Matthew 21:11-13, Mark 11:15-17, Luke 19:45-46, John 2:13-25
The story of Jesus clearing the temple is a short, but poignant piece of the Gospel and of Jesus' ministry on earth. It highlights the zeal and love that our Lord has for the worship of God, but also highlights how much it disturbs our Lord to have it defiled with the pursuits of the world. The reason that I write on this as a devotion is to correct and abuse that I have seen by some Christians to spin this story into a tale against capitalism and for the redistribution of wealth. That I believe is a lie that has been spun and re-spun within Christian circles for millenia.
What was it that Jesus was doing? Well, I believe that can be easily defined by the title oft given this segment of Scripture, "Jesus' cleansing of the Temple." The cleansing word is a wonderful read of what he was doing it, what was it that they were doing that was so offensive, was it the selling or the location of the selling? Location is of great importance here because this is the only place that he comes out with such zeal. To understand what was going on here one must understand the context.
In the times of Jesus the Temple was the center of Jewish life and on the passover it was the desire of every Jew to come and sacrifice at the Temple. The distances of travel for many were often great and the idea of bringing their sacrifice to the temple from home was not practical, so they would often sell their offering and bring with them the money which they had made in the sale. When they would arrive they would then have to exchange their monies from the local currency to the temple currency and purchase an acceptable sacrifice to present to the priest. This practice was wrought with corruption as the exchange rate for temple currency was not to the benefit of the worshiper and the cost of the sacrifice was much higher then if they were to have purchased it elsewhere or if they were to sell in the normal marketplace.
The scales were not even.
This practice was contrary to Scriptural ideas, but was being propped up by the religious leadership because of how it benefited them. It was a corruption and was neither honoring to God or to the Temple which was His home. Therefore it was making the Temple into a "Den of Thieves" that was, in many ways, worse than the common market. The issue of tying this to movements going on today and in the past against corporate greed is trying to paint a picture of this that makes it different than it truly was. If Jesus was against cheating in the market then he would have not only cleared out the temple to cleanse it, but his attack would have extended beyond the temple to the markets, which it did not. Jesus never advised the disciples not to enter the market nor did he speak against the market. The story of the rich young ruler (Matthew 19:16-22[23-30], Mark 10:17-22[23-31], Luke 18:18-23[24-30]). One need only look to the Parables of the Laborers in the Vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16) to understand that fairness and equal distribution are not even in the agenda of Jesus as some would like to assert. Jesus did believe and teach the importance of sharing and the giving of self and possessions to other, but to try and place upon that more than it was is trying to create something that is not there. Jesus' intention was the destruction of idols that stand between us and our God - covetousness and stealing are still wrong - to bear false witness and speak poorly of our neighbor is still wrong. Our faith is one that calls us to be satisfied and content in what the Lord provides and not to begrudge another for their good fortune.
Father, when our hearts are desirous to take, let us repent of it. Let us then return to those whom we have spoken poorly of ten-fold what we have taken or have desired to take that we may be blameless before you. Guide us with your Holy Spirit that we may see your way and do all that you would have us do in service toward our neighbor and in humble obedience to you. For your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord who died and gave all for us we pray. Amen.
