Thoughts on the End Times [11]: Jesus Explains WHY Jerusalem Fell
Jesus mentions the destruction of Jerusalem in a parable told the last week of His earthly life (Matthew 22.1-10). In it, Jesus compares God’s kingdom to a wedding feast thrown by a king for his son. Servant after servant was sent out to summon the guests to the feast, but those invited refused to come. Some shrugged off the messengers and continued their daily routines. Others arrested, humiliated, and murdered the servants who called them to the joyous occasion!
The theme of God’s servants being killed by the Jews already appeared in a previous parable (Matthew 21.35-36), and it appears again in Jesus’ diatribe against the scribes and Pharisees, characterized as being of the same spirit as their prophet-killing ancestors (Matthew 23.29-36). Jesus pronounces a judgment upon the Jews of His day for their rejection of this long line of divine messengers:
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you desolate! (Matthew 23.37-38)
Here Jesus speaks to Jerusalem, the national capital, representative of the whole nation, and predicts the desolation of “your house” – the Temple (where Jesus was speaking). Jesus calls it “your house” – not “MY house” as He had days before when He drove the moneychangers from the Temple (Matthew 22.13). It is now YOUR house, Judea, left to you desolate – profaned, polluted, empty, and abandoned by God.
Returning to the parable in Matthew 22, the judgment upon those who killed God’s messengers is depicted in terms of a destroyed city as well: “The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers AND BURNED THEIR CITY” (Matthew 22.7). It is most likely later that same day that Jesus predicts the destruction of the Temple (Matthew 24.1-2 cf. Luke 19.41-44, 21.20).
The destruction of Jerusalem and her Temple is a consistent theme in Jesus’ messages the last week of His earthly life. The parable of the snubbed invitations explains God’s rationale for that destruction that would take place in AD 70. It would be the long-overdue, well-deserved judgment of the Jewish nation for rejecting (and killing), first the long line of prophets who had called them to repentance, and finally, the rejection and murder of God’s Son – the long-awaited Messiah – who announced the arrival of God’s kingdom.
Israel refused God’s message, so God sent His troops (the Romans) who destroyed those murderers and burned their city.
But that’s not the end of the parable. The King speaks again! Those initially invited to the feast, He says, proved “unworthy” (Matthew 22.8). But the feast is still on! So the King sends out a new round of servants to invite “as many as you find” (Matthew 22.9). If the Jews want nothing to do with the glorious kingdom promised them, perhaps someone else will!
Another parable Jesus told in the same context elaborates this point…and we’ll look at that parable in the next blog.
The theme of God’s servants being killed by the Jews already appeared in a previous parable (Matthew 21.35-36), and it appears again in Jesus’ diatribe against the scribes and Pharisees, characterized as being of the same spirit as their prophet-killing ancestors (Matthew 23.29-36). Jesus pronounces a judgment upon the Jews of His day for their rejection of this long line of divine messengers:
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you desolate! (Matthew 23.37-38)
Here Jesus speaks to Jerusalem, the national capital, representative of the whole nation, and predicts the desolation of “your house” – the Temple (where Jesus was speaking). Jesus calls it “your house” – not “MY house” as He had days before when He drove the moneychangers from the Temple (Matthew 22.13). It is now YOUR house, Judea, left to you desolate – profaned, polluted, empty, and abandoned by God.
Returning to the parable in Matthew 22, the judgment upon those who killed God’s messengers is depicted in terms of a destroyed city as well: “The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers AND BURNED THEIR CITY” (Matthew 22.7). It is most likely later that same day that Jesus predicts the destruction of the Temple (Matthew 24.1-2 cf. Luke 19.41-44, 21.20).
The destruction of Jerusalem and her Temple is a consistent theme in Jesus’ messages the last week of His earthly life. The parable of the snubbed invitations explains God’s rationale for that destruction that would take place in AD 70. It would be the long-overdue, well-deserved judgment of the Jewish nation for rejecting (and killing), first the long line of prophets who had called them to repentance, and finally, the rejection and murder of God’s Son – the long-awaited Messiah – who announced the arrival of God’s kingdom.
Israel refused God’s message, so God sent His troops (the Romans) who destroyed those murderers and burned their city.
But that’s not the end of the parable. The King speaks again! Those initially invited to the feast, He says, proved “unworthy” (Matthew 22.8). But the feast is still on! So the King sends out a new round of servants to invite “as many as you find” (Matthew 22.9). If the Jews want nothing to do with the glorious kingdom promised them, perhaps someone else will!
Another parable Jesus told in the same context elaborates this point…and we’ll look at that parable in the next blog.