WEEPING, CLEANSING, AND TEACHING.
Luke 19:41-47a.
1. Jesus weeps over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41-44).
As He approached Jerusalem, ‘the man Christ Jesus’ (cf. 1 Timothy 2:5) wept over the city and the people whom He loved (Luke 19:41). His complaint about the people (Luke 19:42) became a prophecy against the city (Luke 19:43-44), which would be fulfilled some forty years later. And all because of their failure to recognise “the time of thy visitation” (Luke 19:44). Ignorance, after all, is no excuse.
2. Jesus cleanses the Temple (Luke 19:45-47a).
In a deliberate act of providence (cf. Luke 19:28-30), Jesus had entered Jerusalem in a manner which perfectly fulfilled Zechariah 9:9. This was the ‘triumphant entry’ of Jesus into Jerusalem - upon a humble beast of burden. The city was abuzz with anticipation.
It was Passover, and the city of Jerusalem was packed with pilgrims who had gathered to commemorate Israel’s deliverance out of slavery in Egypt. Not only was it a solemn religious celebration, but also a great national statement that defied all who would dare to oppress them in the future. No doubt tensions were high, and Roman soldiers mingled with the crowds around the great concourse of the Temple (roughly equivalent to the cloisters of a Western Cathedral).
Entering the Temple, Jesus found those who were selling sheep and oxen, and doves (Luke 19:45). Money-changers sat at tables exchanging foreign currencies for the Temple shekel. All this took place in the court of the Gentiles, thereby denying the nations a place to draw aside from the hubbub of their busy lives!
This was all taking place with the evident collusion of the priesthood. After all, (they probably reasoned) did not the people require animals for sacrifices, and money for the Temple tax? Jesus was disgusted to find such trading in His Father’s house, and He reacted accordingly.
If people had expected Jesus to come like Judas Maccabeus of old to purge the Jerusalem Temple of GENTILE pollution, they were sadly mistaken. What Jesus did do was to purge the ‘court of the Gentiles’ WITHIN the Jerusalem Temple of (presumably Jewish) sellers and buyers and money-changers (Luke 19:45). According to Jesus, these were collectively changing God’s “house of prayer” (which was meant ‘for all nations’ cf. Isaiah 56:7; Mark 11:17) into a “den of thieves” (Luke 19:46; cf. Jeremiah 7:11).
It is curious that no-one seems to have resisted Jesus - perhaps the traders were only too well aware of their guilt. The Romans, no doubt, stood aloof, probably also briefed in the desirability of thus keeping the peace. Jesus, nevertheless, "taught daily in the temple" (Luke 19:47a).
The only grumble of complaint seems to have been from 'the chief priests and scribes and chief of the people' who 'sought to destroy Him' (cf. Luke 19:47b). These custodians of the Temple 'could not find what they might do: for all the people were attentive to hear Him' (cf. Luke 19:48).
