Day 248 – Jesus Predicts the Destruction of Jerusalem

Today’s reading: Luke 19:28-48

In today’s reading, Jesus enters Jerusalem.  He is greeted as a hero.  The crowd wants to declare him a king.  In the past, Jesus rejected these overtures and would slip away from the crowd.  However, now the time has come to ascend to his throne.  However, it will not be a crown of gold that he will wear, it will be a crown of thorns.  It will not be an earthly throne for him to sit on but a cross from which he will hang.  It is possible that some of these very same people that are praising him now, will in a few days be in the crowd shouting “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”

However, justice will ultimately be served.  Jerusalem the city where God had been present with his people will be abandoned and ultimately destroyed.  Jesus laments what is to come:

As he drew near, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If this day you only knew what makes for peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. For the days are coming upon you when your enemies will raise a palisade against you; they will encircle you and hem you in on all sides. They will smash you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon another within you because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.” Luke 19:41-44

A war will ultimately break out between the Jews and the Romans.  The Romans will surround the city.  After the war begins, Jerusalem will soon fall.  When it does the Roman will burn the city.  The temple, which is covered in gold, will be looted.  In fact, the fires will be so hot that the gold on the temple will melt and flow into the mortar between the stones.  To spite the Jews and to get as much money as possible the Roman will take the Temple apart stone by stone and literally, “not leave one stone upon another.”

Tomorrow: Luke 20:1-26