Mormons Do Celebrate Easter…Day Three.

Today Mormon.org posted the 6th day before Easter.  This was the day that Jesus went to the Temple and found many merchants and people buying and selling things.  It was then that he said, “Is it not written, My house shall be called... the house of prayer? But Ye have made it a den of thieves.”

I don’t think I ever fully understood the significance of this event.  As I read it the first time I remember being somewhat shocked at the outburst of emotion from my Savior.  As it says in Matthew 21 – he overthrew tables and chairs of the merchants.

Because I am a member of generation x – and because my entire life I’ve been surrounded by rich media – the only image that comes to mind when I hear that he stormed in and overthrew tables and chairs is that of a former basketball coach who in frustration flung chairs across the court in the general direction of the referees.

I have a really hard time imagining my Savior – my Brother – pulling a Bobby Knight.  That is simply not the gentle, kind and understanding man I’ve been introduced to through my life and study.

And yet, it happened.  The bible tells us so.

So why was he so frustrated, so upset – so angry?

As I understand it, there were two types of money in those times.  Regular money, and temple money.  Regular money was not to be exchanged within the temple, however it was necessary to make purchases for the sacrifices made (remember, this was when they still practiced the sacrifices to God).  So, what happened was the regular money was exchanged for temple money, which was then used inside the temple for purchases of animals for sacrifice.  It had become common practice that the priests who ran the temple would short change the money exchange – causing the temple currency to be worth half of what the regular money was.  So a dove that would cost 1.00 in the regular market, for instance, would end up costing 2.00 within the temple.  The priests were basically stealing the money from those who came to worship in the ways of their fathers.

With this understanding, it makes sense that Christ would be angry.  He wasn’t frustrated at the money changing hands – He was mad at the fact that they were using it as a way to cheat the people.

Christ is a protective older brother enforcing the rules in His Father’s house.

On this the 6th day before Easter, the priests became angry.  They began to question him.  They sought to lay hands on him…but did not this day – for they feared the crowd would protect Him. 

So the question I ask of myself – would I have been there to protect Him.  I certainly hope that I would.