Where Did Jesus Go During His Final Week?

The fig tree

Monday morning, Jesus began walking with His disciples to the Temple. It was early in the morning and they were hungry. Jesus saw a fig tree and walked over to it to pick a few figs – which are quite delicious. When He got to the tree, He saw that it didn't have any fruit on it. Jesus just spoke to the tree and told it that it would never have fruit again – and it withered up and died! The disciples were amazed. They had seen him bring dead people to life, but not kill anything. When they asked Him how He did it, He told them that it was just a little faith. He said that if we believe and ask God for something, we will receive it. If we have enough faith, He said, we can tell a mountain to jump in the sea and it would do just that!

Artwork: The Accursed Fig Tree by James Tissot

Let's go with Him

Jesus arrived at the Temple. There, instead of finding people praying and praising God, He found crooks cheating worshipers out of their money. There was a corrupt law that only “Temple Money” could be used on the Temple Mount. “Money-changers” then charged high fees to convert regular money into Temple Money. These crooks were taking advantage of humble people who just wanted to worship Almighty God! The crooks were making a huge profit at the expense of worshipers. Jesus became angry, declaring they’d turned God’s house of prayer into a den of thieves. He knocked over their tables and kicked them out! This made Temple officials furious. You see, the chief priests all got kickbacks and bribes from the moneychangers and other dishonest merchants. So, Jesus cost them a lot of money.

Artwork: The Moneychangers Chased From the Temple by James Tissot