Merchants are Banished from the Temple

The Merchants are Banished from the Temple

The Jews’ Passover was at hand. Jesus Christ went up to Jerusalem. Upon entering the Temple, He found great disorder. There they sold sheep, bullocks and doves; money changers were sitting at their tables. The lowing of the cattle, the bleating of the sheep, the talking of the people, the quarrels about the prices, the jingle of the coins — all this gave the Temple the semblance of a bazaar rather than the house of God.

Jesus Christ made a whip of small ropes and drove all the traders with their cattle out of the Temple. He overthrew the tables of the money changers and poured out their money. He said to them that sold doves, “Take these things away; make not My Father’s house a house of merchandise.” No one dared to disobey Jesus.

Having seen this, the chief Jews of the Temple came in a fury. They approached the Saviour and said, “What sign showest Thou unto us, seeing that Thou doest these things?”

Jesus Christ answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” But He spoke of the temple of His body and by these words predicted that when they killed Him, He would rise in three days.

When, therefore, He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this unto them, and they believed the word of Jesus.

During Jesus Christ’s stay in Jerusalem during the feast of Passover, many people, seeing the miracles which He performed, believed in Him.

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^{Note: See the Gospel of John, 2:13-25.}