Did Jesus cleanse the Temple once or twice? Matthew, Mark, and Luke report Jesus driving merchants and moneychangers out of the temple, but some critics claim that the chronology doesn’t match. Did Jesus cleanse the temple more than once? Do the gospels disagree? How do we reconcile these passages?
- Matthew 21:12, “And Jesus entered the temple and cast out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who were selling doves.”
- Mark 11:11-12,15-16, “And He entered Jerusalem and came into the temple; and after looking all around, He departed for Bethany with the twelve, since it was already late. 12 And on the next day, when they had departed from Bethany, He became hungry. 15 And they came to Jerusalem. And He entered the temple and began to cast out those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who were selling doves; 16 and He would not permit anyone to carry goods through the temple.”
- Luke 19:45, “And He entered the temple and began to cast out those who were selling.”
There are two possible explanations. The first is that Matthew and Mark purposely arranged their material in different patterns. Matthew is more topical in his presentation of the material than is Mark. Therefore, it may be that Matthew condensed the information into a thematic arrangement.
The other explanation is that Jesus drove moneychangers out of the temple twice. This is possible but is disputed. For more information on this, go to the Chronology of the Temple Cleansing and see a possible arrangement of the gospels.
