Early Cleansing of the Temple

The event

John places this cleansing near the start of Jesus's public ministry, at a Passover visit to Jerusalem — distinct from the more familiar Temple cleansing during Passion Week that the Synoptic Gospels record near the end of his ministry. Finding the outer courts turned into a noisy marketplace of oxen, sheep, doves, and money-changers profiting off pilgrims needing sacrificial animals and Temple currency, Jesus makes a whip of cords and drives them all out, overturning tables and declaring, "Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade."

His disciples recall the psalm, "Zeal for your house will consume me." When Jewish leaders demand a sign justifying his authority, Jesus answers cryptically, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" — words John explains were about the temple of his own body, a resurrection prediction that made full sense to the disciples only after Easter.

Dating

Some harmonizations identify this with the single Temple cleansing recorded by Matthew, Mark, and Luke during Passion Week; most evangelical scholars, following John's own chronology, hold that Jesus cleansed the Temple twice — once near the start of his ministry (c. AD 27) and once at its close.

Scripture references

• John 2:13-22