How Many Times Did Jesus Clear the Temple?
The day after Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey's colt, to shouts of "Hosanna!" and "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!" He went to the temple and drove out the merchants overturned their tables. And He said, "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!" (Mark 11:17) All three of the synoptic gospels -- Matthew, Mark, and Luke -- tell of Jesus cleansing the temple after His triumphal entry. This would have been on the Monday before He was crucified on Friday. But the book of John records something different. It says Jesus cleansed the temple way at the start of His ministry, a few years before He was crucified. What gives? These are actually two separate temple cleansings. It's in John's story where Jesus famously made a whip of cords, which He used to drive everyone out and He overturned their tables. But it's in what Jesus said ...