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DID THE WEALTHY MAKE JESUS ANGRY?
I HAVE A QUESTION FOR YOU
What made Jesus angry?
“When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves and others sitting at tables exchanging money. He made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market.” John 2: 13–16
And
“Then he entered the temple area and began driving out those who were selling. “It is written,” he said to them, “My house will be a house of prayer, but you have made it ‘a den of robbers.” Luke 19:45–46
In these two stories was Jesus angry because the sellers and money changers were wealthy? They probably were wealthy because they were known to cheat the people who came to the temple to buy an offering to present for a sacrifice. But I do not think their wealth is what made Jesus angry. He was angry that the Temple Court was being used as a marketplace and maybe also because He knew they were exploiting the poor. A place for prayer in His Father’s House was being used for, maybe even shady, business transactions. That made Jesus angry.
