Cleansing of the Temple

it is not only of the space in the Church which we ought to be jealous, but also of the interiors of the house of God in us. ~ Ambrose

The money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization. We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths. The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit. ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt

The cleansing of the Temple narrative tells of Jesus expelling the merchants and the money changers from the Temple. It occurs in all four canonical gospels of the New Testament.

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A

• Sed non solum locum Ecclesiae zelare debemus, sed hanc quoque interiorem in nobis domum Dei; ne sit domus negotiationis, aut spelunca latronum.
  • But it is not only of the space in the Church which we ought to be jealous, but also of the interiors of the house of God in us, so that it might not become a house of merchandise, or a den of robbers.
    • Ambrose, commentary on John 2:16, Exposition of the Psalms of David 118 (PL 15 1457B)

J

• Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.”
  • John 2:13–16 ESV

L

• Jesus ... entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers.”
  • Luke 19:45–46 ESV

M

• Jesus ... entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.”
  • Mark 11:15–17 ESV

• Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 13 He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”
  • Matthew 21:12–13 ESV

R

• The money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization. We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths. The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit.
  • Franklin D. Roosevelt, First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1933