Jesus, with serious determination, quickly ascended the steps of the
Temple, without even glancing at the shouting people. A part of the
crowd pressed after Him, the rest gradually dispersed. But the shout:
"Praised be He who has come to-day!" never ceased the whole day.
When he entered the forecourt of the Temple and looked in. He stood
still in dismay. It was full of life and movement. Hundreds of people
of all kinds were tumbling over each other's heels, in gay-coloured
coats, in hairy gowns, with tall caps and flat turbans. They were all
offering goods for sale with cries and shrieks; there were spread out
carpets, candlesticks, hanging lamps, pictures of the Temple and of the
ark of the covenant, fruit, pottery, phylacteries, incense, silken
garments, and jewels. Money-changers vaunted their high rate of
exchange, the advantage of Roman money, broke open their rolls of gold
and let the pieces fall slowly into the scales in order to delight the
eyes of the pilgrims. Buyers made their way through, looked scornfully
at the goods, haggled, laughed, and bought. Rabbis glided round in
long caftans and soft shoes so that they were not heard. They wore
velvet caps on their heads below which hung their curly black or grey
hair. They carried large parchment scrolls under their arms--for the
Sabbath was about to begin--slipped around with a dignified yet cunning
manner, bargained here and there with shopkeepers or their wives,
vanished behind the curtains and then reappeared.
When Jesus had for some time observed all this confusion from the
threshold, anger overcame Him. Pushing the traders aside with His
arms, He cut Himself a way through. At the nearest booth He snatched
up a bundle of phylacteries, swung them over the heads of the crowd,
and exclaimed so loudly that His voice was heard above everything: "Ye
learned teachers and ye Temple guards, see how admirably you understand
the letter of the Word! It is written in the Scriptures: My house is
for prayer! And you have turned Solomon's Temple into a bazaar!"
Hardly had He so spoken when He overturned a table with His hand, and
upset several benches with His foot so that the goods fell in confusion
to the ground under the feet of the crowd which began to give way.
They stared at one another speechless, and He continued to thunder
forth: "My house shall be a holy refuge for the downcast and the
suffering, said the Lord. And you make it a den of assassins, and,
with your passion for lucre, leave no place for men's souls. Out with
you, ye cheats and thieves, whether you higgle over your goods or with
the Scriptures!" He swung the phylacteries high over the Rabbis and
teachers so that they bent their heads and fled through the curtained
entrances. But the Rabbis, the Pharisees, and the Temple guards
assembled in the side courts, and quickly took counsel how they were to
seize this madman and render Him harmless. For see, ever more people
streamed through the gates into the forecourt, surrounded the angry
Prophet, and shouted: "Praised be Thou, O Nazarene, who art come to
cleanse the Temple! Praise and all hail to Thee, long-looked-for
Saviour!"
When the Rabbis saw how things were going, they too raised their voices
and shouted: "Praised be the Prophet! Hail to thee, O Nazarene!"
"All is won!" whispered the disciples, crowding up together. "Even the
Rabbis shout!"
The Rabbis, however, had quickly sent for the police; they came up to
Jesus and, as soon as the crowd became quieter, entered into
conversation with Him.
"Master," said one of them, "truly you appear at the right time. The
condition of our poor people is such that we know not which way to
turn. You are the man who turns aside neither to right nor left, but
who keeps in the straight path of justice. Tell us what you think:
Shall we Jews pay taxes to the Roman Emperor or shall we refuse?"
Jesus saw what they were driving at, and asked to be shown a coin.
They were surprised that He had no money in His pockets, and handed Him
one of the Roman coins current in the country.
"From whom do these coins come?" He asked.
"As you see, from the Roman Emperor."
"And whose picture is on the coin?"
"The Emperor's."
"And whose is the inscription on the coin?"
"The Emperor's."
"Whose is the coin?"
They were silent.
Jesus said: "Render unto God what comes from Him, and unto Caesar what
comes from Caesar."
Those who saw through the case broke out into applause and shouting
over the decision, and carried the crowd with them. The Rabbis were
secretly furious that He had escaped their cunning snare. They had
reckoned: If He says, Pay taxes to the Roman Emperor, the people will
know that He is not the Messiah but rather a servant of the foreigner.
And if He says, Do not pay taxes to the Emperor, He is a demagogue, and
will be taken prisoner. But now He has both Emperor and people on His
side, and we must let Him alone.
"Everything is going splendidly," the disciples whispered. "They ask
His advice, they will do nothing without Him."
The interpreters of the Law had got Him in their midst, and could not
rest till they outwitted Him. So one of them asked Him: "Oh, man of
great wisdom, do you believe that there will be a resurrection of the
dead?"
"There will be," He answered.
"That marriage between man and woman is indissoluble, and that a woman
may only have one husband at a time?"
"That is so."
"And that after the death of one the other may marry again?"
"It is so."
"You are right, sir," interposed a third speaker. "But suppose a woman
had seven husbands one after another because they died one after
another. If they all rise from the dead the woman would have seven
husbands at once, each is her lawful husband, and yet she may only have
one."
There was immense eagerness to hear what He would say, for the problem
seemed insoluble. And Jesus said: "He who asks that question knows
neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. The Scriptures promise us
resurrection, and the power of God the eternal life of the soul. There
is no marriage between souls, so the question falls to the ground."
There was fresh shouting and applause, and kerchiefs were waved from
all sides. The teachers of the Law drew back in ill-humour, and
dismissed the police who were waiting in the back court.