Inquiry:
When did Jesus’ temple tantrum occur? Was it at the beginning of His ministry (John 2:11-16), on the day of his triumphal entry (Luke 19:36-45; Matthew 21:1-13) or the day after his triumphal entry (Mark 11:1-17)? Is there a contradiction?
Response:
First, Jesus’ expression of anger wasn’t a tantrum. A tantrum is “an uncontrolled expression of childish anger” (m-w.com) Jesus exercised control (though He could have injured people, He did not), and His motive was not childish – He sought to restore the purpose for which the temple was built.
The questioner correctly noted that He cleansed the temple at the beginning of His ministry and at the end. It is not a contradiction – He did it twice.
Of the second time, what day did He cleanse the temple, the day of His entry to Jerusalem or the following day? It is the questioner’s assumption that it takes place on the same day as the entry in Luke’s account. There are no time notations in this section of Luke. We could equally (and wrongly) assume that Jesus met Zacchaeus on the same day. Neither does Matthew tell us that it was the same day as the entry. He simply chronicles the events which took place, but does not speak in detail about their timing.
Mark gives us information which Matthew and Luke do not. Mark reveals that Jesus went into the temple on the day of the entry to take a look around (Mark 11:11), and then returned the next day to cleanse the temple (Mark 11:15-17).
There is no contradiction.
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