Intersecting reasons culminating in Christ’s death
Several attempts to arrest or kill Jesus
The economic dimension of the cleansing
The cleansing as the final straw
Last week’s post began the discussion of a Christ-centred theology of economics and established that our salvation can be described in economic terms. Today’s post examines how the cleansing of the temple, which disrupted the economic architecture of the Jewish religious leaders, may have been the final straw that led to Christ’s death.
I must clarify from the outset that this reflection does not seek to undermine in any way God’s timing in Christ’s actions or other dimensions of the divine salvific plan. Instead, in line with my existential approach to theology, it is a mere reflection within the theology of economics, which also extends to political economy, given how religious leaders reacted to this event. Political economy is the study of how political institutions, the state, and economic systems interact to influence wealth distribution, policymaking, and power dynamics.
Intersecting reasons culminating in Christ’s death
In general, several intersecting reasons culminated in the death of Christ: blasphemy for claiming to be equal to God (theological), tensions as his popularity threatened the political stability during the Roman rule (political), his teachings challenging the religious teachers of his time (religious), and his action in cleansing the temple disrupting the economic system of the temple establishment (economic). In line with the theology of economics, I decided to explore to what extent Jesus’ action in cleansing the temple affected the plot to eliminate him.
Several attempts to arrest or kill Jesus
The Jews and their religious leaders on several different occasions sought to arrest or kill Jesus. At the outset of his ministry, the people of Jesus’ hometown, Nazareth, wanted to throw him off the brow of the hill because he questioned their lack of faith (Luke 4:22-30).
After healing the man with a withered hand on the Sabbath, the “Pharisees went out and took counsel against him, how to destroy him” (Matt 12:14; cf. Mark 3:6, Luke 6:11). When Jesus healed on Sabbath a man who had been ill for thirty-eight years and called God His Father, “the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the sabbath but also called God his Father, making himself equal with God” (John 5:18).
When tensions began to rise due to his ministry, Jesus avoided going about in Judea because the Jews sought to kill him (John 7:1). Some of the Jews sought to arrest him but no one laid hands on him because his hour had not yet come (John 7:30). The chief priests and Pharisees sent officers to arrest him (John 7:32), but could not arrest him because, according to the officers, “No man ever spoke like this man” (John 7: 46).
When Jesus said he existed before Abraham, the Jews took up stones to throw at him for blasphemy (John 8:58-59). When Jesus identified himself with the Father, the Jews took up stones again to stone him, arguing that he made himself God (John 10:31-33). As he continued teaching about being one with the Father, they tried to arrest him again, but he escaped from their grasp (John 10:38-39).
The most definite official plot of the religious leaders to kill Jesus came after he raised Lazarus from the dead. After the raising of Lazarus from the dead, the chief priests and the Pharisees planned on how to kill Jesus, and gave orders that anyone who knew about his whereabouts should let them know so that they might arrest him (John 11:47-57). They even went ahead to plan to kill Lazarus because, on account of him, many Jews believed in Jesus (John 12:9-11).
The cleansing of the temple
The gospels place the cleansing of the temple on two different occasions. The first is at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry (John 2:14-17). The second is just before his passion, at the end of his ministry (Matt 21:12, Mark 11:15, Luke 19:45). In any case, it took place during the Passover. Since Jesus began his ministry when he was about “thirty years of age” (Luke 3:23), he cleansed the temple either at 30 or at 33.
The economic dimension of the cleansing
First, the trade in the temple allowed pilgrims to get the animals they needed for sacrifice. The religious leaders may have benefited financially from the trade, directly and indirectly. They would have gained directly if the sellers paid taxes to gain permission to sell in the temple. On the other hand, they benefited indirectly because trade enabled all pilgrims to obtain the currency or animals required for Passover, which then flowed into the treasury. The animals sold were oxen, sheep, and pigeons (John 2:14), indicating that the trade spanned the wealthy and the poor (cf. Leviticus 12:6-8). The money changers were there too to help those coming from other territories.
Jesus’ description of their action as turning the house of prayer into a ‘den of robbers’(Matt 21:13; Mark 11:17; Luke 19:46) shows Jesus was not condemning commerce as such, but the corrupt or exploitative commercialisation of access to God during the Passover.
Since this trade was essential to Jewish religious leaders, any threat to buying, selling, and exchanging money threatened their income. Although Jesus had preached repeatedly in the synagogues, performed miracles even on the Sabbath day, and even reprimanded the Jewish religious leaders for their hypocrisy, the cleansing intensified their intent to kill him.
Matthew’s gospel reports that after the temple cleansing, the Jewish leaders questioned Jesus on whose authority he taught and acted on. This is particularly understandable since the synoptic accounts of the cleansing of the temple (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) narrate that Jesus cleansed the temple after the triumphant entry into Jerusalem. The chief priests and Pharisees then tried to arrest him, but feared the multitudes who regarded him as a prophet (Matt 21:45-46). Mark’s and Luke’s accounts affirm that they “sought a way to destroy him”, but could not do so due to the people (Mark 11:17-18; Luke 19:46-48).
The cleansing as the final straw
As noted at the beginning, several other reasons intersected, culminating in Christ’s death.
However, the cleansing appears to be the final catalytic act because it integrates the theological, political, religious, and economic reasons for Christ’s death into a single event.
First, Jesus’s action showed one who acted with authority. Hence, the chief priests and elders of the people asked Jesus: “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” (Matt 21:23). By cleansing the temple, the Jewish leaders basically saw his action as a manifestation of all their so-called blasphemous statements about being one with God.
Second, Jesus’ action challenged the religious legitimacy of the Jewish leaders because, through his statement about turning the house of prayer into a den of robbers, Jesus publicly implied that the temple authorities had corrupted God’s house.
Third, the cleansing challenged the leaders’ economic interests. By disrupting commercial trade, Jesus struck at the economic architecture or financial mechanism that supported the temple and the priests’ influence. Finally, since the action took place during Passover, when most Jews were in Jerusalem, the leaders considered Jesus’ action as threatening the political system they governed, profited from, and one they must keep stable under Roman rule. Hence, the cleansing of the temple united all other reasons the Jewish leaders must have feared.
Conclusion
One concludes that as a dedicated Jew, Jesus regularly went to Jerusalem for the annual Passover and even went missing at a Passover feast at the age of twelve (Luke 2:39-52). Hence, he saw the temple trade over the years but never acted. However, by waiting until he began his ministry (according to John) or until the end of his ministry (according to the synoptic accounts) before taking a hard stand in the temple, Jesus demonstrated strategic patience; otherwise, they would have easily eliminated him, thereby hindering his entire mission.
Next week begins the discussion of Jesus’ economic model.
May God continue to help us🙏🏾
K’ọdị🙋🏾♂️
