Sitting down to seriously ponder the Jesus in the market passage.
John 2:13-25
13 Just before the Jewish Passover Jesus went up to Jerusalem, 14 and in the Temple he found people selling cattle and sheep and pigeons, and the money changers sitting at their counters there. 15 Making a whip out of some cord, he drove them all out of the Temple, cattle and sheep as well, scattered the money changers' coins, knocked their tables over 16 and said to the pigeon-sellers, 'Take all this out of here and stop turning my Father's house into a market.' 17 Then his disciples remembered the words of scripture: Zeal for your house will devour me.
This is primarily interesting to me because nowhere in the Bible is it explicitly stated that buying and selling in the temple is illegal or unrighteous, yet Jesus expresses clear fury at the idea that such actions are taking place.
A lot of modern day christians struggle with the idea that they have to conform to strict, by the book standards which are usually imposed on them by parents, but this extract shows that Jesus, while still believing that the law should be followed, was most concerned with the liabilities that people took outside of the law - their loopholes, their taking advantage of a sacred space to do business, their disrespect for the close bond between the worshipper and God that the temple was meant to signify.
The standards for Christians Jesus set are even stricter than the standards imposed by our parents. But they also make more sense.
Just as you wouldn't use your group chat of your best friends to advertise your business, you wouldn't set up a marketplace in a temple if you truly loved your God. Instead of following the law to the letter because it is the law, Jesus is concerned with the law because the law helps to express, though imperfectly, the stringent standards to which people should uphold themselves.
Jesus is primarily concerned with the motives and meanings of the gestures made. I've seen explanations that they were cheating foreigners into buying more expensive offerings, but while that definitely angered him if it were true, I am unconvinced that that's what caused Jesus to object to their actions, given he said 'stop turning my father's house into a market'. It would imply that his primary objective is to keep the sellers from demeaning the profound, non-exchangable relationship between the worshipper and God, especially since offerings do not 'buy over' God, but are sacrificed to please him and worship him, just as gifts are given not to win over a friend, but to express affection and adoration.
The act of worship in the temple itself is one that should be more than currency, and focused on the intent of the heart, as with the story of the woman who donated two coins. It surpasses men's fixation with money and goes straight for the jugular - what that money represents, and what the focus of worship should be.
It's profound and worthy of respect.
