聖殿事件(馬可福音11:15-18)
耶穌趕出殿裏作買賣的人,推倒兌換銀錢之人的桌子,這個故事也具有商業色彩。這一行動的精確意義,不論是在單獨的福音書記載上,還是在耶穌的歷史傳統上,都還存有爭議。[1]無疑,耶穌主動驅趕了那些在聖殿裏進行貿易的人,無論他們是賣潔淨動物和鳥兒以爲犧牲的人 ,還是爲了奉獻而兌換銀錢的人。有人提出,耶穌是在抗議那些參與交易的人索取高額的利息,因此欺壓了前來獻祭的窮人。[2] 或者,這一行動被視爲是拒絕繳納每年半舍客勒的殿稅。[3] 最後,它被解釋爲一個預言性的行爲,打破了聖殿的程序,作爲其將來毀滅的預兆。[4]
假設我們在今天的環境中將聖殿等同於教會,那麼這件事不在我們討論的範圍之內,那是與工作無關的教會事務。然而,我們可以注意到,這件事確實涉及到那些試圖利用教會來贏得工作優勢的人。加入或利用教會以獲得有利的商業地位,既對社區造成商業損害,也對個人造成屬靈損害。我們絕對不是指教會及其成員不該互相幫助,以成爲更好的工人。但是,如果教會成爲一種商業工具,其誠信就會受到破壞,其見證也會蒙上陰影。
N.T. Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God (London: SPCK, 1996), 413-428; and more recently, J. Klawans, Purity, Sacrifice and the Temple: Symbolism and Supersessionism in the Study of Ancient Judaism (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), 213-245.
Craig A. Evans, “Jesus’ Action in the Temple,” in C.A. Evans and B. Chilton, eds., Jesus in Context: Temple, Purity and Restoration (Leiden: Brill, 1997), 395-440, esp., 419-28. Evans surveys various strands of evidence that the priests were widely regarded as greedy and corrupt. His argument is set in opposition to E.P. Sanders, Jesus and Judaism (London: SCM; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1985), 61-76. Evans’s arguments are, in turn, challenged by Klawans, Purity, Sacrifice and the Temple, 225-229.
R.J. Bauckham, “Jesus’ Demonstration in the Temple,” in B. Lindars, ed., Law and Religion: Essays on the Place of the Law in Israel and Early Christianity (Cambridge: James Clarke, 1988), 72-89, esp., 73-4.
Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God, 413-428; Sander, Jesus and Judaism, 61-76.