None of this helped me get again to sleep. However it did underscore how corruption has grow to be a part of the background noise of our civic life. We now inhabit a milieu by which brazen examples of “cashing in” are normalized, and residents—and even our church buildings—have grown numb to them, typically remaining silent a couple of matter that impacts us all. The editorial closes with a type of lament:
“The calls for of avarice steadily corrupt the work of presidency as officers facilitate the buildup of private wealth. Worse, such a authorities corrupts the individuals who dwell beneath its rule. They be taught by expertise that they dwell in a society the place the legal guidelines are written by the best bidder.”
In gentle of this, is there something our religion custom has to say about what some are describing as this new Golden Age of Corruption?
As a matter of reality, corruption comes up typically within the New Testomony, from mentions of bribes and extortion to critiques of officers who use their positions to use the poor. However maybe nowhere does this theme seem extra insistently than within the tales surrounding the final week of Jesus’ life.
Jesus’ cleaning of the temple (Mt 21:12-13; Mk 11:15-17; Lk 19:45-46) and the betrayal of Jesus by Judas Iscariot for thirty items of silver (Mt 26:14-16) are definitely the obvious examples. These two moments anchor the narrative of Holy Week, serving to clarify each the why and the how of Jesus’ crucifixion. But as one reads rigorously by means of the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ remaining days, many different references emerge. Jesus warns about scribes who “devour widows’ homes” (Mk 12:40; Lk 20:47). He condemns non secular leaders who see the gold of the temple as extra sacred than the temple itself (Mt 23:16-17). In John’s Gospel, Judas is revealed to be the disciples’ treasurer, one who steals from the widespread purse (Jn 12:4-6; 13:29). And after the resurrection, authorities bribe the guards to unfold false witness (Mt 28:11-15). Alongside the best way, the Gospels additionally wrestle with different corruption-related points, together with the usage of “blood cash” to buy the potter’s subject (Mt 27:3-8) and the troopers’ casting tons for Jesus’ final remaining property on the crucifixion (Jn 19:23-24; see additionally Mt 27:35, Mk 15:24, Lk 23:34).
To make sure, every of those examples deserves its personal exploration—one thing that’s frankly not possible in a brief weblog put up. For instance, whereas there’s a vary of opinion concerning the exact motive behind Jesus’ protest on the temple, his phrases and actions in all 4 Gospels depict a startling fury directed on the cash aspect of the temple system. Within the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus calls the temple “a den of robbers” (Mt 21:13; Mk 11:17; Lk 19:46)—that’s, a spot the place stolen wealth is saved. In John’s account, Jesus famously fashions a whip of cords, drives out the retailers and cash changers, overturns their tables, and declares that his Father’s home has been was a market (Jn 2:14-16). Summarizing the significance of the temple cleaning in Jesus’ remaining days, the historian Diarmaid MacCulloch writes: “[Jesus] provoked a disturbance in it, protesting at what he noticed as its misuse for commerce and revenue, and it was the aim of his final deadly public appearances. Then he was arrested in Jerusalem, placed on trial and executed together with two widespread criminals on a hill exterior the town, by the ghastly Roman customized of crucifixion.”
Over and over, cash reveals up within the narrative surrounding Jesus’ remaining days and on this sequence of occasions, corruption is hardly a marginal element on this story. Certainly, it seems to be one of many few issues that makes mild Jesus livid. On this manner, cash and corruption emerge as a central power shaping the occasions of that remaining week. And if that’s the case, shouldn’t it even be central to how we inform the story of Jesus’ final days throughout Holy Week?
