Investiture Achievement/Skit/Mark/Act Three: Cleansing of the Temple, Peter's Denial

Seeya Tamarah: Hi everyone, you're watching Judea Today. I'm Seeya Tamarah.

Gabby Gefin: And I'm Gabby Gefin. This weekend we bring you another story from Jerusalem, where Jesus appeared today. In a move that should surprise no one by now, he had another run-in with the religious leaders.

Seeya Tamarah: That's right Gabby. Jesus came to Jerusalem earlier this week, and made his first stop in the Temple. He did not like what he saw!

Gabby Gefin: Anna Malina has this report.

Anna Malina: Good morning. I'm standing here in the Women's Court at the Temple where Jesus made an appearance this week. He may have been expecting to find a nice reverent place to worship, but as anyone who has been to the temple lately could tell you, that is not what he found! Jerusalem resident, Anika Yana was here when it happened. Anika, what was it like when Jesus arrived?

Anika Yana: I came earlier this week so I could put in my offering. I don't normally like to stay here for very long because of all the noise.

Anna Malina: What noise?

Anika Yana: The noise from all the animals. You see, the priests always seem to find something wrong with the animals people bring here to offer as a sacrifice. They are pointed to the courtyard where there are people who sell “guaranteed perfect” sacrificial lambs. (make air quotes)

Anna Malina: Oh, so people can just buy one of those?

Anika Yana: Yes. They will also buy the so-called “imperfect” animals as a trade in, but I think all they do is resell them to the next person.

Anna Malina: Interesting.

Anika Yana: But that's not the worst of it. When the the traders buy an animal, they pay with one of Caesar's coins. But when you try to buy one from them, they won't accept anything other than the temple coin. So then you have to go to the money changers and get ripped off again.

Anna Malina: That's terrible!

Anika Yana: Jesus must have thought so too. When he walked in and saw what was going on, he got really mad! He starting yelling at the animal sellers and money changers, and then he turned over their tables and set the animals free! For a few minutes it was chaos! The animal sellers and money changers got really scared, and they all ran out as fast as they could!

Anna Malina: Did Jesus say anything to them?

Anika Yana: You bet he did! He said "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations!" And the way he said it, you just KNEW that this was HIS house!

Anna Malina: (Turning to camera) Thank you Anika. For Judea Today, I'm Anna

Malina reporting live from the Women's Court in the Temple.

Seeya Tamarah: Thank you Anna. We also learned that the religious leaders did eventually return to the temple to question Jesus.

Gabby Gefin: Not only did Jesus chase the teachers of the Law and Pharisees from the Temple, he also engaged them in some very spirited arguments.

Seeya Tamarah: That's right Gabby. One argument centered around whether it was lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not, which is of course, a loaded question. If Jesus said "Yes," then they would have accused him of being in support of the Roman government, and he would have lost the favor of the people. But if he said "No," he could have been turned over to the Romans for inciting a tax riot.

Gabby Gefin: Instead, Jesus asked to see one of the coins used to pay the tax, and asked "Whose image and inscription is this?" When they answered him "Caesar's," Jesus moved in with the zinger.

Seeya Tamarah: "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s."

Gabby Gefin: Just amazing!

Seeya Tamarah: Yes! Here to talk about these events is Judea Today's own news analyst, Saadya Simeon. Hi Saadya, and welcome to the show.

Saadya Simeon: Hello Seeya. It's good to see ya.

Seeya Tamarah: Thank you. You seem uncharacteristically happy today. The way Jesus trounced you Sadducees this week, that comes as a bit of a surprise.

Saadya Simeon: Yes, I suppose it would to an uneducated person such as yourself. Many people think that Jesus won those arguments, but that's only because they have not studied the Law as much as we have. Sure, it SEEMED like Jesus won, but I think history will not be kind to him. Once people review these events, they will clearly see that Jesus is a fake and an imposter.

Seeya Tamarah: How can you say that?

Saadya Simeon: Well, it's pretty obvious to me, but I wouldn't expect you to understand. After all, you are not a scholar like I am.

Seeya Tamarah: I don't think one has to be a scholar to see that Jesus really came out on top of those arguments.

Saadya Simeon: Typical response from a non-scholar.

Seeya Tamarah: Well, I can see we're getting nowhere with this conversation.

Saadya Simeon: And we don't need to. You'll see very soon that this Jesus will be publicly disgraced. In fact, I'm pretty sure one of his own followers will hand him over very soon.

Gabby Gefin: What? How can you say that?

Saadya Simeon: (Smirking) Maybe I know something you don't after all!

Seeya Tamarah: (Puts her finger to her ear as if receiving a bulletin in her earphone) Wait a minute... This just in! Jesus has been arrested at the Mount of Olives! It happened after one of his followers led a group of soldiers there and kissed him on the cheek.

Saadya Simeon: Well, imagine that! Who could have predicted such a thing?

Seeya Tamarah: According to reports, he has been taken to the house of Caiaphas, where live action reporter, Joshua Avshalom is live on the scene.

Joshua Avshalom: Good evening Seeya. I'm actually outside the High Priest's courtyard where I've been speaking with Natania Bethel, one of the servants here. Natania, what is going on inside?

Natania Bethel: Well, they had Jesus in there and had been questioning him for a couple of hours. I dunno what they'd been saying, but we figgered out that one of his followers was out here with us on the outside.

Joshua Avshalom: Can you explain?

Natania Bethel: Sure. It's cold out here tonight, so we were all trying to keep warm by the fire. A guy came around and joined us. I thought I'd seen him before, but I just couldn't put my finger on it. Then I realized, he was the one who lopped the ear offa Malchus with a sword! So I called him out! I said, "You also were with Jesus of Nazareth!"

Joshua Avshalom: And what did he say?

Natania Bethel: He said he wasn't! It was pretty dark though, so I thought, well, maybe he wasn't. But he still hung around after that, and the more I saw him, the more I thought he really was. So I called him out again!

Joshua Avshalom: Was the result any different?

Natania Bethel: No. Once again, he said he wasn't, but this time, I wasn't buying it. I mentioned it so some of the others here, and they thought it was him too. So we asked him again.

Joshua Avshalom: You asked him three times?

Natania Bethel: (Counts on her fingers). Yeah. Three times. The third time, things got weird. He started cussin' and swearin' and used all kinds of language not fit to be said around a lady. Especially a beautiful lady such as myself. About that time they were leadin' Jesus out and this rooster starts to crow. The guy looks right at Jesus, and then kinda freaked out, ya know? He started bawlin' like a baby and ran off. We don't know where he went, but I'm tellin' ya - HE WAS ONE OF THEM.

Joshua Avshalom: There you have it Seeya. Jesus HAS been arrested, and his followers are desserting him. Live from Caiaphas's courtyard, this is Joshua Avshalom for Judea Today.

Seeya Tamarah: Thank you Joshua. That's all the time we have tonight. We'll keep you updated on this breaking story as events unfold.

Gabby Gefin: (crying) Good night everyone.

Seeya Tamarah: See you tomorrow. (turns to Gabby and puts her arm around her. Asks if she is alright)

Both anchors get up and leave, clearly shaken by the story.