圣殿事件(马可福音11:15-18)
耶稣赶出殿里作买卖的人,推倒兑换银钱之人的桌子,这个故事也具有商业色彩。这一行动的精确意义,不论是在单独的福音书记载上,还是在耶稣的历史传统上,都还存有争议。[1] 无疑,耶稣主动驱赶了那些在圣殿里进行贸易的人,无论他们是卖洁净动物和鸟儿以为牺牲的人,还是为了奉献而兑换银钱的人。有人提出,耶稣是在抗议那些参与交易的人索取高额的利息,因此欺压了前来献祭的穷人。[2] 或者,这一行动被视为是拒绝缴纳每年半舍客勒的殿税。[3] 最后,它被解释为一个预言性的行为,打破了圣殿的程序,作为其将来毁灭的预兆。[4]
假设我们在今天的环境中将圣殿等同于教会,那么这件事不在我们讨论的范围之内,那是与工作无关的教会事务。然而,我们可以注意到,这件事确实涉及到那些试图利用教会来赢得工作优势的人。加入或利用教会以获得有利的商业地位,既对社区造成商业损害,也对个人造成属灵损害。我们绝对不是指教会及其成员不该互相帮助,以成为更好的工人。但是,如果教会成为一种商业工具,其诚信就会受到破坏,其见证也会蒙上阴影。
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.