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Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, "If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation."
Then He went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in it, saying to them, "It is written, 'My house is a house of prayer,' but you have made it a 'den of thieves.'"
And He was teaching daily in the temple. But the chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people sought to destroy Him, and were unable to do anything; for all the people were very attentive to hear Him.
- Luke 19:41-48
In yesterday's reading, we read about Jesus' Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. When He drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mountain called Olivet, He sent two of His disciples, saying, "Go into the village opposite you, where as you enter you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Loose it and bring it here. And if anyone asks you, 'Why are you loosing it?' thus you shall say to him, 'Because the Lord has need of it.'" So those who were sent went their way and found it just as He had said to them. But as they were loosing the colt, the owners of it said to them, "Why are you loosing the colt?" And they said, "The Lord has need of him." Then they brought him to Jesus. And they threw their own clothes on the colt, and they set Jesus on him. And as He went, many spread their clothes on the road. Then, as He was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, saying: "'Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!' Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, "Teacher, rebuke Your disciples." But He answered and said to them, "I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out."
Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it . . . My study bible tells us, "Jesus wept over the Holy City because, in spite of its beauty and spiritual significance, it lay in unbelief and impending judgment."
. . . saying, "If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation." My study bible says that "Luke recounts two occasions of Jesus lamenting over Jerusalem [see this reading, which includes Luke 13:34-35]. The second half of the name Jerusalem means 'peace,' but the things that make for . . . peace are hidden from its eyes because of unbelief. The predicted destruction occurred in A.D. 70 at the hands of the Romans, who recaptured Jerusalem by storm and burned the temple. The time of your visitation is Christ's ministry as a visitation from God, either for salvation or judgment."
Then He went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in it, saying to them, "It is written, 'My house is a house of prayer,' but you have made it a 'den of thieves.'" My study bible says that "into the temple refers to the temple area, where a precinct was used for the selling and buying of animals offered in sacrifices. This was regulated by the Law, but to Jesus the atmosphere reeks of commercialism." This is a very small passage in Luke, but like the other synoptic gospels, it is the Jesus' first "act" in Jerusalem after His Triumphal Entry (apart from His lamentation over the city). This is called the Cleansing of the Temple, and it is a messianic act.
And He was teaching daily in the temple. But the chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people sought to destroy Him, and were unable to do anything; for all the people were very attentive to hear Him. The Gospel makes plain the failure of the leadership: their failure to hear Jesus or to give Him credence, their failure to know what makes for the peace of Jerusalem, their failure to control the people's hearts, their failure in allowing the commercialism of the temple which to which Jesus objects, their failure on so many levels to come. It is a true failure of leadership itself -- so many of the people are like lost sheep, who gladly hear Jesus, while others are misled.
What makes for the peace of Jerusalem? This Holy City, still called so today, holy to so many people of different faiths but all who claim adherence to the worship of the God of the Israelites, still barely holds its peace today. Its peace is a rocky one, under threat in many ways. Jesus' visitation is a time when it is under Roman occupation. People expect a liberator Messiah, one who will become a King with an army to drive away the conquerors; they don't expect the Prince of Peace who comes into Jerusalem in Triumphal Entry sitting on a donkey's colt. In yesterday's reading, we spoke of the "living stones" which are the faithful who form the Church, a Church built on the rock of faith. In today's reading, Jesus again mentions stones, but it is the stones of Jerusalem: "They will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation." This prediction was to become literally true about the magnificent temple itself, because the Roman soldiers believed there was gold between the stones. Only remnants of one retaining wall remains of the beautiful temple, which was a magnificent wonder of building in the ancient world. And even so, more recent excavations indicate that some of these structures date to the eighth century -- so even less of the original temple remains than had been thought until recently, making Jesus' prediction even more accurate. All of this is by way of asking, what are the things that make for peace? What makes for the peace of a city? One thing that we can know for certain is Jesus' sad lament over Jerusalem, and His maternal care that is voiced earlier in the Gospel: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!" (Luke 13:34). These are laments of love, for a beloved in grave error. The things that make for peace are the acceptance of God's grace, God's revelation. One of those things would be the cleansing of the temple, that we read about in today's reading, a symbol of the cleansing of practices that are corrupt or that corrupt the word of God, the ways in which God chooses for us to live in this world and with one another. The failure of the leadership becomes the most strong warning in the Gospels. Over and over again, we get stories and parables and teachings that talk about individual faith and the ways in which Jesus comes into individuals' lives. But here we get a strong teaching about the failure of leadership, and it's a warning to us. We really can't underestimate its power. When we choose to use God's teachings for false purposes we fail. Hypocrisy, greed, a self-centered personal aggrandizement, love of position, a lording it over others, all of these things make for failure and for a lack of God's peace. Are we ready to go forward in the things that make for peace? This gift of God's grace, of revelation, is a gift that acts as a sword. It can bring us God's peace, the things we need within ourselves, if we are on that road that accepts with a willing heart. But rejection has its own consequences, its own preferences, and failures. The leadership is the class that "knows better." They are the ones who are the experts in the Law and the Prophets, in the revealed things of God. Rejection costs more for those who "know better" -- who say they see. Do we know the things that make for our peace? Can we accept them? "A den of thieves" can be interpreted in many ways; Jesus cleanses the temple because of its commercial practices. But what may be stolen from "the children" is much more than material wealth. This is the reason He is here, for each of us.
