This week’s gospel text gives John’s version of Jesus’ enthusiastic “cleansing” or “clearing” of the Temple. While the Synoptic gospels all place this event at the end of Jesus’ public ministry, during his final Passover trip to Jerusalem, John places this dramatic scene at the very beginning of Jesus’ work. While most commentators assume this is simply a “re-mix” by John, who for theological reasons feels it is important to put the difficult relationship between Jesus and the Temple cultus out in front at the beginning of his public ministry, a few do still argue that John has a different tradition he is pulling from.

In other words, some scholars believe there may indeed have been two such incidents in Jesus’ life. Whatever the case, the actions Jesus takes and the pronouncements he ma…