All four gospels speak of this 'cleansing' of the temple of commercial corruption and desecration. I personally hold to the argument that Jesus only cleansed the temple one time. I do not see that the gospels show conclusively that Jesus cleansed the temple twice. Although we cannot ignore the fact that the gospels clearly show us that Jesus was in Jerusalem for the Passover many times in his life.
Yet of all the times Jesus came to the Jerusalem temple in his life, was the temple always pure and a House of Prayer?
By driving out all 'who sold and bought' Jesus publicly proclaimed his authority to do so. This authority came from God the Father to the Son. God had conferred upon Jesus, the Son, the office of priest with authority and responsibility to purify the temple and at the same time to declare to all witnesses that the worship of God had become corrupted by a disgraceful abuse of apathy and convenience.
