If modern churches took bribes from the heathen to remain silent on issues, that could be considered thievery, right? They could be portrayed as stealing the truth from their flock for personal gain.
I'm not certain about all the details that went into the truth behind Jesus's statment that the money changers were turning his fathers' house into a den of theives. It happened after the first miracle of his public ministry at the wedding, where he turned the water into wine. Jesus was thinking about things in a different way than the religious leaders of his day did, obviously.
Moneychanging wasn't per se evil. Scripture provides for the poor who could not afford to offer the full requirement of the law and they who could not afford a lamb sacrifice, for instance, because they didn't have one were not left out.
"And if he be not able to bring a lamb, then he shall bring for his trespass, which he hath committed, two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, unto the LORD; one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering." - Leviticus 5:7 KJV
"And he shall offer the one of the turtledoves, or of the young pigeons, such as he can get;" - Leviticus 14:30 KJV
It was my thought that the money changers were charging for their service and profiting from the poverty of their brothers. I don't think I can prove that from Scripture though but it is something that I was taught. Anybody know for sure? Maybe it was the atmosphere that surrounded the pandering or offering shoddy merchandise and not the best from what was provided that provoked our Lord? Pretty sure it was a heart matter but I'm not familiar with the customs and life of the Jews at the time to say for certain.
But after Jesus began his public ministry and after he changed water into wine at the request of his mother at the wedding he went up to the temple and was consumed by the zeal of his father's house. When the Pharisees saw what he did they asked him, "What sign do you show us for what you've done?" "Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." - John 2:19 KJV
So he knew that his body was the real temple and the message that was found in him, the word that he would speak, was the very sacred word that had been given to him by his father, God. We are the earthen vessels (as Paul declares in 2Cor). If we allow God to fill us to the brim then take the time to serve others, as we share the word of God and serve one anohter - as married couples especially serve the water which is the word of God to each other, that water will be changed to the wine of Joy in the Spirit of God. The mysteries behind marriage symbolize more than two being joined into one, they reflect the truth seen at the tables. These things, the mystery of marriage, the wedding feast, the symbols that were made by the Ancient of Days were what comprised the beginning of the miracles of Jesus.
Jesus went to the temple and was distraught by what he saw. "Make not my father's house a house of merchandise." The zeal of the House of God had eaten him up. In the earlier part of the chapter, there at Cana, Jesus was working at those very same tables - nobody knew from wence the wine came - except the servants. The contrast between Joy and Judgment that is seen by the use of the tables in the space of that short time is part of the point here. Joy and Judgment often go hand in hand.
There are things in our temples and things in our lives that are ripping us off from the joy of the Lord. Paul said, "Be angry, yet sin not --don't let the sun go down on your wrath," and Jesus provided a perfect example for us. Jesus was in control, it wasn't a matter of losing his temper. It wasn't done from some long unexpressed grudge. The Bible says, "There is pleasure in sin for a season but after that comes destruction."
Jesus didn't do that on the spur of the moment (or while throwing a temper fit) but instead went out and made a scourge of small cords before returning and driving them out of the temple as can be seen in John's gospel.
"And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables; And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise. And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up." - John 2:14-17 KJV
Think about the tables. There at the marriage feast, water turned to wine at the tables. Later those same tables are used for unholy purpose... Where does that happen in our lives? In my life, it happens at communion. I can weep for joy when I think about the love that Jesus has for me. I am also convicted there too --when I am holding the elements of communion in my hand, where I find judgment and can confess, "Yes, Lord. I confess that I have examine myself, judged myself, and am forgiven for those things that I turn from."
These things compose the thoughts that occur in me when I consider the zeal that consumes, from the "house of God". I hear the words, "My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord." When Jesus drove out the moneychangers he made the scourge from small cords. He uses the small things and can allow them in us to overturn tables in our life.
"What right does He have to even use small cords and scourge me?" That's the response that the religious leaders had, "What sign do you show us?" is like saying, By what right? They didn't ask, "Why are you doing this?" but instead said, "Who gave you that kind of authority?" "Who are you to do such and correct US?" If we are not chastened when we are in sin then we are illegitimate (the King James Version uses the word bastard to drive home the point) that we must feel correction when we are sinning. Else we are not sons. He isn't wanting our tables to be a source of problems but rather a source of joy in us.
He said, "Make not
MY father's house..." compare that to what he said three years later at the end of his ministry before he was crucified, "Behold!
YOUR house is left unto you desolate." (Mt 23:28) It was no longer "my father's house" because they resented his ministry and refused to recieve the correction as sons.
This event took place at the Passover. Passover took place just before the feast of unleavened bread. Jews would search and scour their house to make sure there was no trace of sin (leaven is a type of sin). The shook out (or drove out) the leaven from their house. We see Jesus' body as the House of God, we see the temple as the House of God -we see so many things that are being fit together and that sight too by the working of the Holy Spirit who is jointly fitting us together so that we too can exist as a church (the Body of Christ) and worship God in spirit and truth. Not with store-bought glory and not with the sacrifice of our works but only by His Spirit as appointed from the beginning.
