Thoughts for the Day

Then Jesus entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling things there; and he said, ‘It is written,

“My house shall be a house of prayer”;
but you have made it a den of robbers.’

Every day he was teaching in the temple. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people kept looking for a way to kill him; but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were spellbound by what they heard.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

Today's account of Jesus clearing out the merchants from the Temple in Jerusalem has on occasion caused me difficulty in parish life! "Vicar, Jesus said we shouldn't be selling things in church!" said one PCC member, when I suggested selling Christian cards and book-marks at the back of the church. I understood her argument but felt she had not realised the differences between the Temple and a Church.

This incident appears in all four Gospels though John has it near the beginning and the other three in the last week of Jesus' life. John also mentions that he drove the sellers out with 'a whip of cords'. So what might Jesus have meant when he declared "My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers"?

I think this incident was more like an "acted parable". People came from all over the world to make sacrifices and pay their Temple tax according to the Law. The activities took place outside in different courtyards, and Jesus was really making three points:

1. The merchants who sold the animals and birds for sacrifice spuriously increased their prices in order to claim they were "spotless" as required by the Law.
2. To pay Temple tax the people had to change their money into Temple money, and were frequently fleeced by the money-changers.
3. All this took place outside in the Courtyard of the Gentiles - a place where non-Jews came to pray. Jesus wanted the Temple to be a place for all peoples, and all this noise and bustle in the courtyard meant that it was impossible for them to worship.

Lord Jesus,
You sought to fight injustice
wherever it occurred,
even in Your Father's temple.
Help us to combat injustice ,
and to care for the underdog,
the neglected, and the outsider,
wherever we find them.
Amen.