THE GOSPEL OF LUKE: - Vital Christianity

39INTERPRETING THE TIMESLuke 12:54-59As Jesus came out of the temple in Jerusalem, one of His followers remarked about the building'smajestic beauty. Jesus abruptly and devastatingly replied that even this magnificent building, which forthe Jewish people was the place where God's presence was especially found, was to be utterly destroyedas "not a single stone would be left in its place" (Mk 13:2). It was their rejection of the good news ofGod's messianic reign that sealed their judgment.On the Mount of Olives, overlooking Jerusalem from the east, Jesus wept as He said:"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem . . . How many times have I wanted to put My arms aroundall your people, just as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, but you wouldnot let Me!" (Mt 23:37).It was Jesus' persistent love that led Him to weep over a city doomed because it rejected His offerof God's forgiveness.Jesus represented the disaster to take place in Jerusalem as "great tribulation" (Mt 24:21). It wasto be unprecedented and unrepeatable in its severity. Thus it was vital that these early Christians would beforewarned and armed for the coming calamity.This disaster took place some 35 years following Jesus' prophecy. The Romans used the pretenseof putting down a Jewish civil war to sweep into the country and siege Jerusalem. These Romanspracticed sacrilege as they sacrificed pigs in the temple in repudiation of the Jewish religion. A few yearsafter this siege (A. D. 70) the Roman soldiers, under the leadership of Titus, decimated the population ofthe Holy City and totally destroyed its buildings, including the temple. Having taken Jesus' predictionseriously, the Christians in Jerusalem had fled the city in time to escape destruction. This siege beganGentile domination of the Holy City and it continues to this day as the temple area remains under Moslemjurisdiction.It was natural for Peter and his friends to link the destruction of Jerusalem with the end of theworld. However, if they thought that the world would end at the same time as the fall of Jerusalem, theywere mistaken. Jesus' made it clear in His reply to the disciples' question that what happened to Jerusalemin A. D. 70 was part of the process of the coming of God's Kingdom and His judgment on evil. Markmakes this very clear in his account (Mk. 13) as he weaves together the events of A. D. 70 and the eventsof some future unknown date of the culmination of the end of the age.Even though the detailed description of the Fall of Jerusalem by our Lord is accurately fulfilled inthe events that surrounded that fall, yet that fall did not completely fulfill Jesus' prophecy. Thus Jesuslooked beyond the events of A. D. 70 to the end of the age as He Himself stated: