Making Connections

The author of the Gospel of John gives us a very dramatic picture of Jesus’ visit to the temple. King Herod rebuilt the temple in 29 BC. It was basically made up of 4 nested rectangles of various sizes. Each rectangle had rules about who could enter that part of the temple. The largest rectangle was the first, it was called the court of the Gentiles. This was the only place where people who were not Jewish could come and pray. People who were not Jewish were not allowed to go further inward to any of the other courts, these were restricted to Jewish women, Jewish men and finally, the most holy place was restricted to the priests. A part of one’s devotion or worship at the Jewish temple was to make sacrifices of various animals, as prescribed by Jewish law, and to make a donation to the temple. By Jesus’ time the sale of sacrificial animals and currency exchange had become a thriving business (you could only make a donation to the temple, in the temple’s official currency). It is believed that the priests were making a lot of money off of the exchanges and the sales. The place where they set up the tables for these sales and exchanges was the court of the Gentiles. Can you imagine trying to pray in the middle of a market? That’s what non-jewish people had to do. What was supposed to be a place of prayer for friends of the Jewish people and God, was turned into an noisy place.

No wonder Jesus was upset. The priests, instead of making sure that the believers from other parts of the world had someplace quiet to pray and to meditate, or to discover more about their faith, were more interested in making sure they got enough money from anyone who visited the temple.
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