He replied, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!” But as He came closer to Jerusalem and saw the city ahead, He began to weep. “How I wish today that you of all people would understand the way to peace. But now it is too late, and peace is hidden from your eyes. Before long your enemies will build ramparts against your walls and encircle you and close in on you from every side. They will crush you into the ground, and your children with you. Your enemies will not leave a single stone in place, because you did not accept your opportunity for salvation.” Then Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the people selling animals for sacrifices. He said to them,”The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves.” After that, He taught daily in the Temple, but the leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the other leaders of the people began planning how to kill Him. But they could think of nothing, because all the people hung on every word He said.
Luke 19:40-48
Now I will repeat what I wrote in Bible Gem 24 when I was looking at the Temple Cleansing story in John’s Gospel.
Don’t worry about the position of the stories in the gospel just yet.
Look at the order in which each gospel writer places the related stories:
He replied, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!”
- If Mark is the standard (the first) then note how the others use or don’t use his material.
- Matthew omits the first fig tree segment
- Luke substitutes it with Stones Cry Out segment, a long series with a “stones” theme.
- Matthew adds a section on Children and Infants
- John simply chooses the Temple Cleansing and the Authority Question pericopes and omits the rest.
- But interestingly, he omits the Vineyard stories but adds the wine story and places it before Temple cleansing.
- Is he knowingly substituting the Cana Wedding story for the Vineyard series in the other gospels and moving its order?
- Finally, John adds the section on Trust and knowing human nature.
Ponder on these for a bit. We will continue with the synoptic Gospels tomorrow. I am merely giving you another way to look at the differences in the gospel. I hope you will agree it is a powerful way. In fact, it is purely biblical and enables you to track the author’s purpose and themes a whole lot easier. This is why a harmony of gospels is a good tool to have in your library or with your study books. You can get them in hard copy, even in Indonesian (see below) but it is available for free on E-Sword now. This is something I suggested to the creator of E-sword a few years ago.
My favourite harmony in English is Thomas & Gundry’s, A Harmony of the Gospels, but there are others available. In Indonesian there is: Injil Tuhan Yesus (Sebuah Sintesis Harmoni Dari Keempat Injil) Jeffrey Khoo (Ed) 1996 Persamaan Ayat-Ayat 4 Injil, RA Jaffray Kalam Hidup (1999)
And now a repeat of Bible Gem 25
Well, how do we deal with this seeming discrepancy? Was there one temple cleansing or two?
Arguments / Evidence for One:
- John is more “theological,” rather than “chronological,” in his approach to writing his account of the life and teachings of Jesus.
- Matthew places the cleansing of the temple at the beginning of the Passover week, and John tells us that, “the Jews” Passover was at hand (Matthew 2:12).
- Matthew mentions those that “sold and bought” being in the temple (Matthew 21:12); John says the Lord found in the temple “those that sold oxen”, etc. (John 2:14).
- Matthew refers to the presence of those that “sold doves” (Matthew 21:12); John also speaks of the “doves” (John 2:16).
- Matthew tells us that Christ “overthrew the tables of the money-changers” (Matthew 21:12); John also tells us that Christ “overthrew the tables” (John 2:15).
- Matthew mentions that Christ “cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple” (Matthew 21:12); John declares, He “drove them all out of the temple” (John 2:15). Note, in the Greek it is the same word here translated “drove” as is rendered “cast out” in Matthew!
- Matthew declares Christ said, “My house shall be called a house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.” (Matthew 21:13); John records that the Lord said, “Make not my Father’s house a house of merchandise.” (John 2:16). We have no doubt that the Lord made bothof these statements in the same connection, but John records the one which expressly affirmed His Divine Sonship. In each case Christ declared the temple was God’s.
- Matthew records how Christ spent the night in Bethany, and next morning He returned to Jerusalem, and was in the temple teaching, when the chief priests and elders of the people came to Him and said, “By what authority doest thou these things?” (Matthew 21:23). John also records that after Christ had cleansed the temple, the Jews said to Him, “What sign showest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?” (John 2:18).
Arguments / Evidence for Two:
- John begins with the phrase, “On the third day….” This section ends with John writing the words, “After this…” John then begins his account of the temple cleansing saying, “Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand…” These are all temporal elements indicating set time periods.
- The temple could well have been corrupted at two different times during the three years of Jesus’ ministry.
- The different details recorded by John, are likely due to the fact that we are dealing with two different temple cleansings.
Only John mentioned
- the oxen and sheep,
- the whip of cords,
- the scattering of the money,
- Jesus’ command, “Take these things away,”
- the disciples’ remembrance of Psalm 69:9: “Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up” (2:17).
Nothing in the first five chapters of John’s gospel account is found in Matthew, Mark, or Luke.
Now I have given you a summary of the evidence, I will give you time to make your choice.
You can learn from ANYONE if you ask wise questions.
Anon
Good advice lies deep within a person’s heart & the wise draw it out.
Proverbs 20:5
It’s not the pace of life that concerns me, it’s the sudden stop at the end (Said he who has just had a stroke – 2006).
Ian Vail
People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did but people will NEVER forget how you made them feel.
Anon