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I mean, only if you completely divorce that from all context. The temple was supposed to be a place of solemn worship, and that was being lost in the face of money changing (the Jews didn’t fancy giving God Roman money with the faces of emperors stamped on it) and selling sacrificial offerings. It became a place a business first. Jesus would doubtless beat the brakes off of a lot of American Christianity with its giant steel girder crosses, enormous state-of-the-art presentation halls, and pastors zooming around in private jets living in giant manors, telling people to just go ahead and send their rent money to the hotline. Jesus saw the corrupting influence that money has on religious institutions and made it clear that it was a line he felt shouldn’t be crossed. The intersection between money and faith is a theme that pops up all over the New Testament, and it seems probable that the Romans brought unbelievable wealth to some people in that region (and may have even elevated the overall prosperity of the people in that region at the time by connecting them into their trade network). Each time it comes up, Jesus is very clear that the two don’t mix. You can have God or money; not both. That said, Jesus doesn’t really beef with merchants outside of the temple, except to say that it’s easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven and advise them to choose a life of righteous poverty.
I mean, only if you completely divorce that from all context. The temple was supposed to be a place of solemn worship, and that was being lost in the face of money changing (the Jews didn’t fancy giving God Roman money with the faces of emperors stamped on it) and selling sacrificial offerings. It became a place a business first. Jesus would doubtless beat the brakes off of a lot of American Christianity with its giant steel girder crosses, enormous state-of-the-art presentation halls, and pastors zooming around in private jets living in giant manors, telling people to just go ahead and send their rent money to the hotline. Jesus saw the corrupting influence that money has on religious institutions and made it clear that it was a line he felt shouldn’t be crossed. The intersection between money and faith is a theme that pops up all over the New Testament, and it seems probable that the Romans brought unbelievable wealth to some people in that region (and may have even elevated the overall prosperity of the people in that region at the time by connecting them into their trade network). Each time it comes up, Jesus is very clear that the two don’t mix. You can have God or money; not both. That said, Jesus doesn’t really beef with merchants outside of the temple, except to say that it’s easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven and advise them to choose a life of righteous poverty.