John 2:12-25

After the wedding, Jesus, his mother and brothers, and his disciples traveled to Capernaum and stayed there for a few days. When the time was close for the Jewish Passover to begin, Jesus walked to Jerusalem. As he went into the temple courtyard, he noticed it was filled with merchants selling oxen, lambs, and doves for exorbitant prices, while others were overcharging as they exchanged currency behind their counters. So Jesus found some cords and made them into a whip. Then he drove out every one of them and their animals from the courtyard of the temple, and he kicked over their tables filled with money, scattering it everywhere! And he told the merchants, “Get these things out of here! Don’t you dare commercialize my Father’s house!” That’s when his disciples remembered the Scripture: “I am consumed with a fiery passion to keep your house pure!” Then the Jewish religious leaders challenged Jesus, “What authority do you have to do this sort of thing and what supernatural sign will you show us to prove it?” Jesus answered, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it up again in three days.” Then the Jewish leaders sneered at Jesus’ answer, “This temple took forty-six years to build, and you mean to tell us that you will raise it up in three days?” But they failed to understand that Jesus was speaking of the “temple” of his body. The disciples remembered his prophecy after Jesus rose from the dead, and believed both the Scripture and what Jesus had said. While Jesus was at the Passover Feast, the number of his followers began to grow, and many gave their allegiance to him because of all the miraculous signs they had seen him doing! But Jesus did not yet entrust himself to them, because he knew how fickle human hearts can be. He needed no one to tell him about human nature, for he fully understood what man was capable of doing.

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