Zeal for Your House Will Consume Me
Over the years, Israel had become a big nation. During the Passover, many people would travel to Jerusalem to make their sacrifices. Many of the people did not take animals with them to sacrifice. It would not have been convenient to drive an animal for such a long distance. They would just simply buy an animal when they arrived. During Passover, every male over the age of twenty was encouraged to pay a temple tax. The temple tax had to be paid in the local currency, and so money changers were needed.
People who sold animals for sacrifice and money changers set up shop in a part of the temple called the “Court of the Gentiles,” where non-Jews worshipped the one, true God. Jesus knew that his temple was a place in which people should pray and seek God, it was not a place where people should trade their goods. He was infuriated and drove the merchants out of his temple with a whip.
The Pharisees, who were the keepers of the temple and who had allowed the merchants to set up shop in the temple, questioned Jesus. They wanted proof that he was from God, and so they demanded that he perform a miracle for them. Jesus, who cannot be ordered about by any man, refused to do so. He said. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” When he said this he meant that his own body was the temple of God, and that they would kill him, but in three days he would rise from the dead. They did not understand what he was saying.
Some people saw Jesus and truly believed in him. Some believed he was a great man, but did not truly believe in him. Some did not believe in him at all. What do you believe about Jesus?
