I've Had It Up To Here!

I’ve Had It Up To Here!

 

Of all the scenes and images you can conjure in your mind as you think about Christ’s life, driving money changers from the temple is one that seems to provide contrast to the archetype of his ministry.  

 

“And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables. And he said unto them who sold doves, Take these things from here. Make not my Father’s house a house of merchandise. And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of your house has eaten me up.” (NC John 1:9)

 

When we read it in scripture, what we see is Christ’s righteous indignation, anger that is driven by contempt and not sinful.  But surely, the money changers there must have looked at him and thought, “what a jerk” or “this guy is nuts” or “what got into him” or “holy moly, (short for ‘Holy Moses’) this guy’s raging.” They clearly didn’t share Christ’s view of current events.

 

There may be many lessons from Christ driving money changers from the temple – instruction regarding use of the temple, exposing dishonest practices, collection of unlawful interest and economic exploitation of the poor, provocation for the final scenes of his life, etc. Additionally, it certainly seems it could be uniquely characterized as one of Christ’s “I’ve had it up to here” moments.

 

“I’ve had it up to here” is an apt descriptive idiom for that event suggesting “I am no longer able to bear this and will not accept any more of this nonsense.”

 

Fast forward to today scripturally.  We can do that thanks to Isaiah. Christ said, “for great are the words of Isaiah. For surely he spake as touching all things concerning my people…and all things that he spake hath been and shall be…”(NC 3 Nephi 10:4)

 

From Isaiah, here’s an insight to Christ’s current, end-times, 2023, “I’ve had it up to here,” mood.

 

OC Isaiah 1:2 - “Bring no more vain offerings. Incense is an abomination unto me. The new moons, and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies I cannot bear — it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they are a trouble unto me, I am weary to bear them. And when you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; yea, when you make many prayers, I will not hear.”

 

Despite his commands for offerings, worship, temple practices and sacrifice, he is nauseated by them because they have become worthless, because they aren’t backed by personal righteousness. Even religious meetings and assemblies Jehovah can’t approve because those who attend them are encumbered with offenses. Their wickedness—their unrepented sins and iniquities—turns their services into solemn mockery. His people measure their righteousness before God in terms of their attendance at them, not by their personal integrity. Prayers don’t benefit unrepentant people guilty of iniquity, those who are working at cross-purposes to God’s work underway in this Dispensation.(see Gileadi commentary)

 

Later he describes it this way, with an allowance for repentance – “you have wearied me with your iniquities…. I am he that blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and will not remember your sins.”(OC Isaiah 15:14)  In other words, “I’ve had it up to here,” unless you repent.

 

Look around, the Lord is in the process now of driving the money changers from the temple.  We just call it gathering the tares for burning – it’s as easy to see as it was biblically, you just have to look.

 

Just as Christ was with the money changers at the temple, your spiritual-you probably suffers from righteous indignation toward your temporal-you and is making an effort, metaphorically speaking, to drive the money changer in you from your temple.

 

Look, we live in the end-time when it is clear from scripture and the Dispensation now underway that we live in a moment, as put in T&C 158:12, that is a troubling season now fast approaching. Or rather, perhaps, a troubling season that is now arriving. It’s our own money-changer moment and Christ’s current version of “I’ve had it up to here.”

 

But it shouldn’t surprise us, Isaiah said that would happen.

 

Signed 

 

John The-Not-So-Beloved

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