How this part of our passage speaks to the contemporary church! Is the commercialism that is connected with today's Christianity any less blatant and shameless? A book may be theologically weak or even heretical, but if it proves to be popular, then it is repackaged as a daily devotional. After that comes a prayer journal that is meant to reinforce its message. Then come the study guides, greeting cards, posters, calendars, bracelets, backpacks, T-shirts, music recordings, board games, computer games, picnics, dinners, seminars, retreats, cruises, and so on, all riding on the book's popular theme.

Non-Christians laugh at the stupidity and hypocrisy in all of this, and as there is no substance to the movement, some of the followers eventually become disillusioned. But not to worry, for here comes another one. This one will change everything. As in the temple, it is clear that the buyers are at least almost as guilty as the sellers. They enjoy the commercialism. They love to imitate the unbelievers as long as they can put a Christian label on what they sell, buy, and do.

Do professing Christians show any more respect for God and concern for worshipers than these Jews in the day of Christ? Some of them use the church to gather business contacts or to sell their products. Others are there hunting for greedy and gullible people that they can swindle, "Christians" who are just too eager to jump on another scheme to get rich, or to save money by questionable or even illegal means. Sometimes the church leadership knows what is happening, but they are unwilling to do anything about it. But this is one of those things that their spiritual authority is supposed to address. They are supposed to protect the sheep from the wolves, as well as to rebuke the sheep for being worldly, greedy, and gullible.

As for favoring convenience over worship, there are numerous signs of this in today's believers. We will not mention the outrageous and the extreme, but how about something seemingly less significant like answering a mobile phone during a church gathering? It is bad enough to forget to switch off the phone, but if the person actually answers it and carries a conversation on it, however brief, we can tell that he has no respect for God or for the rest of us who wish to concentrate on the things of God. If the person calling is so important, invite him to church! If it is a business call, then he must choose between God and Mammon.

The temple area could not have turned into a marketplace without permission from the priests, who are probably receiving a handsome portion of the profits from the merchants' transactions. Jesus' action and teaching greatly upset these priests, not only because he has briefly disrupted the commercial activities, but because he has exposed their apostasy and undermined their authority. Thus he poses a threat to their economic welfare as well as their social standing.

Instead of being driven to self-examination and repentance, now they conspire to murder Jesus. They think that they have spiritual standing with God because Abraham is their natural ancestor, but he tells them elsewhere, "If you were Abraham's children, then you would do the things Abraham did. As it is, you are determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things" (John 8:39-40).

Although they are Abraham's natural descendents, spiritually speaking, they are nothing like him, but they are like those of their ancestors who killed the prophets that were sent to them. Jesus perceives their hypocrisy, and says to them in Matthew 23, "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. And you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets'" (v. 29-31). But they are exploiting the temple for financial profit and plotting murder against the one who opposes them. Contrary to their claim, they are exactly like the apostates in times past, whom God punished and exiled from the land.

With this mention of Israel's past sins and exiles, we are finally ready to consider the fig tree's significance, which I have already hinted at several times so far. And this ushers us into the next section of our study.

(to be continued)

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