of wonders and delights. Go to war within us against anything that might stand between we and thee, so that we might come to know the fullness of your joy and the promise of your heaven. Remove from us any delight with the mere works of religion so that our hearts might instead be filled with your presence and your love. Have mercy upon us. Amen”