At the end of chapter 12 of Mark’s Gospel Jesus accuses the scribes and Pharisees of “devouring widows’ houses.” Where? When? The story of the widow’s offering which transitions from this condemnation to Jesus’ Mt. Olivet prophecy of the destruction of the Temple gives us a hint, but not anything like a satisfying picture. In fact, none of the Gospels do. We have other hints: the corban law so that children could refuse to support their parents, the “voluntary” Temple tax that proves you are a faithful Israelite… what else? None of this gives us enough to understand the Pharisaical sin Jesus is condemning here. Yet Jesus makes it with great credibility [i.e. he doesn’t feel any need to convince anyone that the Pharisees are indeed guilty].
Not everyone needs to understand Jesus’ situation. Otherwise the information would be included. But if you do want to understand it, you are going to have to read books about history that are not canonical.
I went through being very suprised initially about how much of the gospels and particulalr Acts was about the corruption of money in religion.
From the moneychangers, to Ananias and Saphirah, to Simon the sorceror, to the demon-posessed girl, to the Silversmiths, Mammon is the biggest and first of the pricipalities to be torn down.
But he’s back nowadays, of course.