diff --git a/content/bible_journal/luke_19:41-48.md b/content/bible_journal/luke_19:41-48.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8e7cfcc --- /dev/null +++ b/content/bible_journal/luke_19:41-48.md @@ -0,0 +1,48 @@ ++++ +title = "Luke 19:41–48" +date = "2023-01-21" ++++ + +### [Read the passage.](https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Lk19.41-48) + +Amidst all of the excitement of the Messiah coming to Jerusalem, with all the +people praising God for fulfilling His promises, when Jesus sees the city He +starts crying. And these aren't tears of joy, but of sadness. He explains why +in His lament that Jerusalem doesn't know what's actually happening in it, in +spite of all the hubbub and uproar that is presently happening around Him. +Furthermore, it will not know because the city will be besieged and destroyed, +and it cannot know because they have been hidden. + +This is a hard thing to come to grips with. God prevented the people from +knowing what Jesus was really about, and thus the city was judged with +destruction in A.D. 70. One might question how that is fair and just. I'm not +sure I can fully answer that, but I can assert that it must be, because God is +entirely just. I can also point out that if He hadn't, then Jesus might not +have been crucified which would leave all of us in our sins forever, prove God +a liar, and make all of reality a contradiction. But we have seen things like +this througout the Luke's account, where plain truth is hidden from people +until the proper time. The only proper response is to trust in God's +unchangeable character and goodness. + +Luke spends less time on the cleansing of the temple, but all four Gospel +writers include the event. The merchants who had set up shop in the temple were +providing legitimate services; travelers would not necessarily bring their own +sacrificial animals with them on a journey, and only a certain kind of coin was +accepted as offerings. Having a place near the temple to get these things was +convenient. However, it seems clear that the priests didn't care about the +worship any Gentiles would offer because these merchants were set up in the +only place the Gentiles were allowed in the temple. They had forgotten that +Israel was supposed to be a blessing to all nations by being a visible sign of +the Lord's goodness to the whole world. + +After cleansing the temple, Jesus begins teaching there every day. We are also +told that "principal men of the people" are now trying to find a way to kill +him along with the chief priests and scribes. I would not be surprised to learn +that these men are the owners of the businesses Jesus disrupted. But Jesus is +still extremely popular, so they aren't able to move against Him publicly or +they would cause a riot. + +* * * + +Your goodness and Your power are the only hope we have for this life or the one +to come.