A story of Christ "cleansing the temple" is found in all four of the Gospels. Matthew 21:12-17 Mark 11:15-19 Luke 19:45-48 and John 2:12-25
There has always been some debate about whether there was one incident or two. This is mainly due to differences from the conical Gospels and John's version. I see that particular subject has been covered here already and I don't intend to get deeply into whether it was one incident or two as that is not the point of this discussion. I do want to look at one big difference in the accounts. It is what Christ actually said as He was clearing the temple.
In Matthew (KJV) we read "And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves." In Mark we read; "My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves." and in Luke; "It is written, My house is the house of prayer: but ye have made it a den of thieves.". I want to hone in on the last phrase. Notice in all 3 the last phrase is "you have made it a den of thieves", of course referring to the temple. In all three instances the word in the Greek used is lēstōn (Strongs Greek 3027, the link is to Strong's). It is translated as thieves or robbers. Then in John we read in the KJV; "Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise." Here the word in the Greek is emporiou (Strong's 1712) and it's translated merchandise.
So, let's look at what these money changers and sellers were actually doing that made Christ drive them from the temple. I've heard the argument that they were charging exorbitant fees or amounts for their wares or services, but can find no credible evidence to support that theory. The only thing we know for sure is that they were selling things needed to worship God for their own profit. That's what the Bible tells us! Christ was consistent in that He taught us to "freely give" the Gospel. He told every disciple whom He ordained to preach to take no gold or silver for their efforts. I think given the evidence and the circumstances, this is just an extension of those teachings. Christ was admonishing them for profiting from the worship of God.
Today we have way too many people to list here profiting from either preaching the Gospel, writing about it or selling merchandise related to Christianity and the Gospel. You can purchase everything from expensive Bibles, to books written on every single verse in the Bible, to crosses or crucifixes made of everything from wood to gold and diamonds, to bumper stickers, to t-shirts and all sorts of miscellany. Not counting Bibles (with sales estimated at $430M annually), Christian books sales bring in an estimated $750M, out of Approximately $1.2B in religious books in general. While actual numbers for recorded Christian music sales are hard to pin down, according to Patheos "the gospel music industry has matured into an almost $1 billion-a-year business". Almost $600 million is spent annually on audio equipment and instruments for performing church music. According to Zip Recruiter, the average salary for a professional Gospel singer is $261,533. I can't find reliable numbers for all the other Christian merchandise, but suffice it to say that it is a big business.
So, let's just break down the numbers we have. Between just books and music we have over $2B. Last year approximately 700,000 people are homeless in America. That would break down to over $2800 per homeless person. To feed a starving child in Africa costs around $20 per month. That comes out to 100 million months of food for a starving child. This doesn't even count all the money profited by "preachers" or musicians or all the other Christian merchandise. So, we must ask ourselves, what would God rather we do with all that money? Spend it on things to worship Him or worship Him by doing what Christ taught us to do with our money, and use it to help those less fortunate? Christ drove out those who were making the profit but these days the only way they can make the profit is if Christians support them instead of using our money to help those in need. Just saying.
There has always been some debate about whether there was one incident or two. This is mainly due to differences from the conical Gospels and John's version. I see that particular subject has been covered here already and I don't intend to get deeply into whether it was one incident or two as that is not the point of this discussion. I do want to look at one big difference in the accounts. It is what Christ actually said as He was clearing the temple.
In Matthew (KJV) we read "And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves." In Mark we read; "My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves." and in Luke; "It is written, My house is the house of prayer: but ye have made it a den of thieves.". I want to hone in on the last phrase. Notice in all 3 the last phrase is "you have made it a den of thieves", of course referring to the temple. In all three instances the word in the Greek used is lēstōn (Strongs Greek 3027, the link is to Strong's). It is translated as thieves or robbers. Then in John we read in the KJV; "Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise." Here the word in the Greek is emporiou (Strong's 1712) and it's translated merchandise.
So, let's look at what these money changers and sellers were actually doing that made Christ drive them from the temple. I've heard the argument that they were charging exorbitant fees or amounts for their wares or services, but can find no credible evidence to support that theory. The only thing we know for sure is that they were selling things needed to worship God for their own profit. That's what the Bible tells us! Christ was consistent in that He taught us to "freely give" the Gospel. He told every disciple whom He ordained to preach to take no gold or silver for their efforts. I think given the evidence and the circumstances, this is just an extension of those teachings. Christ was admonishing them for profiting from the worship of God.
Today we have way too many people to list here profiting from either preaching the Gospel, writing about it or selling merchandise related to Christianity and the Gospel. You can purchase everything from expensive Bibles, to books written on every single verse in the Bible, to crosses or crucifixes made of everything from wood to gold and diamonds, to bumper stickers, to t-shirts and all sorts of miscellany. Not counting Bibles (with sales estimated at $430M annually), Christian books sales bring in an estimated $750M, out of Approximately $1.2B in religious books in general. While actual numbers for recorded Christian music sales are hard to pin down, according to Patheos "the gospel music industry has matured into an almost $1 billion-a-year business". Almost $600 million is spent annually on audio equipment and instruments for performing church music. According to Zip Recruiter, the average salary for a professional Gospel singer is $261,533. I can't find reliable numbers for all the other Christian merchandise, but suffice it to say that it is a big business.
So, let's just break down the numbers we have. Between just books and music we have over $2B. Last year approximately 700,000 people are homeless in America. That would break down to over $2800 per homeless person. To feed a starving child in Africa costs around $20 per month. That comes out to 100 million months of food for a starving child. This doesn't even count all the money profited by "preachers" or musicians or all the other Christian merchandise. So, we must ask ourselves, what would God rather we do with all that money? Spend it on things to worship Him or worship Him by doing what Christ taught us to do with our money, and use it to help those less fortunate? Christ drove out those who were making the profit but these days the only way they can make the profit is if Christians support them instead of using our money to help those in need. Just saying.
