Jesus Cleans Out God's House

It was time for the Passover celebration, so Jesus went to Jerusalem. When He arrived at the temple, the special place where people came to worship God, Jesus saw something that made Him very upset. The temple was supposed to be a quiet, holy place for prayer, but instead, it looked like a noisy marketplace! People were selling animals for sacrifices, and money changers were sitting at tables, often cheating the worshipers by charging too much.

Jesus looked around at all this and became very angry - but it was the right kind of anger. He was angry because people were being greedy and dishonest in His Father's house! Jesus made a whip out of small ropes and started driving out all the animals and the people selling them. He flipped over the tables of the money changers, and coins went flying everywhere! Can you imagine the noise? Crash! Bang! Clink! Clank! Everyone stopped and stared at Jesus.

Jesus said to the people selling doves, 'Take these things out of here! Don't turn My Father's house into a place for making money!' Then He told everyone, 'The Bible says God's house should be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves!' Jesus was teaching everyone an important lesson: God's house is special and holy. It's a place to worship God, not a place to cheat people or focus on money.

After Jesus cleared out the temple, something beautiful happened. People who were blind and couldn't walk came to Him right there in the temple, and Jesus healed them! Children started singing, 'Hosanna to the Son of David!' praising Jesus. But the chief priests and teachers of the law didn't like this at all. They were angry that people were worshiping Jesus. 'Do You hear what these children are saying?' they asked Jesus. Jesus smiled and said, 'Yes! Haven't you read in the Bible that God makes sure even children can give Him perfect praise?'

Later, the religious leaders asked Jesus, 'What right do You have to do these things?' Jesus gave them a mysterious answer: 'If you destroy this temple, I will raise it up in three days.' The leaders were confused because they thought He was talking about the big temple building that took forty-six years to build. But Jesus was actually talking about His own body! After Jesus died and rose again three days later, His disciples remembered what He said and understood. This story teaches us that God's house is special and should be treated with respect, and that Jesus cares deeply about true worship from our hearts.