What
Price Glory?
Matthew
21:1-13
Holy week has begun. Jesus has ridden triumphantly into
Jerusalem, and the capitol city has already felt his presence. Not only did he create a stir at Passover—a
time when others claiming to be the messiah had chosen to make their
appearance—he also attracted attention by his entrance into the city and his
visit to the temple.
Instead of going to the seat of the Jewish religion to
pay his respects, Jesus entered the temple grounds and broke up the profitable
scams of the leadership. It was
forbidden to pay the temple tax in anything other than Jewish coinage. People came with all kinds of foreign money,
mostly Roman. The money changers made a
nice profit from the currency exchange.
They had a captive audience, and they took full advantage of the
situation.
The other part of the venture was the sale of animals for
sacrifice. According to Torah law these
had to be spotless—perfect specimens, without a blemish of any kind. The animal sellers, if they looked hard
enough—and they did, you can be sure—could find a problem with every one the
people brought to the temple. Of course,
they had perfect specimens available for sale—at premium prices.
What choice did the people have? These thieves were supported—led, even—by the
religious leaders. The people were
stuck, with no place to turn. So they
paid through the nose for the proper coins and the proper animals, grumbling
all the while, but with no one to turn to for redress. Until Jesus arrived.
Fresh from his ride down the Mount of Olives, Jesus
entered the temple, took one look around, and went to work. He overturned the tables of the
money-changers. He turned upside down
the seats of those who sold sacrificial animals, probably adding to the
confusion by opening the cages and letting them loose. It was a mess, but Jesus let everyone know he
was there, and that his Father’s house would be a house of prayer, not a den of
thieves.
Over the next few days Jesus will continue to disrupt the
status quo. He will answer every
challenge to his authority and his knowledge of Scripture and law put to him by
the scribes, the Pharisees, and the Saducees.
Every time they attempt to trap him he will make them look foolish, much
to the delight of the common people who have been oppressed by them for so
long. Jesus will tell parable after
parable with the leaders prominently identified as the villains. They will have to stand there and take
everything Jesus hands out, because they know the people will turn on them if
they so much as lift a finger against this man who has turned everyone’s world
upside down.
It’s no wonder that, after several days of confrontation with
this upstart from Galilee, the leadership has had enough. They realize they must do something or risk
losing everything they have built up so carefully over the years. They stand to lose not only their
self-created exalted positions in the community, but also their ill-gotten
fortunes. They can’t let either happen,
so they plot to kill Jesus.
We know what happens next: fake trial, execution, death, tomb—all in the
space of less than twenty-four hours.
Any dictator in history would be impressed with the speed and
efficiency. We also know this isn’t the
end, but just the beginning of the Jesus story.
We know how it will come out, but Jesus’ contemporaries did not. His followers must have been shocked at the
way Jesus goaded the leaders. The
leaders themselves must have been delighted at the way Jesus played right into
their hands.
If
only they could have known…
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