The whole money changers in the Temple story aka Jesus pitching a "holy fit" is totally out of context as recounted here.
It was always "okay" to have money changers in the Temple...they were convenient and acceptable service to those who were required to travel by their "thus saith's" to the Temple once a year for penitential ritualistic cleansing.
Furthermore, they were required to offer live sacrifices for proper propitiation of their previous years' collective sins.
The trick was to carry a perfect dove, lamb, or other acceptable sacrificial animal the long distances of their mostly foot powered journey, keep them alive, and keep them from being injured in transit due to their captivity. Or to even have them arive at all.
There were honest "money changers" and dishonest ones. There were money changers who were selling injured, maimed and sick doves, lambs, etc., to those desparate to replace their carefully selected sacrificial animals in captive transit. And the selection wasn't much different, nor the price gouging much different for those who decided to come as quickly as possible, and not risk an animal's life in transit.
The whole purpose of a blemishless dove was not only to be an archetype of the Crucified Christ to come, but also that the supplicant least able to afford the "more affluent, blemishless animals" could still meet the letter of the law, and could afford the extremely inexpensive dove for this sacrifical substitute role.
If one were to understand this story in its historical context, one would quickly find that Yashua drove out the dishonest and those taking advantage of the sincere and devout Jewish traveler, not only rich but poor with both their unacceptable inventory as well as their exhorbitant pricing, still preventing the poor from access to annual forgiveness.
There is nothing about Jesus "cleaning house" as in challenging nor destroying the accepted tradition of his Jewish male peers, but instead Jesus made a politically active statement about worng and how it affects the poor most especially.
Now that THAT is cleared up, anymore out of context "Jesus had a mad on" stories one wishes to parade across this forum? |
