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Soon afterward, Jesus entered the temple area where, in one of the outer courts, he performed a second and more dramatic act--he expelled the money changers and sellers of sacrificial birds. It was a provocative action that must have created somewhat of a stir but hardly an uproar. Had it been so, the Romans whose garrison overlooked the temple courts would have quickly intervened. Rather it was a prophetic act, done for the sake of the message it contained. As often with prophetic acts, the action was accompanied by the pronouncement interpreting its meaning: "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations'? But you have made it a den of thieves.'" (TUB 173:1)
Both the action itself and the words of interpretation point to the act as an attack upon the politics of holiness. The moneychangers and sellers of sacrificial birds were there in the service of the ethos of holiness. The annual temple tax had to be paid in "holy" coinage, and not with profane coins bearing images. The sacrificial birds had to be unblemished.
In his words of interpretation, Jesus quoted two passages from the prophets. The first stated the purpose of the Temple: "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations." The purpose of the temple, Jesus said, was universal. And having become a den of thieves, the Temple faced the same threat as in Jeremiah's generation--destruction.
Thus the last week of Jesus' life began with two dramatic actions. To ride into Jerusalem at the head of a procession could not do otherwise than excite the curiosity of many--and the attention of those charged with keeping order. The act in the Temple was even more provocative and drew the attention of some of the Temple leadership who came to interrogate Jesus. "By what authority are you doing these things?" they asked. Implicitly Jesus answer was, "From the Spirit." (Mark 11:27-33) According to Mark it was the act in the Temple that led the authorities to take action against Jesus. It took a few days to work out the details. (TUB 173:2)
The Death of Jesus
For the early church looking back on the death of Jesus in the light of what happened afterward, it seemed clear that his death was foreordained, part of the plan of God from the beginning. Moreover it appeared the immediate cause was the Jewish leadership's refusal to recognize Jesus as the Son of God--and so the story of his "trial" before the Jewish high priest is told. Nevertheless, granted the passion narratives as related in the gospels cannot be treated as straightforward historical accounts, it is possible to reconstruct a reasonably probable account.
The most certain fact about the historical Jesus is that he was executed as a political rebel. And though it is possible that Pilate and the Romans alone were involved, it seems unlikely. In all probability there was collaboration on the part of a small circle of Jewish leaders centered round the high priest. Appointed by Rome and accountable to the Roman governor, Caiaphas, the high priest at the time of Jesus, held his position for the unusually long period of 18 years, including the ten years of Pilate's governorship--suggesting he was very good at working with the Romans.
To assist him in his responsibility, the high priest appointed his own privy council who, like him, came from the aristocracy and high priestly families. Their place in society not only gave them responsibility for maintaining law and order, but also affected how they saw things. (TUB 173:2; 174:2.1)
From The Urantia Book: "Do not forget that authority was the watchword of all Jewry. The prophets were always stirring up trouble because they so boldly presumed to teach without authority, without having been duly instructed in the rabbinic academies and subsequently regularly ordained by the Sanhedrin. Lack of this authority in pretentious public teaching was looked upon as indicating either ignorant presumption or open rebellion. At this time only the Sanhedrin could ordain an elder or teacher, and such a ceremony had to take place in the presence of at least three persons who had previously been so ordained. Such an ordination conferred the title of "rabbi" upon the teacher and also qualified him to act as a judge, "binding and loosing such matters as might be brought to him for adjudication." (173:2.3)
First, Jesus was a charismatic leader who had attracted a large following. In the tension-ridden first-century Palestinian situation, that was enough to get a person into trouble, as the fate of John the Baptist a few years earlier had demonstrated. Like John, Jesus was seen as a threat to the established order simply because he was a public figure with a following.
Secondly, Jesus had warned of the fall of Jerusalem, an action which could also get one into trouble in first-century Palestine.
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