Jesus cleansing the temple is recorded at two distinct points in His ministry: once at the beginning, in John 2:13–22, and once near the end, in Matthew 21:12–17, Mark 11:15–19, and Luke 19:45–48. Both instances reveal His zeal for true worship and His authority over the house of God.
In the first cleansing, found in John’s Gospel, Jesus went up to Jerusalem during the Passover. He found in the temple those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, and the money changers doing business. He made a whip of cords and drove them all out of the temple, overturned the tables, and said, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!” (John 2:16). His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up” (Psalm 69:9).
The second cleansing occurred after His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Jesus entered the temple and again drove out those who bought and sold in it. He said, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves’” (Matthew 21:13). He then healed the blind and the lame who came to Him, and children cried out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” (Matthew 21:14–15).
Both events demons/”>demonstrate that Jesus was not indifferent to the corruption of worship. The temple was meant to be a place of prayer and reverence, but it had been turned into a place of greed and exploitation. His actions affirmed His role as Messiah and defender of God’s holiness.
The cleansing of the temple teaches that worship must be pure and that God’s house is not to be profaned. It also prefigures the new temple, Christ’s body, and the call for believers to be holy as the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19–20).
