The "Prince of Peace " was also a Prince of Principle. On his final visit to Jerusalem, Jesus went once again to the temple...... And Jesus was indignant at the sight and said:
"You men of Israel, for shame! This is supposed to be the house of prayer, but it is now a den of thieves. Remove this plunder from this holy place!" The merchants only laughed and said "we are protected in our trade by those who bear the rule, we will not go!"
Then Jesus made a scourge of cords, as he did once before, and rushed amongst the merchantmen, threw all their money on the floor, threw open wide the cages of the doves , and cut the cords that held the bleating lambs and set them free..... And then he drove the merchants from the place.
A bit later on, when Jesus was asked about the effects of prayer and deeds: "So shall it be with those who bear no fruit. When God shall call them up to give account, lo, he will breathe upon them and their empty words will wither and decay...... God will not hear the prayer of any man who comes with blood of other men upon his hands."
Symbolism is key in any spiritual quest, or in any discourse on interrelationships. One can readily interpret that the temple of that day could very well be our temple of government today: the Congress or city council and state houses. The merchants could very well be symbolic of the lobbyists who 'buy and sell "votes from the Congress"..... Or perhaps they represent the politicians themselves. Could the symbolism of the doves and other sacrificial animals be perhaps regular citizens who are now behind the proverbial eight ball?
Finally, in relation to Jesus' words on God and his judgment or comfort, having any sort of belief in the sweet hereafter with a Creator would dictate that 'As ye sow so shall ye reap '.
I mean, we can go on and quote Jesus: "As ye do to the least of mine you do to me ." When the Wall Street crowd premeditatedly scammed millions of unsuspecting home buyers, is that not fitting to what Jesus meant? When our government conducts phony wars of aggression, destroying and then occupying the defeated countries, does that too not fit? Are the lives of those Iraqi and Afghan civilians and those young American troops less important than the lives of the super wealthy and their political allies? What better analogy to the words of Jesus concerning " the least of mine " than that of the illegal and immoral US torture programs and haphazard drone missile kills?
Obama should have known better! He was not the son or grandson of the elite class. For one who postures himself as a "Man of color", these seven plus years did he not realize that historically a large percentage of the victims of the policies of greed and corruption always wear black and brown faces? A greater representation of those in United States Army & Marine battle fatigues happen to be of color. To send them deeper into the "hornet's nest of empire" is not spiritual at all. A greater per capita percentage of those scammed by Wall Street housing hustlers were folks of color.
Mr. Obama needs his own epiphany , or as Jesus told about those who "bear no fruit': "Their empty words will wither and decay". While Obama trots to the podium, being pushed along by his Wall Street and Military Industrial Complex handlers, as a Christian Mr. Obama should remember Jesus of Nazareth's warning:
"No man can serve two masters, for then he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Mammon." Mr. Obama, mammon defined means "Money personified as a false God". Who have you served sir?