GEMS FROM JEREMIAH (31) Jeremiah & Jesus, part III: predictions of the Temple’s destruction
“Do not trust in these deceptive words: “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord” …Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your sight? …because you have done all these things, says the Lord, and when I spoke to you persistently, you did not listen …therefore I will do to the house that is called by my name, in which you trust, and to the place that I gave to you and to your ancestors, just what I did to Shiloh.” (Jer. 7.4, 11-14)
“On the following day… [Jesus] was hungry. Seeing
in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see whether perhaps he would
find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it
was not the season for figs. He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit
from you again.” And his disciples heard it.
Then they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple
and began to drive out those who were selling and those who were buying in the
temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of
those who sold doves; and he would not allow anyone to
carry anything through the temple. He was teaching and saying, “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.” (Mk.
11.12-17)
“As [Jesus] came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!” Then Jesus asked him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.” (Mk. 13.1-2)
First, Jesus proclaims a cryptic prophecy of
doom as he sets out for the Capital in order to be there in time to celebrate
Passover, the Jewish national holy day (Lk. 11-13). Luke’s Gospel contains a section called the
“travel narrative” (9.51 – 19.28). In
Lk. 13.33-35, Jesus declares that:
“…it is impossible for a prophet to be killed
outside of Jerusalem.’…the city that kills the prophets and stones those
who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together
as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your
house is left to you…”
Jesus is in full
prophetic form, announcing warnings of imminent judgment that will befall “this
generation” (Lk. 11.29-32, 45-51). The
theme of “the house” is prominent in this section of Luke’s narrative. Jesus ends his above-quoted warning to
Jerusalem with the cryptic phrase, “your house is left to you”. What is Jesus talking about? Interestingly enough, after Jesus arrives in
Jerusalem and “cleanses” the Temple, he quotes a passage from the book of
Jeremiah:
“…you have made [my house] a den of robbers” (Lk.
19.46; cp. Jer. 7.11).
Jesus refers to
the Temple as God’s “house”. In chapter
13, Jesus seems to be saying that the Temple will be abandoned to its fate… At
the beginning of that same chapter, we are given a hint as to what that fate
will involve: Galileans being massacred in the Temple precincts and towers collapsing
in Jerusalem (Lk. 13.1-5). These
foretastes of doom would become terrifyingly real in AD 70.
As people continue to crowd around him,
Jesus proclaims that his generation is an evil generation, who asks for a sign
from heaven that will legitimize his activity/teaching (Lk. 11.29, cf.
11.16). Jesus announces that the Queen
of the South and the people of Nineveh will condemn his generation at “the
judgment” because they sought after God’s wisdom and repented of their sins,
while Jesus’ contemporaries, in the face of One who is greater than both Solomon
and Jonah, continue to resist God’s word and ignore Jesus’ warnings. Jesus goes so far as to say that his own
generation will be held responsible for all the prophets and messengers killed
by God’s people from the time of Abel (cf. Gn. 4) to his own day (Lk. 11.49-51). By saying this, Jesus is claiming to be the
last prophet, the final messenger from Yahweh.
His generation turns out to be the generation that will witness Yahweh’s
climactic/ultimate action to judge/save his people. Everything hinges upon their response to
Jesus (cf. Lk. 13.33-35).
Secondly, as he draws near to Jerusalem and in
response to the Pharisees’ question about the coming of the kingdom of God
(17.20), Jesus says that it takes eyes of faith to recognize the signs of the
reality of God’s reign (cf. Lk. 11.20; 18.17).
Jesus insists that whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a
little child will never enter it (cf. Lk. 17.5). Jesus warns that the “day of the Son of Man”
is not something that the disciples should be eager to see. Jesus uses two Old Testament stories of
cataclysmic events to describe the “day(s) of the Son of Man”: Noah’s flood
& Lot and the destruction of Sodom.
In both stories, people were just living their lives, not giving a
thought to the morrow, when sudden destruction engulfed them.
Thirdly, upon arrival in
Jerusalem, Jesus performs a symbolic, prophetic action in the Temple, commonly
referred to as the “cleansing” of the national shrine (Lk. 19.41-48). As Jesus arrives in the capital, he weeps
over the city and once again, predicts its destruction; he then enters the
Temple, quotes Is. 56.7 and Jer. 7.11, and proceeds to drive out the merchants
selling sacrificial animals. This is an
enacted parable of the Temple’s destruction.
For a brief moment, as animals charged in all directions and as coins scattered
over the cobblestones, the routine of sacrifices was interrupted. It was an ominous portent of the permanent
cessation of sacrifices that was to come within a generation (cf. Lk. 21.32).
Fourthly, in his “eschatological
discourse”, Jesus proclaims his final prediction of the Temple’s destruction as
he sits with his disciples on the Mount of Olives, overlooking Zion, i.e., the
Temple Mount, from the opposite side of the Kidron Valley (Lk. 21.5-6,
20-28). Jesus’ quoting of Daniel 7.13-14
(cp. Lk. 21.27) which describes the “coming of the Son of Man on the clouds”
(to the Ancient of Days) has caused much confusion among interpreters who have
wondered whether Jesus is indeed speaking here of the events of AD 70 or of his
eventual “return” (Second Advent) or perhaps, a mixture of both.
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