# Day 226

# Cleansing His Father’s House

John 2:13–22

Jesus went up to Jerusalem for the Passover. In the temple, he found people selling sheep and doves for sacrifices. There were money changers at their tables. Jesus made a whip out of cords. He used it to drive these people out of the temple. He chased their sheep into the street and poured out their coins.

“Take these things out of here!” he shouted. “Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!”

The Jews said to him, “What right do you have to do this? Show us a sign that God’s given you control of the temple.”

“Here’s your sign,” Jesus said. “Destroy this temple and in three days I’ll raise it up.”

“It’s taken forty-six years to build this temple. It’s not finished yet,” the Jews said. “Will you raise it up in three days?”

But Jesus wasn’t talking about that temple on Mount Moriah. He was speaking of the temple of his body. They would put him to death. But he would come back from death in three days. His followers remembered that he’d said this. So when Jesus returned from death, they believed his words.

Questions: What did Jesus use to drive the people out of the temple? What did Jesus mean when he said he’d raise up the temple in three days?