Deuteronomy
14:22-27, Isaiah
56:6-8, Matthew
21:12-17, Mark
11:15-19, Luke
19:45-48,
Key
Verse: "These I will bring into my Holy mountain and give them joy in my
house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on My
altar; for My house will be called "A House Of Prayer," for all
nations." --Isaiah 56:7
Wow!
This is different. Jesus is loving and gentle. He is known for healing and
helping, but today, He is a man of action and perhaps, for some of us, His
actions are hard to understand. Why would Jesus be so upset?
Jesus
encountered exploitation, in His Father's House, taking place in His Father's
name! He encountered the religious endorsing opportunism in the name of
religion and this made Him angry. While the religious had often accused Jesus
of being blasphemous, what Jesus met at the temple was the height of blasphemy
and, in keeping with His own law, He responded to the blasphemy He experienced.
First
of all, technically, it could be argued, from the passage in Deuteronomy 14,
that the selling of certain animals that was taking place was not entirely
wrong. God had made a provision for those who lived far from the place of
worship, in which the Israelites could sell their animal intended for sacrifice,
receive payment and then use that payment to purchase the appropriate sacrifice
again closer to the actual worship location. This was often easier than driving
lambs and cattle intended for worship all the way across country. What was
intended was a fair exchange. What had evolved was a racket of money laundering
that the mobsters of today would be proud of.
The
temple had gone into the sheep and cattle and dove raising business. In this
way, the priests could ensure that the sheep and cattle used for sacrifice
were, "perfect," as the "Law," specified. In fact, some biblical historians believe that
the sheep that were being watched the night of Jesus' birth were actually
temple sheep intended for sacrifice, making the shepherds employees of the
temple who ended up watching over the True Lamb of God!
Secondly,
since people traveled from all over, money from many nations was pouring in,
and, as with international trade today, money from different countries had
different values. To solve this problem, the temple establishment had
established its own currency and the money changers at the temple were
responsible to exchange all money brought in, into temple coinage, at a hefty
rate, of course. Thus, the leadership was making money two ways, by having an
exclusive market on what was sold and by having exclusive rights to the money
exchange rate, which was arbitrary. The leadership was making money hand over
fist on the people's attempts to obey the Lord and worship within the
guidelines set by the law.
This
was never God's intention! This was exploitation to the full and Jesus was
angry that some were making money off those who had come, with sincere hearts
to worship Him. That's why Jesus says that they had turned His house into a
house of robbers. That is exactly what they had done, which was completely the
opposite of what had been intended.
On
top of the money, you can imagine the filth. Animals will do what animals must
do, rendering the entire temple area "unclean," according to God's
own law. All of it was an affront and mockery of worship, and Jesus had come to
clean house. One more thing; this “market”
had been set up in the court of the Gentiles, crowding them out of the
possibility of drawing near!
"How
dare you turn My Father's house into a market." (John 2:16) "It is
written," He said to them, "My house will be a house of prayer,"
but you have made it "a den of robbers." (Luke 19:46) Instead of
being a house of prayer, the religious had turned the temple into a house of
prey. May we heed this caution and examine our own houses of worship today.
Hymn:
"How Lovely Is YourDwelling Place"
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