The Atonement and the
Money Changers |
|
Brother Royce Ellis |
Four times in the gospel
accounts we read of Jesus having interaction with those who
did business at the Temple. Once, early in this ministry, he
fashioned a whip out of cords and showed some emotional
anger.
The four gospel accounts lead
us to understand Christ twice gave the Temple a cleansing –
once, during his first public Passover, and then again
during the final week of His life.
Jhn 2:13-17 And the Jews'
passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, And
found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and
doves, and the changers of money sitting: And when he had
made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the
temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the
changers' money, and overthrew the tables; And said unto
them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my
Father's house an house of merchandise. And his disciples
remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath
eaten me up.
Here was business as usual to
the Jews. Most of them had been raised to accept the actions
at the temple as normal and because of the pious location,
those proceedings were beyond questioning. But what really
happens at the Temple?
Jews coming to Jerusalem to
pay their Temple tax could only use a special coin, called
the half-shekel. Weighing in at about half an ounce, it was
similar to our quarter dollar in size. It was unique in that
it was pure silver and the weight was certain; it had no
pagan Emperor’s image and in the eyes of the Jews this made
it the only acceptable coin for use in the Temple.

Because it was used almost
exclusively near the Temple, they were not easy to locate.
The money changers took advantage by cornering the market,
and raising the value of the coins to whatever they felt
they could get away with. As with any commodity, a monopoly
leads to great profits for those in charge.
In his book The Life and
Times of Jesus the Messiah historian Alfred Edersheim
reports Josephus and the Rabbinic writings of the time claim
that Annas, the father-in-law of Caiaphas, was in charge of
the “Temple-market.” The Rabbinic efforts referred to this
market as the “Bazaars of the sons of Annas.” Josephus
claimed Annas was very rich and guilty of “despoiling by
open violence the common priests of their official
revenues.”
The office of the high priest
was corrupted completely. While the law says one high
priest, these men were by deceit controlling the office and
the finances generated by the operation. Corruption had
reached Israel’s highest position:
Luk 3:2 Annas and Caiaphas
being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the
son of Zacharias in the wilderness
Recent discoveries in
Jerusalem have revealed what is believed to be the
dwelling quarters of the High Priest on the Eastern
side of the city overlooking the temple. Initial
reports compare the opulence displayed to be on par
with today's billionaires.
While most Jews lived
day to day in small, crowded dwellings, the
residence of the High Priest was a palace. Far from
what God intended for a humble servant.
A
Price for Convenience.
For males above age 20
travelling far distances three times yearly, not
having to shepherd an animal from home, given the
ease of purchasing a lamb or dove at a market price
might have been a great convenience, but it wasn’t
what the Lord said to do. |
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A personal animal sacrifice
means more than just buying one and handing it over. Giving
the Lord a portion of your windfall is not as meaningful as
handing over a portion of your hard-earned wages.
Jesus highlights the hypocrisy
of the corrupted system using the widow’s offering as an
example.
Mark 12:38-44 And he said
unto them in his doctrine, Beware of the scribes, which love
to go in long clothing, and love salutations in the
marketplaces, And the chief seats in the synagogues, and the
uppermost rooms at feasts: Which devour widows' houses,
and for a pretence make long prayers: these shall receive
greater damnation. And Jesus sat over against
the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the
treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. And there
came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which
make a farthing. And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow
hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into For
all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want
did cast in all that she had, even all her living.
While we always take from this
the lesson she gave more than they and did so on faith, the
larger message is the corruption of those in charge who
“devour widow’s houses.” Consider for a moment the
system that God had set up to provide for the poor and the
widow and the stranger, from this very treasury, yet it had
become so perverted they encouraged even the penniless to
pour their living into the High priest’s coffers.
Mark 11:15-18 And they come
to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to
cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and
overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of
them that sold doves; And would not suffer that any man
should carry any vessel through the temple. Mar And he
taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall
be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have
made it a den of thieves. And the scribes and chief priests
heard it, and sought how they might destroy him: for they
feared him, because all the people was astonished at his
doctrine.
On this final cleansing trip, Jesus effectually disrupts
their business so completely they seek to take his life. Why
the second trip? He had chased the money changers out once
before early in his ministry. Now, in the final week of his
life, he angers them again.
I have entitled this effort:
“Atonement and the Money Changers,” but have yet to
use the title word. The word atonement appears 81
times in 70 verses in the King James translation of the
scriptures. I found this fact to be both overwhelming and
awe inspiring: It only appears once in the New Testament.*
Here is the true atonement for
our transgressions: Heb. 9:26 For then must he often have
suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in
the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself.
The word atonement, comes from
the Greek katallagē, meaning
1) exchange
Our death in trespasses and in sins was exchanged for a life
in Christ Jesus. Our sinfulness and sinful nature were
exchanged for His righteousness.
2) adjustment of a difference, reconciliation, restoration to
favour
Christ more than adjusted the
difference of our condition, He paid the full price.
Katallagē comes from the root
word: Katallassō meaning to change, exchange, as coins for
others of equivalent value
a) to
reconcile (those who are at variance)
Christ reconciled us to God.
b) return
to favour with, be reconciled to one
Christ returned us to the wanted position of righteousness
and favor.
c) to
receive one into favour
And bestowed upon us His grace.
Why did Jesus physically
remove the money-changers? They represented a type of
atonement. There can only be one true atonement.
* Rom 5:11 And not only so, but we also joy in God
through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received
the atonement. |