they would need the proper coinage. So Jesus, by driving them all away, was for a moment—but a deeply powerful, symbolic moment—denying the Temple its normal function. The steady stream of sacrifices came to a shuddering halt. The last time that had happened was when the hated Syrians had overrun the place, two hundred years before, and had turned it into a pagan shrine. Now here was someone claiming to be speaking for God and his kingdom—and stopping the Temple from functioning. What sense could