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
Did you spot the problem? Do you see it relates to the timing and the positioning of the Cleansing of the Temple story in the Gospels? Did it indeed occur early in Jesus ministry or late? The question is an important one to answer so we can rightly interpret its use within each Gospel.
Allow me to clip Bible Gem 22 for you: a blast from the past.
Today we will look at a knotty problem but one that is pregnant with meaning and full of lessons for us. We will spend a few sessions on this passage.
The passage is the cleansing of the temple. One of the most popular alleged Bible discrepancies pertaining to chronology—and one that skeptics are fond of citing in any discussion on the inerrancy of Scripture — is whether or not Jesus cleansed the temple early in His ministry, or near the end. According to Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus cleansed the temple during the final week leading up to His death on the cross (Matthew 21:12-13; Mark 11:15-17; Luke 19:45-46). John, however, places his record of the temple cleansing in chapter 2 of his gospel account, between Jesus’ first miracle (2:1-12) and His conversation with Nicodemus (3:1-21). Skeptics question, “Did Jesus enter the temple and drive out the money changers early in His ministry, or near the end?” Was there one or two cleansings? What do you think? I will give you time to think about it and maybe do some digging of your own in the text. See what you can make of it.
I will do something else tomorrow but still related, so you will have time to look at it. Then we will work on some other things and the input to John’s temple cleansing will come at the end of our time on this passage. What I do, will set you up for understanding how to deal with the gospels and the seeming discrepancies some allege they contain.
Remember there are two different kinds of gospels: they are divided into the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew // Mark // Luke) and John’s Gospel. The synoptic gospels are in parallel and John’s gospel is often very different. How do we handle that? What do we do with the differences? Are the gospels filled with discrepancies as some say, or is there another explanation and another way of handling this? Follow and see.
Author’s note: Most often I give you the input and share the gems with you. But there will be times when I ask you questions and leave you to find the answers. Why? I want to help you to do this for yourself and know how to deal with the differences and the depth of Scripture. Call it training.
Now I will add Bible Gem 23
Allow me to give you some background first. Mark is considered to be the first Gospel of those we have collected in the Bible, Matthew and Luke are then next, followed by John’s Gospel which is last. Notice that there are many passages in Matthew, Mark and Luke which are word for word the same. What is happening here? Q has been suggested as the written source. Q comes from Quelle, which means “source” in German. The theory is, there was a lost document called Q behind Matthew and Luke from which they both copied. My belief is that the common material comes from oral tradition.
Our problem is, as 21st century people, living in an age of scepticism, hearing enough liberal criticism of the Bible, that would tell us, “You can’t trust this, and you can’t trust that”. “You can’t trust the story they are telling”. “They can’t even get their story right!” Don’t look at the differences and think, “Oh, they don’t match up, there must be an error”. Start looking at the differences, not with scepticism but with expectation of understanding what each gospel writer is saying with the changes they have made to the basic, shared story. Matthew knows the oral story, Mark knows the oral story, Luke knows the oral story, John knows the oral story. Do you think they are getting it wrong when they tell it? No. Where they make changes, they are deliberately making changes because that’s the emphasis they want to bring. Where they change words or add sections, there is a reason. Where they remove a segment, it is for a reason.
Start thinking about that, and start applying that to your study of the Gospels, and you’ll be amazed at what you find out. Pay careful attention to the order of the elements as well. It will help you work out what the writer is doing.
When I first wrote this Gem access to past Gems were limited and so I added both Gems 22 and 23 into this Gem to make them available to you. Now I can provide you with the hot links to take you straight to any Gem I refer you to.
If you really want to do something, you’ll find a way; if you don’t, you’ll find an excuse.
Anon
Jesus paid the price. You get to keep the change.
Anon
God only gives us what we can handle, but sometimes I wish he didn’t trust me so much!
Anon
If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.
Mark Twain