It is written, "My house is a house of prayer," but you have made it a "den of thieves"

 

 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 

 

Yesterday we read that, after Jesus taught to His disciples the parable of the Minas (in response to their expectation that the kingdom of God would manifest immediately), He went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.  And it came to pass, when He drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mountain called Olivet, that 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, 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.   My study Bible illumines this passage by telling us that Jerusalem means "foundation of peace."  Only faith in Christ brings true peace.  But this is a truth that is hidden from a city that will soon rebel against its Savior.  Another note explains that there are two types of peace.  There is a false peace which is a shallow harmony that results from ignoring and suppressing issues of truth.  A genuine peace is reconciliation to God -- the ultimate truth -- through faith in Christ and surrender to truth.  Genuine peace has division as a byproduct (see Luke 12:51) because not everyone wants truth.  In the fallen world, divisions are necessary for truth to be manifest (see 1 Corinthians 11:18-19).

"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."  Here Jesus foretells the destruction of Jerusalem which would occur in AD 70.  My study Bible tells us that this also describes the spiritual end of every person who lacks faith.  

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.  Those who bought and sold in the temple were trading in live animals which would be used for sacrifices.  Let us keep in mind that a good sacrifice was meritorious; the poor could afford a smaller sacrifice only.  Moreover this was not a small operation, but all Judaism participated in sacrifice in the temple (see this article on an archeological perspective regarding the economy of the sacrifice, and the centrality of this temple operation to the wealth of Jerusalem).  The money changers traded Roman coins for Jewish coins -- as Roman coins bore the image of Caesar, who was worshiped as a god, and were therefore considered to be defiling in the temple.  We can simply imagine the powerful economic power that resulted from both the sale of animals for sacrifice and money exchange, as pilgrims from everywhere in the extended Jewish world, both in Israel and the Jewish diaspora, came to the temple to participate in the Passover feast.  My study Bible says the cleansing of the temple also points to the necessity that the Church be kept free from earthly pursuits.  As each person is considered a temple of God, it notes (1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19), it is also a sign that our hearts and minds must be cleansed of earthly matters.  With this in mind as part of the story of the Gospels, let us pay attention to sources of conflict between Jesus and the chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people -- and all the people who were very attentive to hear Him.  Jesus quotes from Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11.

I am very struck by the centrality and enormity of the economy of Jerusalem around the sacrifices in the temple.  Clearly, the temple was meant to be the center of Jewish life, and the center of Jerusalem, and for reasons of faith.  But for Christ, the conflicting interests of the powerful wealth driven by the practices of the temple clearly form a problematic division in the priorities of the religious authorities and their attachment to this economic interest.  Indeed, this shows through the Gospel in His encounters with the varied groups of religious leaders.  For example, Luke's chapter 16 centers around Jesus' teachings regarding money and the deriding response of the Pharisees whom we're told were "lovers of money" (Luke 16:14).  In Matthew 23:14, Jesus describes the scribes and Pharisees as hypocrites who "devour widows' houses" and "for a pretense make long prayers."  Lest we fool ourselves into thinking such problems disappeared with the destruction of the temple in AD 70, we have only to look around at the history of the Church in its varied forms and denominations throughout the past two millennia, and indeed, in the headlines concerning scandals about money in our own lifetimes.  The problems to which Jesus responds are temptations that remain with us, and hence this episode should not be forgotten as a lesson for us as we continue to read the Gospel today.  We remain human beings who must learn that we cannot serve both God and mammon, as Jesus taught as part of the discourse in chapter 16 (see Luke 16:13).  It teaches us that this conflict remains with us, and the need for our own discernment regarding who and what we serve remain compelling and necessary, always with us.  Today in a media-saturated world in which we are increasingly focused on online activity, it is really important to be aware of all the ways in which we're encouraged to base our concept of ourselves on the image we project to others.  So often success is dependent upon a purely materialist perspective regarding appearance and the acquisition of the things that seem to make us admirable or attractive.  This is a related temptation we shouldn't ignore, as even for Christ these elements composed His criticism of the religious establishment.  In our next chapter in Luke, Jesus will warn the disciples -- in the hearing of all the people:  "Beware of the scribes, who desire to go around in long robes, love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts, who devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation" (see Luke 20:45-47).  Jesus' actions proclaim to us a need for our own awareness to our tendencies to confuse outward appearance with a heart drawn toward God, and this is where our focus -- as always emphasized in Christ's teachings -- must remain.  The depth of our prayer, an attitude of humility before God, a willingness to choose between what seems to gain us attention or approval and the things given to us through our faith -- these are still the things for which we give our time and effort in order to remain true to God and therefore the truth of Christ's teaching.  We seek first His kingdom, and all else follows (Luke 12:31).  Let us also understand that it is in such endeavor where we find the things that make for our peace.