As we studied the “Markan Sandwich” on Sunday (Mark 11:12-25) where Jesus cursed the fig tree just prior to cleansing the temple, perhaps more than one of you wondered about the account of the temple cleansing in the Gospel of John. Mark—along with Matthew and Luke—tell of the cleansing of the temple taking place just after Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, less than one week before His death on the cross. However, John reports Jesus cleansing the temple just after His first miracle at the wedding in Cana, during the first Passover of His public ministry, years before His death on the cross. Is this a bona fide Bible contradiction?
Certainly not. While it is not unusual for the Gospel writers to report the events of Jesus’ life in different orders for the sake of making their own theological points, in this instance it is most likely the case that there were two temple cleansings. (This definitely is not a matter of orthodoxy. We can disagree and still be friends!)
Two main reasons persuade me to believe that Jesus cleansed the temple twice. First, the details of the cleansing in John and the cleansing in Matthew/Mark/Luke (the Synoptic Gospels) are quite different. Beyond the nature of the activities precipitating the cleansing and the fact that Jesus cast the participants out, the two scenes have very little in common. Here are some examples of the differences:
- John mentions Jesus’ making a whip of cords with which He drove out the people (John 2:15). The Synoptics mention no whip.
- Jesus’ charge against the people is distinct in the two accounts. John 2:16: “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” Mark 11:17: “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” (Cf. Matt 21:13; Luke 19:46)
- In John, the religious leaders appear to challenge Jesus’ actions immediately upon the cleansing (John 2:18). In the Synoptics, they challenge Jesus’ authority on a different day (Matt 21:23; Mark 11:27; Luke 20:1).
- The challenges from the Jewish authorities, as well as Jesus’ responses, are completely different in the two scenes. In John, the Jews say, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” In other words, they want to see a miracle from heaven to prove that Jesus has the authority to do what He has just done. Jesus responds, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” Conversely, in the Synoptic Gospels, the Jewish leaders do not ask for a sign, but simply ask, “By what authority are you doing these things or who gave you this authority to do them?” Jesus responds, “I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Was the baptism of John from heaven of from man?” Upon their unwillingness to answer Jesus’ question, He refuses to answer theirs.
None of these differences alone should cause us to raise an eyebrow, as the Gospels frequently report unique details about the same events. However, the differences put together seem to point to two different events.
A second reason I’m convinced John and the Synoptics record two different cleansings is the simple chronology of each account. As already mentioned, John reports a cleansing at the first Passover of Jesus’ public ministry, while the Synoptics report a cleansing at the last Passover of His public ministry. The chronological details do not seem to reflect the normal editorial ordering of events that we find in other places in the Gospels. It appears John intends for us to believe Jesus really cleansed the temple at the beginning of His ministry. Matthew, Mark, and Luke intend for us to believe that Jesus really cleansed the temple at the end of His ministry.
Some questions may be in order:
Why would Jesus cleanse the temple twice? Because He found it being abused twice.
Why didn’t the Synoptic Gospels report the first cleansing? The Synoptics report almost exclusively Jesus’ ministry in the area around Galilee until His triumphal entry. Only John shows Jesus traveling regularly to Jerusalem.
Why would the Jewish leaders have allowed Jesus to do it a second time? He had just entered the city hailed as the Son of David. He was immensely popular, as Mark notes: “And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching” (Mark 11:18). They simply did not have the courage to stop Him.
A final thought: the reality of an earlier cleansing gives greater weight to Mark’s portrayal of the later cleansing as an act of judgment for the Jewish leader's failure to repent.
Comments