CHALLENGING THE
ESTABLISHMENT
LUKE 19:41-46
6. As
he nears Jerusalem, in contrast to both the mood of the crowd and that of the
Pharisees, what is Jesus feeling? What are the facets of this complex response?
Crowd = rejoicing; their conquering king has arrived and
will overcome the Roman government to restore
Pharisees = anger; Jesus is stirring up the crowds, overturning the temple merchants, and raising the possibility that the Romans could clamp down on the Jews with great violence and punishment.
Jesus = mourning; He *is* a great King who has arrived at a significant place of accomplishing his mission of restoring mankind to God - and the Jews, God’s chosen people, have missed the moment. They don’t understand.
7. What is Jesus’
priority when he reaches
His priority, as always, is to accomplish God’s will. It is God’s will that the temple be a place of holy worship, not a marketplace. He continues to accomplish God’s will by openly teaching in the temple every day.
Jesus focus on doing God’s will is with such resolve – he will upset the merchants, he will upset the religious leaders, but it doesn’t matter. He will continue to work toward God’s will despite the opposition or consequences from the opposition.
LUKE 19:47-20:19
8. What are the essential elements in the conflict that shows itself throughout the passage?
It seems this is a story that continues to compare the conflict between doing what is right (God’s will) and doing what profits the self-serving.
When the Pharisees challenge Jesus’ authority over the temple merchants, he returns their challenge by questioning their motives. Are they motivated to seek God’s will? If not, then whatever their motive, it is secondary to the purpose of Jesus and as a result he has an authority that is greater than theirs.
The Pharisees motive is self-serving – they wish to maintain their power among the community of Jews. Jesus pursuit of God’s will conflicts with the Pharisees motive because he both challenges them and introduces the possibility that the Romans will consider him a challenge too. And to challenge the Romans would have disastrous consequences of incurring the Roman wrath of brutal punishment
9. What are the
desires and feelings of the religious leaders of
The desire and feeling of the Pharisees is to put down Jesus and maintain their authority. Since he will not cooperate with their desires then they must eliminate him. They cannot simply eliminate him because he is very popular with the people and any move against Jesus will threaten their good standing with the people.
10. In what ways have you accepted an “establishment” view of religion.