In today’s world of international finance, Wall Street in New York, the FTSE in London and the exchanges in Paris, Tokyo and Mumbai are high on the list of major centres of global commerce.
But when Jesus walked the streets of Jerusalem at Passover, more than 2 000 years ago, a time when the fastest mode of transportation was the donkey and skyscrapers were non-existent, Herod’s Temple was the place to go to accumulate wealth through currency exchanges and trade in goods and services.
“The temple was the main economic centre” in Jerusalem, explained the Reverend Dr Ian Rock, principal of Barbados’ Codrington College, the Caribbean’s leading theological seminary whose history dates back almost 300 years. “The Temple of Herod had turned itself into a major trading centre. Worship had fallen by the wayside and economy was being promoted” in its place.
Ask Codrington’s principal about the seminal event in which Jesus was the key figure and he would cite the four canonical Gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John – to insist that what occurred there ultimately led to Jesus’ crucifixion and his resurrection. With Christians everywhere having recently focused their attention on Good Friday and on the resurrection on Easter Sunday, it stands to reason why the story of the “Cleansing of the Temple” takes on such a pivotal role in our religious practice.
“Because of the economic activity at the Temple Jesus went in and overturned the tables that were promoting trade and the accumulation of wealth saying ‘‘this is not what this temple should be for”. “This temple has been dedicated to the worship of God but it has been turned into a worship of wealth.” In other words, like many things the temple had lost its way, its main purpose,” said Rock.
Consider the scene at the house of worship. Its courtyard was filled with sheep, goats and pigeons for sale. The tables that dotted the temple were crowded with money changers doing a brisk business as tens of thousands of Jews from the far-flung regions, as many as 300 000 we are told, exchanged their currency for Roman and Greek money, making a handsome profit in the process.
“Historians and others writing as far back as 2 000 years ago identified the Jewish temple as one of the major sources of revenue, not only for the land of Judah, but for the Roman authorities,” explained the College’s principal.
“Back then Jerusalem was under the control of the Romans and it was a means by which the temple itself contributed to the Roman Empire through taxes, levies and
so on. So, when Jesus went in and overturned the tables, he was interfering with the economic mainstay of the land and he was actually interfering with the revenue stream to the Roman centre. It was for that reason he was crucified. It was seen as an act of treason against the Roman Empire.”
Rock says evidence of Roman anger at Jesus was quite clear and it was seen in the fact that he was crucified between two men convicted of serious wrongdoing against the state, not simply for stealing.
“He was crucified, not between robbers, that was a bad translation of the Greek. He was crucified between two insurgents, two people who were actually working against the (Roman) empire,” asserted Rock. “He was tried for treason and found guilty.”
But there is another interpretation of the biblical crucifixion story. Other theologians contend he was killed because he was challenging the power, influence and the wealth of Jewish leaders of the day.
As he “cleansed” the temple, he said “take these things away, do not make my Father’s house a den of trade”; some say a ‘den of thieves’.
“When he took a whip of cord, overturned the tables and sent the money changers and traders scampering, in today’s world we call them bankers, brokers and hedge fund tycoons of Wall Street, Jesus was actually striking out against greed and the unbridled desire to be wealthy at all cost.
“We need to go back even further before that and remember in the three temptations of Jesus we see how the whole notion of struggling with wealth came up in Jesus’ ministry,” Dr Rock said.
“The first was a suggestion he turn stones in bread. The second was jumping off the temple. There we have in those temptation we see how the Roman Empire controlled the masses (through) bread and circus. Jesus was being encouraged in the temptation was to provide the means for mass appeasement and move the minds of the people from the issues of the day.
“So turning stones into bread, jump off the temple wall, a form of entertainment. Those two showed that Jesus was wrestling with population and wealth and popularity. He could have turned the stones into bread and he would have jumped off the temple walls and not be hurt but he decided not to go that way. The third temptation, bow down and worship Satan and bow down and worship the Roman Empire, we must recognise that had he done that he would have entered into what was then called a patron-client relationship with Rome.
“In other words, if he worshipped the [Roman] emperor as a god, he would have become a client to Rome, who would be his patron,” Rock said. “Jesus said, ‘No I am not going to do that because that’s not what God is all about.’ That is not what the ministry is about.”
Jesus’ action was a clear demonstration that instead of wealth and popularity he was interested in pulling people together in a caring and sharing relationship.