Did You Know?
I had no idea.
I haven’t had any ideas for this blog since learning this on Thursday or Friday night. That is, I can’t think of anything else to write except to share my slightly embarrassing astonishment at what I learned.
When I have H- I usually spend all the time she is asleep writing posts or writing books. But when I don’t have her, I am able to finally catch up on some reading. One book is (as I’ve mentioned before) N.T. Wright’s Jesus and The Victory of God. It is book two in a five book series on first century Jewish-then-Jewish/Christian history. From what I have been able to discern, it is tier one as far as historical critical scholarship goes. I say tier one to attempt to convince you that I am aware there are many good researchers who all come to different conclusions about such things, but to be honest, I’m kind of falling for the arguments Wright is making. Anyhow, I’m writing this now because I want to move on and write fun things again.
The information I was shocked to discover was that the temple Jesus of Nazareth displayed anger towards and overturned tables at etc. shortly before the crucifixion, this temple was not just the local baptist church in Jerusalem. It was the Temple. Capital T. The one that has been fought over for thousands of years. The one that has been destroyed and rebuilt and destroyed and now there is a Muslim structure on it blah, blah, blah. I had no idea. I feel pretty foolish. I grew up as a bible memorizing, save the world one non-believer at a time Southern Baptist and somehow totally missed this. I just thought that he picked one of the many mega churches that surely existed back then to make an example of. I think that’s some variation of projection and ethnocentrism. Oh well.
The real question is, of course, does any of this matter?
The Impression I Get, I Give 
Huh. I always thought just the opposite, that it was the Capital T Temple BECAUSE Jesus had his epic tantrum there.
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I agree with Joan, but going to Jerusalem helped a lot in the understanding of it. And yes, this sort of thing matters because people need to understand the Jewish —> Christian history as being human, peopled by real human beings with all their foibles.
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Paraphrasing Wright (who is fairly orthodox, they say) the Temple was envisioned by David, built by Solomon, destroyed, then rebuilt before being destroyed again (and never rebuilt) in AD 70. But all the OT talk about the cleansing and sacrifices and Holy of Holies and where God himself resides on Earth etc., that is the Temple that we are talking about. That is the one where Jesus did his thing. I just never put two and two together.
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What do you mean by “matter”? Your question isn’t well-defined. Jesus was making a political statement, but like pretty much everything He said, there are many layers of meaning.
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As I wrote the post I could hear some folks say, “who gives a f#$%?” But I think, for me, if we can trust the veracity of the claim/scene, then it changes the entire ballgame. And it changes it precisely for the reason you mention…the many layers of meaning within the act. Why would he do such a thing to such a real and symbolic building? (Rhetorical).
Pete
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Hi Pete- You’re the only person who can answer that if you’re referring to the desecration of yourself and fun things you can write about. You should never let anything come between you and God.
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I honestly had to look up “desecration” to confirm that it meant bad things. I am not sure what you’re talking about here. 🙂 I was attempting to talk about a historical reality, not “between God and I” things.
Pete
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Sorry for reading you completely wrong. Saw temple as a metaphor to self. But then again I never could understand you. Glad to see you exchanging comments again – at least for the moment.
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I agree in most instances.The word and teaching been around for a long time. We all have free will, not so much of what others tell you it is more your heart tells you. Many can disagree and nit-pick what not to believe. Or others rely on faith. The whole matter is Love, has inspired in many ways. History is to be looked on as a little part of ourselves.
The past whether some believe is bunch of hooey or tells of where we come from. Truth comes in many forms. With the present something always begin. Considering what matter? In anything, there are multiple choice decisions. History is a great thing. And many views on His-Story.
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I think it matters theologically and metaphorically because the Temple in Jerusalem was the one and only place in which certain sacrifices could take place in the Jewish religion. When Jesus equates his death and resurrection to the Temple – destroy this temple and I will raise it up in three days – it frees his Jewish followers from being bound to the Temple, which was destroyed by the Romans not long after Jesus’s historical time on earth. That the followers of Jesus were not bound to the geography of Israel and the Temple because the presence of the risen Christ could be anywhere, they could bring what we know as Christianity to “all the nations.”
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