Did Jesus Really Cleanse The Temple Twice During His Earthly Ministry?
- Brett Tannon Malott
- Apr 10, 2017
- 2 min read
Quick Answer: Yes, Jesus cleansed the Temple at the beginning of His ministry as a warning and at the end of His ministry as a statement of judgment on the leadership of Israel.
John 2 begins with Jesus turning water into wine at a wedding which is the first of John’s eight signs of Jesus as the Messiah and this event happens early in Jesus’ ministry. In John 2:13-22, Jesus displays His spiritual authority by cleansing the Temple of merchants who are ripping off Israelites and pilgrims in their desire to make sacrifices and pray to God. An issue arises in that the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew 21:12-13, Mark 11:15-17, and Luke 19:45-46) all place Jesus’ cleansing the Temple during His Passion Week, Mark 11:11-19 specifically places it on Monday. But John places the event so early in his Gospel that it would be difficult to think he wanted readers to take it as anything but an event that happened early in Jesus’ ministry.
A Couple Significant Differences: In John 2:15, Jesus used a whip and the Synoptic Gospels do not include the whip. But more importantly is the response of the Temple leadership to the cleansings. In John 2:18-22, Jesus’ authority is questioned without any discussion of His destruction. But in the Synoptic Gospels (specifically Mark 22:18, Luke 19:47), the Temple leadership is seeking a way to destroy (kill) Jesus without starting a riot.
Paradoxically, the chief priests and scribes (who are in favor of commerce in the Temple) seek to destroy the Purifier rather than to be purified themselves! Jesus cleansing the Temple twice demonstrates how strong the enemy had infiltrated the religious leadership of Israel and their greed and lust for money had blinded them to their mission of being a light to the nations (Isaiah 49:6) and to point people to God.
Application for Today: In our lives as disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ and churches, we must strive to keep holy and pure. See, many years before Jesus would cleanse the Temple (twice in some three and a half years), Jeremiah prophesied about the Temple turning into a den of robbers (Jeremiah 7:11) and so Jesus’ actions of removing the money changers was to temporarily restore the Temple to its primary function of serving as a house of prayer for all peoples (Isaiah 56:7). Can we say today that our lives and our churches point people to the Lord or are our actions, lives, teachings, etc. hindering, blocking, or “robbing” people, hence creating an additional stumbling block?
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