Cleansing of the Temple (Passion Week)

The event

In the days following the triumphal entry, Jesus enters the Temple and again finds its outer courts overtaken by commerce — merchants selling sacrificial animals and money-changers converting Roman currency into Temple coin, all at a healthy markup, crowding out the Court of the Gentiles, the one space non-Jews were permitted to pray. Jesus drives them out, overturning tables, and quotes Isaiah and Jeremiah together: "My house shall be called a house of prayer... but you have made it a den of robbers."

This second cleansing, coming at the close of his ministry rather than the start, sharpens the confrontation with Jerusalem's religious authorities to a breaking point. Matthew notes that the blind and the lame come to Jesus in the Temple and he heals them there, even as children cry out "Hosanna to the Son of David" — provoking indignation from the chief priests and scribes, who begin actively looking for a way to destroy him.

Dating

Falls within the same Passion Week traditionally dated to AD 30 (see the Crucifixion entry for the AD 30/33 discussion).

Scripture references

• Matthew 21:12-17
• Mark 11:15-19
• Luke 19:45-48