And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, saying to them, “It is written, My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers.”
And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him, but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were hanging on his words.
Comment: Are you surprised that Jesus wept? The Jews were His people. The city was God’s city and the temple God’s temple. He had come as their promised Messiah. On the way on this day some had wanted Him as their King but the rulers rejected Him and He knew that He was coming to a corrupt court, on false charges and was to be killed. He had spoken about this several times but I’m not surprised at all that He the Creator, the Son of God, wept – He loved the people as He was about to prove.
Once before it is recorded that Jesus went into the temple to ‘cleanse’ it but they hadn’t learnt. A second time he does it again. This is not the Jesus meek and mild that people try and sell. If we could lift the curtain of time we would see a man furious, wielding a whip, pushing over the money changers tables, releasing the animals and birds which were being sold, at exorbitant prices, to make a profit for the temple. A temple which was meant to be a house of prayer, repentance, sacrifice and worship. He was meek, but certainly not weak! At that moment I would, I think, have exclaimed ‘My Hero’. Because I carry my own share of sinfulness, I can’t be sure of what I would have done at that time. But He is my Hero!
He proceeds to a teaching program, the opposition are finalizing their destructive plans.
Prayer: Help me to acknowledge who and what I am, and respond honestly to this week of Jesus life and teaching.
As I read it! 