In this week's Gospel, we hear John's account of Jesus cleansing the temple. Jesus and his followers were on their way to Jerusalem for Passover. When Jesus neared the temple he saw there was a marketplace set up in front of the temple area. This was the case in the time because animals were purchased for animal sacrifices and money changes would exchange the Roman coins with the temple coins to pay the temple tax. But the sight of this enraged Jesus and he cleared out the entire space. The Jews questioned Jesus and asked for a sign as to what authority he had to do what he had done. Jesus responded, "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up." Of course, this only further confused the Jews, as the temple had been under construction for many years. But Jesus wasn't referring to the physical structure of the temple, instead, he was foretelling the story of his own passion, death and resurrection. Jesus knew that the people would no longer worship like the Jews currently worshipped with animal sacrifices, as it would be his death, the ultimate sacrifice, that would lead our worship.
