Then Jesus
entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and
buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and
the seats of those who sold doves.
--Matthew 21:12 NRSV
Some of us grew up with
an angry Jesus ready to show up at any moment to fight the Battle of
Armageddon. Others of us grew up with a kind Jesus who was the Good Shepherd
always pictured cuddling with little lambs. The Jesus I grew up with was kind
of schizophrenic, both angry and kind, depending on the mood of the preacher I
was listening to at any given time. When I realized there were options about
what to believe about Jesus, I definitely identified more with the kind one,
yet I’m aware there is a danger in doing so. One can end up with a Jesus so
kind he is passive and inoffensive. This Jesus doesn’t demand much of us, and
so we turn to him only when we have need but never when he has need of us.
If you’re like me,
focused on Jesus’ radical service, inclusion and love, then his violence on
Holy Monday is a shock. According to Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus went to the
Jerusalem temple on Monday of Holy week and “cleansed” the temple, driving out
the money changers and merchants selling animals for sacrifice. Geesh, Jesus,
what happened to loving your enemy and turning the other cheek?
When we understand more
of the historical context, Jesus’ actions make a little more sense, although
they still may shock those of us in the “kind Jesus” crowd. The Jerusalem
temple was the center of first century Jewish religious life, the place connecting
heaven and earth. There was no way to be a faithful Jew and neglect one’s
relationship to the temple. Faithful Jews were expected to offer sacrifices at
the temple for important life events, but it was impractical for people who
travelled from a distance to the temple to bring livestock with them. So, the
temple began offering one-stop shopping where one could show up and buy an
animal for the priests to sacrifice.
This “convenience” was
more complicated than it might seem. The Ten Commandments forbade graven images,
and that included most coins which had Roman deities or emperors claiming
divinity on them. In a holy place like the temple, special coins without such
images could be exchanged for the normal currency (sort of like a currency
exchange at an international airport). The “money changers” charged a healthy
fee for their work with a big cut going to the temple officials themselves.
Then one had to buy animals to sacrifice which were also up charged to maximize
profit and enrich temple officials further. If you were a lower economic class
person—and most people were in first century Israel—you were exploited by the
rich to carry out your religious obligations. Some scholars think most of the
wealth of Israel in that time was located at the temple, and it functioned more
like a bank than a house of worship.
Understood in this light,
Jesus’ act of “cleansing” the temple is outrage over the use of religion to
exploit poor people. A strong word of warning needs to be stated here—this Gospel
story has been used for centuries to promote the falsehood that Jews are greedy
bankers who exploit people. Down through the centuries, through massacres, pogroms,
the Holocaust, The Merchant of Venice, and conspiracy theories about the
faked document The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, this text has been used
as a weapon rather than as a tool for justice. 99% of the Jews in Jesus’ day
had nothing to do with the temple’s financial exploitation of the poor. A
number of first century Jewish groups recognized the corruption of the temple establishment and sought ways to be faithful without it, such as the Pharisees we see in the
Gospels and the Essenes who possibly wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls. Jesus
was not alone in his rejection of this kind of religious manipulation.
The point of this text is
not to condemn some other religion than Christianity but rather to guard against using
religion for our own ends. Besides, once Christianity became a state religion,
if not before, it became the one who exploited the poor in God’s name. Christian
history is one long story of rich rulers and clerics using God to enrich
themselves.
Can we deal with a Jesus
who gets angry at the exploitation of the poor in God’s name? Christians who
want an angry Jesus are obsessed with end times nonsense instead of injustice
in the here and now. On the other hand, Christians who want a calm non-offensive Jesus don’t
want him meddling in their pocketbooks. Jesus seems to confound both groups of
Christians.
The Gospels and scholars
agree that it was Jesus’ actions at the temple which directly led to him being
executed. Caring for the poor rarely makes you popular or rich. This Gospel
story invites us to think about unjust laws, regulations and rules which enrich
the richest and take away opportunities for those on the bottom of the economic
ladder to climb upward. Most of the time, these unjust laws, regulations and
rules are created and passed by people who claim to be Christian but who
obviously don’t get angry about the same things as Jesus.
Similarly, the prophets
of the so-called “Prosperity Gospel,” peddle a brand of Christianity that
enriches themselves at the expense of their flocks. On TV, the internet, and
social media, they exploit the gullible and the desperate in Jesus’ name. Since
they are usually the most visible Christian voices in media, it is no wonder younger
generations who know no other kind of Christianity run from it. If more
Christians were angry about what angered Jesus, would those who reject
organized religion stop and take notice?
I like my non-offensive Jesus
because I’m a comfortable middle class suburban guy. I feel sure if my life weren’t
so insulated from the economic pain so many experience, then I would share
Jesus’ anger.
Grace and Peace,
Chase
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