The Ministry of Revolution

“12 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 13He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”

14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them.”

Matthew 21:12-14 ESV

(cf. Mark 11:15-18)

There is a historical context to the above scripture that presents the magnitude of this particular event in the life of Christ Jesus, the birth of Church and its operation in the earth.

The society in Palestine was rooted and immersed in the Judaic religious institution and its Temple administration. It had become the accepted norm and customary social behavior of the day. It was the established way of doing things.

One can research the Pentateuch and recognize that the scene that Jesus walked into that day wasn’t the written or codified administration of Temple life, but after so many years of ACCEPTANCE, it changed and modified the system of administration, and became HOW THINGS WERE DONE.

Jesus Christ, knowing the scripture and authentic administration, understood that a dramatic and radical change was necessary to return things back to the established order, as Yahweh so intended and purposed for the Priesthood and Temple, and consequently, the deliverance and liberation of the people.

There was a ministry and message in the turning over of the tables. It was the silent revolution of the people being openly and visibly expressed in the action of Christ. It was the counter-cultural confrontation between two paradigms.

The first was Roman controlled, Sanhedrin enforced, commercially compromised, systematic oppresion that instilled fear in the people, a spirit of bondage, which preyed and reinforced ignorance amongst the members of the society.

The second was the Yawheh inspired, scripturally based, authentic system that had made the people great amongst the nations and favored in the sight of God.

The Environment for Revolution

As stated before, it is vitally important to place Christ Jesus’ action in it’s social and historical context to understand the magnitude of this event, and how it heralded a MAJOR paradigm shift in the Judaic dispensation.

The Jewish nation had been under Roman rule for 50+ years at this point. They were double oppressed for even their religious and spiritual leaders had succumbed to the temptation to take advantage of the people.

“The high priests were the official representatives of religion and worship, who had charge of the temple, the religious and political centre of Israel. All Jews over twelve years of age, including those who lived abroad (and they were many) had to pay an annual temple tax equivalent to two days work (Mt 17:24). For the maintenance of the clergy they also had to pay ten per cent (tithes) of the harvest (Mt 23:23). Besides this, the temple received gifts (Mk 7:11) and abundant alms, above all from the rich (Mk 12:41), not to mention the livestock market for the sacrifices and the currency exchange (Mk 11:15). All this turned the temple into a great commercial racket administered by the high priests. They represented the political and religious power, and were at the same time an important financial group to be reckoned with.”(1)

“The second group in the Council was made up of elders who were laymen chosen from among the aristocratic families. For the most part they were great landowners and were the backbone of the Sadducee Party, to which the high priests also belonged…They had renounced any ideal beyond that of maintaining the status quo, in which they enjoyed a certain leeway and could see to the religious and political administration of the country. They were realists: they accepted the injustice of foreign domination as long as it did not compromise their position.”(2)

“The Pharisees had immense authority over the people. Although they were looked on with great aversion because of their pride (Lk 16:15), the people let themselves be impressed by the virtuous appearance holy ones they contrived to maintain to bolster up their prestige and influence (Mt 6:1–2, 5:16). The Pharisees had managed to make people believe that to be pleasing to God they had to imitate them. The guilt complex thus created in the people made them docile subjects, and in this way easily dominated by the Pharisees. In spite of all their observance of religious rules, the Pharisees loved money and exploited the simple folk under pretext of piety (Mt 23:25-28; Mk 12,40; Lk 11:39; 16,14).”(3)

Broken in Spirit, impoverished and religiously robbed, under foreign rule was the state of the People of the Jewish community that Jesus Christ was born into. The condition of the society was in bondage of poverty, classism, sexism, racism, oppression and abounding in infirmities. They had no genuine leadership that tended to their needs or interests. In this context, we can begin to understand the insight Jesus had into the needs of the people in Luke 4:16-21:

16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. Andas was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. 17And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” 20And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Jesus Christ was declaring a systematic revolution of the established modus operandi; He was about to introduce a radical shift in the status quo. I am listing some scriptural references that attests to the social conditions of the people in the lands and communities Christ walked through:

Matthew 4:23-24, 8:16-17, 9:35-36, 14:34-36, 15:29-38, 21:14-15

Mark 1:32-34, 3:10-12, 6:30-44, 6:53-56

Luke 4:40-41, 5:15, 9:6-11, 17:11-14, 18:15

I chose these because there was the element of the MULTITUDE(social element), that spoke of the wide spread conditions of the people, and their infirmities. We can gather from these scriptures that were MANY who were sick, diseased, mentally disabled, disenfranchised, and impoverished in the Jewish society, and RELIGION was doing nothing for them. The MAN-MADE rules and regulations did not serve to HEAL nor change the conditions; the people whom the leadership was called to serve were suffering desperately. They were OPPRESSED and made captives to the very institution that was ordained to liberate them. They were oppressed spiritually, chasing after the phantom idolatry created by the blatant hypocrisy of the religious leaders. They were oppressed socially by the diseases and sickness that ravaged their communities. They were oppressed educationally by the reinforced ignorance of the common man. They were oppressed politically by the disregard of their interest by the ruling government. They were oppressed financially by the corrupt money system of the Temple administration that demanded more than their services rendered. And, this is the environment that produced the radical and systematic overthrow of the established order of things; it was the environment that gave birth to a REVOLUTION.

References:

1. Palestine Under Roman Rule: Judea becomes a Roman tributary. by Lawrence H. Shiffman, Lawrence H. Schiffman is a Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University.

2. ibid…

3. ibid…