Tag: Jerusalem

Red Letter Year: 9/2

Luke 19.28-48

28 After telling this story, Jesus went on toward Jerusalem, walking ahead of his disciples. 29 As he came to the towns of Bethphage and Bethany on the Mount of Olives, he sent two disciples ahead.30  “Go into that village over there,” he told them. “As you enter it, you will see a young donkey tied there that no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks, ‘Why are you untying that colt?’ just say, ‘The Lord needs it.’”

32 So they went and found the colt, just as Jesus had said. 33 And sure enough, as they were untying it, the owners asked them, “Why are you untying that colt?”

34 And the disciples simply replied, “The Lord needs it.” 35 So they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their garments over it for him to ride on.

36 As he rode along, the crowds spread out their garments on the road ahead of him. 37 When he reached the place where the road started down the Mount of Olives, all of his followers began to shout and sing as they walked along, praising God for all the wonderful miracles they had seen.

38 “Blessings on the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in highest heaven!”

39 But some of the Pharisees among the crowd said, “Teacher, rebuke your followers for saying things like that!”

40 He replied, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!”

41 But as he came closer to Jerusalem and saw the city ahead, he began to weep. 42 “How I wish today that you of all people would understand the way to peace. But now it is too late, and peace is hidden from your eyes. 43 Before long your enemies will build ramparts against your walls and encircle you and close in on you from every side. 44 They will crush you into the ground, and your children with you. Your enemies will not leave a single stone in place, because you did not accept your opportunity for salvation.”

45 Then Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the people selling animals for sacrifices.46 He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves.”

47 After that, he taught daily in the Temple, but the leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the other leaders of the people began planning how to kill him. 48 But they could think of nothing, because all the people hung on every word he said.

Comments

We are getting into material shared by all four Gospels. The accounts in Mark (ch.11) and Matthew (ch.21) are more elaborate, while this one leaves some things out and John’s (ch.12) is even further truncated. I’m not a big fan of arguments from silence, but this is more argument from editing. By looking at what Luke leaves out, we can get see more clearly how Luke fits this into his Gospel and what point he was hoping we would get.

  1. There are no palm branches being waved in Luke. Since the Maccabean revolt, this had been a symbol of Jewish nationalism. The other three all record this happening and the crowd was clearly thinking along those lines, but Luke just had Jesus teach against this in the preceding chapter, so the palm branches get left out here.
  2. No fig tree cursing. Mark and Matthew connect a scene where Jesus curses a fig tree that is not yielding fruit to his time in the Temple as a commentary on the fruitlessness of Temple worship. Matthew quotes Isa. 56.7: “my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.” Luke leaves the “for all nations” part out because the Temple was not important for his Gentile audience or his overall project (see below). Thus the fig tree story was not needed either.
  3. The Temple clearing scene gets shortened to a single sentence. You don’t get the sense here (as you do in the others) that Jesus is causing trouble. But we are told directly that all the people were hanging on his every word. Quite a different picture here from the others.
  4. The lament over Jerusalem replaces talk of prophets with talk of Roman siege strategies. Luke has made a big deal out of Jesus as the Prophet, but here he uses language you would expect from a king.

And I think that is the point here. Luke takes away what might be misconstrued as provincial. Jesus is not a Jewish king who others might serve as vassals. Jesus is king over all directly – as many as will accept him and surrender to him as Lord. This means obedience. Allegiance. Service. Work. Jesus is the universal king. And hopefully the king of our hearts. This is what Luke wants us to see. Has Jesus lamented over the kingdom of your heart? Has he made his triumphal entry? Will you have your king?

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale HousePublishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Red Letter Year: 3/12

Matthew 4:1-11

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 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil. 2 For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry.

3 During that time the devil came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.”

4 But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say,‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

5 Then the devil took him to the holy city, Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, 6 and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say,

‘He will order his angels to protect you.
And they will hold you up with their hands
so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.’”

7 Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’”

8 Next the devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 “I will give it all to you,” he said, “if you will kneel down and worship me.”

10 “Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told him. “For the Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’”

11 Then the devil went away, and angels came and took care of Jesus.

Comments

Five things I want to draw your attention to here:

  1. The devil is real. That may not be a popular idea these days, but Scripture and all of Christian tradition and experience concur: we have an enemy who does just this sort of thing. Any time Christians get too comfortable with the idea that Satan is a myth bad things happen (e.g., German Christians didn’t much believe in Satan prior to WWII). It’s foolish to dismiss what Scripture clearly teaches. And dangerous.
  2. Satan chooses a very strategic moment to tempt Jesus. First, Jesus is weak from fasting 40 days. Second, this comes just after the significant spiritual experience of Jesus’ baptism. He has just gotten confirmation of who he is in God and he is weak and tired. Just the sort of moment the enemy will attack you and me as well.
  3. All of the temptations are attacks on Jesus’ identity and call. “If you are the Son of God… then do….” Trying to get Jesus to doubt his identity and/or act contrary to his calling.
  4. Jesus responds with Scripture each time. Jesus was a student of Scripture. In the second temptation, both Satan and Jesus use Scripture, but Jesus demonstrates that difficult passages should be interpreted in light of clearer passages. Satan uses “creative hermeneutics” (to say the least), but Jesus uses a clear and direct interpretation to cut through that nonsense.
  5. In each of his responses, Jesus responds from the perspective of an ordinary human. This doesn’t mean he is giving in on his identity, but at no point does he say, “No that doesn’t apply to me, I’m special.” In other words, the temptations he faces and the responses he gives are both common to all humans (Hebrews tells us Jesus was tempted just like us in all things, except without giving in). That means you might want to reread 2-4 above as they apply to you and me just as much as they applied to Jesus.

New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.