I wonder if the people sitting in churches last week understoodd how very much Jesus of Nazareth's last week of life was driven by clashes pertaining to wealth and poverty - freedom and tyranny. Probably not. Theologians generally don't study history. Historians usually don't study theology, and neither study economics. Here's what happened: For over a half of a millennium, Israel had been passed from empire to empire. Each new world power treated Jerusalem as a cash cow - diverting it's wealth into imperial coffers in order to finance imperial ambitions. First there was Assyria, then Babylon, Persia, and Macedonia....