Luke 19:45-48. SHAP October 30, 2022.

This passage from Luke’s gospel is not unlike those very strong lights that painters use to expose cracks, flaws, defects, and omissions in walls and ceilings.

Luke’s text throws a strong light on the hearts of the people of God, and in so doing brings into clear relief a raft of cracks, flaws, and omissions.

And the people of God in this instance are represented by religious professionals and zealous believers from first century Jewry, but what is revealed could equally apply to us.

So, here’s the backstory:

God loves his world so much that he wants all people everywhere to know him and to enjoy him forever (Ezekiel 33:11).

To this end, he appointed the ancient Hebrew community of faith as the channel or conduit of his love. 

God’s promise to Abram was that all the people of the earth would be blessed through his descendants (Genesis 12:3)

Referring to Israel as his special servant (a passage later fulfilled by Jesus), God says through his prophet Isaiah, “I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you, and I will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison, and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. Isaiah 42:7.

A light to the Gentiles. 

To non-Jews. 

To all people groups and nations, everywhere.

And the Temple, was to be used as a place of education, and evangelism, and worship, for non-Jewish people. 

An area, the Court of the Gentiles, was set aside for this purpose, and that is where Jesus did most of his teaching in Jerusalem (see Matthew 21:23; John 7:14).

Here again is God’s direction in this matter: “And all the foreigners [the non-Jews] who join themselves to the Lord,to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, everyone who… holds fast my covenant, these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their [worship] will be accepted on my altar;for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations”. Isaiah 56:7.

Now then, following Jesus’ very public entry into Jerusalem – an event we celebrate on Palm Sunday; you know the one where the crowds are so moved by his authoritative teaching and miraculous healing ministry that they declare of him, ‘Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord’ – Luke 19:38, well, on the evening of that event, Jesus went quietly in to Temple courts – and, says Mark, ‘looked around at everything’ (Mark 11:11).

That quite inspection informed Jesus’ actions the next day.

Remember, these outer courts were an expression of the heart of God.

They were intended to be a place where all people including women and non-Jewish people could worship, and pray, and receive instruction; a haven for ‘outsiders’.

What did Jesus find?

A market – a place of religious commerce – for ‘insiders’. 

Matthew tells us there were money changers present – trading tables took up all the space, other merchants were on hand selling doves for sacrifices (Matthew 21:12:12ff) …and Mark says the area had become a thoroughfare for traders (Mark 11:16).

Yes, all kinds of religious activity was taking place such that Gentiles and the oppressed were prevented from worshipping God.

‘Outsiders’ were not welcome.

Unlike our Lord Jesus, the ‘insiders’ cared more for their own interests, than they did for the ‘lost’.

And I used that word, ‘lost’, advisedly, because in this very chapter Jesus summarised his ministry thus, ‘the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost’ – Luke 19:10.

So, Jesus removes the barries to the lost being sought and saved.

He overturns the tables, and he casts out the merchants with these words (quoting from Isaiah 56 and Jeremiah 7), ‘My house will be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers’ – Luke 19:46.

That passionate response to the needs of the lost, and to the indifference and hard-heartedness of the people of God, ensured that ‘outsiders’ could grow in their knowledge and love of God – for Jesus was able to instruct them daily without hindrance (verse 47) – but it so incensed the leaders of the community of faith that they conspired to kill Jesus (verse 47).

And of course, in God’s grace, it was through that very death that all barriers to worship were immediately removed – as was the place and function of priests, temples, and sacrifices; Jesus had fulfilled the law, paid the price of sin, and reconciled people to God.

Such love.

Let me close where I began.

God’s heart still beats fast for lost people.

And he continues to use the people of God – us – as conduits of his love, as agents of reconciliation and grace.

Here is our charter, beloved, ⁹ But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. ¹⁰ Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. I Peter 2:9-10.

Our task is to live God-ward, Christ-centred lives, ‘declaring the praises of him who saved us’.

We are Jesus’ ambassadors, dear friends. St. Paul put it so clearly and so succinctly, ¹⁸ All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹ that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰ We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: be reconciled to God. ²¹ God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. II Corinthians 5:18-21.

Two years ago, I visited a dying man in hospital.

I spoke of God’s love for him in Christ, and asked if he was ready to place his life in Jesus’ hands.

He said, ‘o yes…I certainly am, because of her faith and witness’…as he pointed to one of our parshioners standing at the foot of his bed,

“She has spoken to me about being right with God through trusting Jesus; she has come to visit with me and my wife during my illness; she has provided food and financial help; and reading material; and she prays with us; and she plays calming Christian music…yes, I want to place my life in the hands of the Jesus that she follows”.

And so, he did.

This precious ‘outsider’ was welcomed into the family of God through an ‘insider’ taking her call and vocation seriously.

And I shared that story at this dear man’s funeral two weeks later to illustrate the power of the gospel, and the love of God properly expressed through the people of God.

Final comment – on Monday November 7^th, Jane and I are running a Zoom course on sharing our faith and being a witness for Jesus. Do join us if you are able.

May we pray?

Dear Lord Jesus,

Thank you that you came to seek and to save the lost; us!

Give us the clarity, the conviction, and the courage, to declare your praises; you, Lord, who called us out of darkness, into your wonderful light.

In the name of Christ.

Amen.