Three temple visits

<p> Holy Week , that week during which Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the donkey while crowds called out Hosanna, was also the week where he turned over the tables of the money changers, the week of the Last supper, the week where he was betrayed and where he agonised in the Garden of Gesthemane,. He was denied by Peter, put on trial, and crucified. That week was preceded by a build up of momentum over many weeks particularly as he began to appear more publicly in open conflict and debate with the Scribes and Pharisees, and where he was questioned by the many that followed him, wanting to know if he was indeed the Christ. But there was a certain particular activity that was significant to Jesus, and that was to do with the temple.</p> <p>In the last months of his ministry Jesus placed an intense focus on the Temple. He made three visits to the temple from the month of November through to March the next year. The first visit was to the feast of Tabernacles, the second to the feast of Dedication (Hanukkah), and the third was to confront the money changers before the Feast of Passover when he was crucified. The temple was the place where God had ordained in the OT that he would meet with his people – this was his habitation. This was paramount for Jesus, who was in fact the living breathing walking temple who knew that his death and resurrection would mean that the material temple, called in Scripture the temple made with hands would no longer be where God met with his people. His temple would be us as the temple of the Holy Spirit just as Jesus had become this habitation of God in his own body while he was on the earth. Jesus is quoted in the New Testament as saying a Body you have prepared for me.</p> <p>So each temple visit was not just a visit to church as a good religious Jew – no – Jesus had a distinct purpose for each visit because they were about what was happening to him, and about what would be happening to us – the new temple to be.</p> <p>The first Temple visit was a secret visit when he attende