Is Mat 21:12 the true Jesus and the rest astrotheological sensationalism to divert?

You have to go back one step further...there is no proof Jesus even existed. Judeo-christianity is based on Egyptian and Pagan traditions. How religion plays a part in "control" by using belief and money comes after.

Part of me thinks JC is in fact a cautionary tale devised bY the moneychangers themselves

That is definitely possible. People don't realize just how much authority the church had back then and now of course. So many atrocities like the crusades were all masked behind the cloak of illusion that the church saying they were doing a service for god and would be absolved of any wrong doing. The roman catholic church is still one of the richest entities next to the federal reserve.