Jesus Cleanses the Temple
The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all tell the story of Jesus cleansing the temple near the time of the Jewish Passover. A comparison of the four accounts illustrates that while there are similarities, there a few fundamental differences as well.
At the time of the event, Jews would often travel great distances to the temple. It was not always feasible to bring their sacrificial animals with them, so they would purchase them from merchants near the temple site. The transgression of the merchants in this story is the selling of the animals in the outer court of the temple itself, which was the only place where Gentiles could come to pray. Also, coins had to be exchanged into a currency that would accepted by temple authorities. Money changers, though necessary, were set up within the temple itself. When Jesus entered the temple site, he was enraged at what he found and cleared out the temple of the merchants and the money changers.
The timing of the event is one of the main differences between the accounts in Matthew (21:12-16), Mark (11:15-18), and Luke (19:45-47) from the account in John (2:13-17). The Gospel of John establishes the event of the cleansing of the temple early in Jesus’ ministry while the other three make the event one of Jesus’ last acts. This would raise the question of whether Jesus cleared out the temple twice instead of just the one time. The chronology of Jesus’ act may be more important for setting up the events that follow. In John, by placing the event early in Jesus’ ministry, Jesus is establishing himself by showing authority and reforming the actions at the temple. In the other three Gospels, the cleansing of the temple was one of Jesus’ final public acts and set the stage for his arrest.
Another difference between John’s account and that of Matthew, Mark, and Luke is the use of Scripture. In John, Jesus makes no mention of Scripture while in the other three Jesus refers once to Isaiah (56:7) and then Jeremiah (7:11). The use of Scripture would be used to show a fulfillment of prophecy. The quote from Isaiah refers to a ‘house of prayer for all nations’, indicating the spread of Christianity to Gentiles in the future. This ties into the purpose of the placement of the event in the chronology of Jesus’ life as well. In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the temple incident is setting the stage for another prophecy to be fulfilled, namely, the arrest and death of Jesus. John’s account does include that the disciples who were with Jesus remember a passage from Psalms 69:9 that states “for zeal for your house consumes me, and the insults of those who insult you fall on me”. This indicates that the merchants who are dishonoring the temple were also dishonoring God and Jesus.
Matthew, Mark, and Luke all state that Jesus simply drove out the merchants and overturned the tables of the money changers and those selling doves and told them to leave the temple. In John, cattle and sheep are specifically mentioned as being sold by the merchants. In addition, John relates that Jesus made a whip of cords to drive the merchants and the animals from the temple and that he scattered the coins of the money changers. This show of force reinforces the theme of Jesus establishing himself as having God’s authority.
Though the accounts are similar, the cleansing of the temple serves a different purpose in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke than that of John. There are few variations between the Synoptic Gospels indicating a similar purpose.