Picture if you will, this story of Jesus as He cleanses the Temple. It was the time of the Jewish Passover Feast, and Jesus had just made His Triumphal Entry Into Jerusalem upon a donkey. It was a very jubilant occasion for Jesus and his multitudes of followers, but when Jesus went into the Temple of God, he didn't like what He saw. This was a most holy place, the place where the blind and lame had come to him and Jesus healed them all.
From scripture, it is obvious that Jesus was very angry at what he saw going on in the Temple where it had been converted into a moneychanging market place for buying and selling animals for sacrifices and he cast them all out, overthrowing the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of them that sold doves, saying to them:
It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves. Matthew 21:13
It is also plain from scripture that Jesus spoke with the utmost authority during his cleansing of the Temple and the chief priests were visibly bothered by this; and as the crowds of people had grown to trust and praise Jesus because of his healings and teachings in the Temple daily, the chief priests and elders were in fear of losing their authority with the Romans, and came up with a scheme to trick Jesus, demanding to know by what authority he could do all these things. Jesus, being who He was, knew beforehand it was a trap and asked the chief priest and elders a question:
The baptise of John, whence was it? from heaven, or men? Matthew 21:27.
As the chief priests and elders reasoned with themselves, they thought "If we shall say, From heaven, he will say unto us, "Why did ye not believe him?" "But if we shall say, Of men, we fear the people, for all hold John as a prophet." So they answered with no answer saying, "We cannot tell." And Jesus beating them at their own game, replied "Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things." Matthew 21:25.
Related Story: Jesus Christ, Our Passover Lamb
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