Jesus' stay in Capernaum, following the wedding celebrations at Cana, was brief. The Jewish Passover was approaching. For this very solemn feast, Jesus followed the Jewish custom and journeyed to Jerusalem, to its central shrine, the temple. His work at this time is recorded in the Gospel of John.
The temple would be a busy place at this season. Many of the pilgrims attending the Passover would need to purchase birds and animals for the required sacrifice. Those from distant places would also need to exchange their money in order to pay, in the proper Jewish coinage, the temple tax of a half-shekel per person. But while these activities in their place might be considered legitimate, the noisy bargaining of such business transactions was doubtless excessive, and the abuses connected with them—going on in the temple—were unquestionably out of place. We read of Jesus, "When he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables; and said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise" (John 2:15, 16).
Not only the money changers and tradesmen were affected by this action. The priestly authorities would have had to condone their dealings, if indeed they were not involved in the transactions themselves. Jesus' words, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" (verse 19), appear to have been as upsetting to the authorities as his actions had been.
