BY FR. SHAY CULLEN
TODAY we have political power structures that are waging wars and exploiting the poor and the earth. The super-rich and their multinational corporations have so much wealth and power that they control governments and manipulate the political systems and support corrupt politicians to protect and increase their wealth. They control the economy by manipulating the buying and selling of shares, goods and commodities.
That is what Jesus of Nazareth saw in microcosm when he came to visit Jerusalem. The Holy Temple had been turned into a marketplace by animal traders and money changers. This was allowed by the chief priests, Pharisees and elders who controlled the Temple, the city and the nation. It was the center of power.
All animals to be offered by the people in sacrifice to win God’s favor had to be bought from the chief priests and their cronies through licensed traders in the courtyard, no doubt at exorbitant prices. They had cornered the market and earned a lot of money and were the wealthiest people in all of Palestine. They created the demand and controlled the supply to meet it.
Jesus saw their profit-making game and exploitation of the poor. It was corrupt and a desecration of the House of God. He decided to challenge the rulers and their corrupt trading system, their source of wealth. He took a rope, made a whip and shouted at all who would listen, “God said as written in the Scriptures “My House will be a House of Prayer but you have made it into a den of thieves.” (Luke 19:45; Matt 21:12-17; Mark 11:15; John 2:13-22)
Then he lashed out at the traders, kicked over the tables of the money changers and chased the merchants and their animals from the Temple courtyard. His disciples joined the action as they believed it was the start of the revolution led by their Messiah. The coins of the money changers were scattered everywhere. The poor rushed to pick them up, a gift from God, they said. It was bedlam, there was confusion and shouting and screaming filled the courtyard. The temple guards dared not intervene as Jesus was very popular with the people. He set a sanction and imposed an embargo on trading. He ordered his followers to block more traders crossing the courtyard and blocked the supply of goods at the busiest trading time of the year. The rich chief priests and elders were losing their wealth and they seethed with anger and decided that Jesus of Nazareth had to be killed.
The rich are corrupt traders and merchants especially in the polluting, non-stop earth-destroying commodities of coal, oil, gas and cattle. They block alternative clean sources of energy and continue to destroy the planet with global warming as they grow richer than ever. They control world trade in fossil fuel commodities.
Today, we live in a world that is a den of thieves. /PN
