What kind of a man do you think Jesus was? He was wise, gentle and friendly. People came to him easily because they liked him. He never said a cross word to anybody.

Wait a minute! That’s not exactly true!

Jesus was put on Earth because he had a job to do. It was his job to bring salvation and the word of God to the people. Sometimes he was very upset at what he saw around him.

There was one time Jesus grew very angry, and it is one of the famous stories of Jesus’ life.

At the time of Jesus, people made sacrifices to God. A sacrifice is when you kill an animal and offer it to God. We don’t do sacrifices anymore! But, back then it was a common thing.

So, many people went to the temples on Jerusalem with one of their animals to offer to God. A shepherd would cross many miles of hot desert with his sheep or cow to offer.

It was a hard trip, so merchants began to sell animals for sacrifice on the steps of the temple. A merchant is a person who sells something. This way, a person could cross the desert himself and simply buy the animal.

But these merchants were not always followers of God, and they were sometimes wicked people. They only cared about making money.

One day, Jesus came to the temple of Jerusalem. When he saw the animals for sale around the temple, he was shocked.

He grew very angry. He took some small ropes and made a whip, and he began to crack the whip to chase away the animals.

“Hey! What are you doing?! Those are our animals for sale!” cried the merchants.

This made Jesus even more angry! He began to whip the animals, and then he began to whip the merchants. They ran away with their animals, screaming.

Then, Jesus knocked over their tables of goods. All the goods and money fell on the ground among the dust and rocks. The people stood around, shocked.

Then he said to them, “Take these things away! My Father’s house is a house of worship… but you have turned it into a den of thieves!”

Now the people understood. It doesn’t sound like Jesus to be so angry does it? But, sometimes he had to be strong. People don’t always listen.

After this, he went into the temple and performed miracles for all the blind and lame who came to him. Many people came from all around to pray and be healed by the power of God.

Jesus did the work of his Father, God, and that is why sometimes he had to do things that seemed strange.

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