By Julie Tourangeau | @julietour
When Jesus stormed the temple courts, overturning tables and driving out the money changers, we’re often told it was a righteous act against corruption—against the “thieves” who turned a holy place into a marketplace.
But what if that’s only part of the story?
What if the word “thieves” doesn’t quite capture what was happening?
The Word We Missed
The original Hebrew word used in this passage is “perits” (פָּרִיץ)—often translated as “thieves,” but more accurately meaning violent ones, marauders, or destroyers.
This isn’t about petty crime.
It’s about violence.
About those who had turned the temple—a place meant for prayer, reverence, and peace—into a place of bloodshed.
Jesus wasn’t just flipping tables over coins.
He was confronting the violent ritual slaughter of animals in the name of God.
His protest wasn’t just about dishonest trade.
It was a cry for compassion, for justice, for a return to the sacred.
If He Walked Among Us Now
If Jesus were alive today—reincarnated, awake to the fullness of his early teachings—what would he see?
Would he walk into modern-day churches and find doves for sale?
Would he find lambs being sacrificed?
No.
But he’d find the same violence, cloaked in different robes.
He’d see his name invoked over meals made of suffering.
He’d see Easter tables lined with lambs, celebrated in remembrance of his own crucifixion.
And I imagine he’d grieve.
I imagine he’d say:
“You claim to follow me, yet you partake in the very acts I condemned.
You remember my suffering with the suffering of the innocent.
You turn my table of liberation into an altar of slaughter.
Have you not learned?”
The Lost Path
Early Christians understood dominion as stewardship, not superiority.
They practiced mercy, not sacrifice.
They aligned themselves with the Lamb of God, not the priests of Empire.
But somewhere along the way, that path was lost.
Love was replaced by law.
Awakening was replaced by ritual.
And the animals—the innocent ones Jesus likely defended—were left behind.
It’s Time to Return
The temple was never meant to be a place of blood.
The gospel was never meant to justify harm.
And Jesus never died so we could keep killing in his name.
He flipped tables to wake people up.
And maybe, just maybe…
he’s still doing it.
Let those with ears hear.
Let those with hearts soften.
Let us return to the path of compassion—for all beings.
Julie Tourangeau 