The Story So Far
The story has built for 20 chapters. Jesus, the King, has been proclaiming his Kingdom, demonstrating His Kingdom by healings and miracles, and teaching about life in His Kingdom. Now it is time for the Kingdom to come, right?
Jesus has finally entered Jerusalem (19:28-40). On the verge of entering the city He looks out over it and weeps over it (19:41-44). His tears drive him into the temple to clear it out for ministry (19:45-48). Then Jesus opens up shop in the temple and goes toe to toe with the Jerusalem leadership throughout chapter 20.
The Widow’s Offering
Read these first 4 verses of the chapter. What is the first lesson that comes to your mind? It is probably something like, “Look, even though she gave 2 tenths of a penny, it was all she had. She gave 100% for God and we need to as well.’ This is an okay way to take this passage. But it seems to be stuck in the middle of this section of Luke for no reason. This section is all about the conflict between Jesus and His Kingdom and the Jerusalem Leadership and their kingdom. Maybe Luke is trying to tell us something else. Let’s see if we can figure it out together.
1. What was the money that the widow put in the offering for? (You get a hint in verse 5.)
2. Now look back to 20:47. Jesus is talking about the Jerusalem Leaders. They “devour widow’s houses”. If they were supposed to be shepherding and taking care of the people of Israel, why were they “devouring widow’s houses”? What do you think they were using the money for?
3. What does James, Jesus’ brother, say is “true religion” in James 1:27?
4. So if the Jerusalem Leadership is building their oppressive religious system on the financial backs of widows, how does this contrast with what you have seen of Jesus’ religious system?
5. What is the object lesson Jesus is making with this widow?
6. How does this get played out today? Can you think of ways that we build oppressive religious systems on the backs of the downtrodden?
Prophesy
In the next sections, Jesus is going to teach on the future, end times, tribulations. For most people, just reading that last sentence makes you think, “Oh no, here we go. Here comes the freaky, wacky, religious stuff where we start setting dates for the return of Jesus and looking for people to disappear!”
Relax. Read 21:5-28. Now, take a deep breath. We are going to tackle this together on Sunday at Thew. But in the mean time, let me give you some notes so you can work through it on your own and in your missional community this week.
21:5 The people were admiring the temple that was the project of Herod the Great. In 20 BC, he restored the Temple in a very grand fashion. Joel Green writes, “Pilgrims pouring into the city from the rustic environs of Palestine and the wider Diaspora could not help but be impressed, even overwhelmed, by its sheer size and magnificence, by the brilliance of the gold plates that covered its façade, and by the white marble that adorned its upper reaches.”
21:6 Can you imagine how bold a claim Jesus makes! He is supposed to be the King who is coming to restore Jerusalem and the Temple. Now He says the Temple they admired would be thrown down. How can this be?
21:7-9 Okay, you have to catch this. Jesus is talking about the Temple being destroyed. The people think Jesus is talking about the end, the Restoration of all things. He ends this section by saying that “These things (destruction of Jerusalem) must first take place, but the end (Restoration) will not be at once.” In these verses, Jesus gives us a summary of what will happen. Joel Green comments, “Does Jesus speak of the destruction of the temple or of the end? In fact, Jesus speaks of both.”
21:10-19 These verses tell us about the church in the years after Jesus’ resurrection. The same disciples who are listening to this speech will be the ones who lead the church on mission into the world. The First Century Church bore much persecution. But it grew nonetheless. Luke will tell us much more about the early church in his second work “Acts”.
21:20-24 These verses tell us about the fall of Jerusalem. Did this happen? Yep! In 70AD, the Romans came in, laid siege, and utterly wiped out Jerusalem. For more info on this, look up “Siege of Jerusalem” on Wikipedia, really good article.
21:25-28 These verses tell us about the second down arrow, the Restoration. Although Jesus was not establishing His Kingdom right away, or even after the fall of Jerusalem in 70AD, He would still come back
21:29-36 Here Jesus moves from prophetic teaching to pastoral implication. How do we as disciples live faithfully in light of everything we have just learned?
21:37-38 These verses mark the end of a section in Luke. Look back to 20:1 where the section began. Notice how Luke is putting a bookend on this section. Jesus is done sparring with the Jerusalem Leadership. Now, it is time to get the last section underway!
Implications
Jesus prophesied that the Temple would be destroyed and Jerusalem seiged. That happened in 70AD. In the same breath he prophesied that He would return again to bring about The End. It is almost like Luke is telling us, “If this happens, then you will know that that will happen.” Do you believe that Jesus will return? Are you confident of it? Is it your hope? Does your life reflect this confidence? Take some space below and journal about these questions.