John 2:13-25 | What's the connection?

Coming right out of the passage where Jesus uses the waterpots for Jewish purification for turning water into wine, it is fairly significant that this is where we receive John's account of the cleansing of the temple. It is highly unlikely that Jesus cleanses the temple twice. The other synoptic gospels record Jesus doing this during Passion Week. Some have raised objections about the accuracy of John because of this, but it is pretty well understood that ancient readers were not concerned with chronology of events when reading through biographies. It is more likely that John was making a point by placing this account where he did. Putting in the cleansing of the temple right in between a fullness of wine given by Jesus and His teaching to Nicodemus of how one is born again hardly seems like an accident or a missed recollection of chronological events. John is showing something important.

Jesus goes into the temple and cleanses it during the days leading up to the Passover. This is significant as cleansing was something the Jews would have been very familiar with surrounding Passover. In the days leading up to it, it was required that the people of Israel clean out all leaven in their homes. It would appear that Jesus is doing the same thing here cleaning His Father's house. See how Paul recognizes leaven in 1 Corinthians 5,

6 Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 7 Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. 8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
-1 Corinthians 5:6-8

See also how Jesus speaks of it,

5 Now when His disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. 6 Then Jesus said to them, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.”
7 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “It is because we have taken no bread.”
8 But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, “O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread? 9 Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up? 10 Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up? 11 How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread?—but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 12 Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
-Matthew 16:5-12

Jesus was removing the sin and deception that was brought into the temple in the days leading up to the Passover. He cleansed it that His Father would delight in it. But there was something more to be done. For the Passover was not simply about cleaning out leaven, but also of sacrifice. And after Passover then was Firstfruits. The testimony is that Jesus cleans His Father's house of leaven, is the Passover lamb, and raises as the firstfruit of the resurrection. And it is out of this that we then enter into Jesus' meeting with Nicodemus as to how to be born again.

What connections are you finding?