The earliest extant account of the story of Jesus contains just a brief note that, after a time spent in Galilee, Jesus then went to Judea (Mark 10:1). In Luke’s Gospel, there is a major reworking of the story of Jesus which places this journey in a prominent position. Jerusalem plays a central role in the whole Lukan story, from the early chapters onwards. In thinking about this, we should start by considering the significance of the city of Jerusalem in the ancient world.
I. Jerusalem in the first century: the centre of holiness
In Jewish traditon, holiness is identified as the central quality of God (Exodus 3:1-6, 15:11). It was also seen to be an important characteristic of the people of Israel (Exodus 19:5-6, Lev 11:44-45; 19:2; Num 15:40-41; Deut 7:6; 14:2; 26:18-19; 28:9).
Jerusalem is intimately associated with this holiness. Whilst the Torah declares the importance of holiness, it was long believed that God resided in the Holy of Holies within this Temple (Exod 26:31-37; Lev 16:1-2). All activities associated with the Temple required preparation that ensured that the holiness of the place would not be breached.
The prophet Isaiah, whilst in the Temple, experienced a vision of God: “holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts” (Isa 6:3), and the Psalms often assert the holiness of God in his temple (Ps 11:4; 24:3-4; 48:1; 99:1-5,9).
Those who ministered to God within the Temple, as priests, were to be especially concerned about holiness in their daily life and their regular activities in the Temple (Exod 28-29; Lev 8-9). The temple priests claimed their role as the authorised interpreters of the Torah, and they were responsible for determining how the matter of holiness was to be worked out in the system of sacrifices brought to the Temple (Ezekiel 44:15–16, 23–24).
The Pharisees (mentioned in Luke 13) provided a counterpoint to the centralised role of the Priestly leaders. Pharisees and scribes alike specialised in the interpretation of Torah and in the application of Torah to ensure that holiness was observed in daily living. They undertook the highly significant task of showing how the Torah was relevant to the daily life of Jewish people.
Whilst the Pharisees clustered around the larger towns in Judea, the scribes were to be found in the synagogues of villages throughout greater Israel, and indeed in any place where Jews were settled. Their task was to educate the people as to the ways of holiness that were commanded in the Torah. It was possible, they argued, to live as God’s holy people at every point of one’s life, quite apart from any pilgrimages made to the Temple in Jerusalem. So there was already an “alternative pathway” for living out holiness in daily life.
Jesus debated often with the scribes and Pharisees. He seems to share much in common with them. They were all committed to living in accordance with the commandments of Torah, although they had differing interpretations of how to do this. Jesus advocated for the living out of holiness in daily life, as did the scribes and Pharisees.
Yet all the Gospels report that Jesus intentionally set out to journey to Jerusalem, to visit the Temple. His Jewish piety drove him to the place that had long been considered the central point of his faith. He went there to effect a renewal amongst his people. His journey to Jerusalem and into the Temple is a clear expression of his commitment to ensuring that his people continue to live as a holy people.
II. Jerusalem in the Lukan story: the destination in view
In the Lukan version of the story of Jesus, the Jerusalem Temple plays a significant role. His “orderly account of the things that have been fulfilled among us” begins in the temple in Jerusalem, where we meet faithful Jewish people, Zechariah and Elizabeth (Luke 1:8-22) and then Simeon and Anna (2:22-38). This is the only Gospel that refers to these figures.
In Luke’s account of the story of the testing of Jesus (Luke 4:1-14), the order of testings found in Matthew’s account is altered, so that the testing relating to the Jerusalem Temple is placed at the climactic point of the last testing (4:11-13).
At a crucial point during his ministry in Galilee, Jesus “sets his face” to go to Jerusalem (9:51). This prophetic phrase (Ezekiel 4:3,7, 6:2, 14:8, 15:7, 21:2, 25:2, 28:21) indicates his firm commitment to this pathway but also indicates the judgement that will take place through this visit.
On the way, Luke reports on the teachings and healings of Jesus and his encounters and debates with various people, drawing from the ‘Q’ source as well as a source used only by Luke. Luke stretches out his account of this journey; Jesus sets out in chapter 9, but will not arrive in the city until chapter 19.
The journey over ten chapters provides the context for teaching and instruction at depth. These teachings include Jesus’ revelation of his own fate (9:43b–44; 18:31–33) and the high cost involved in following him (14:25–35). The city will become the place where his fate is played out, when he confronts the authorities (both Jewish and Roman) in that city.
But whilst Jesus will be judged by human authorities and meet his fate on the cross in Jerusalem, the city itself sits under divine judgement. The ultimate judgement over the city is made clear at key points in the journey. As he heads towards Jerusalem, Jesus laments the fate that is in store for the people of the city (13:33-35) and when he enters the city, he weeps over the city (19:41-44) and provides more prophetic words about their fate (21:20-24). Each of these passages is found only in this particular Gospel.
Of course, this Gospel is written some decades after the time of Jesus; and most surely it is to be dated after the year 70, when the city of Jerusalem was held hostage by Roman forces and the holy grounds of the Temple were desecrated in a tragic intra-Jewish battle. (The historian Josephus provides graphic accounts of both elements in his writings, and the description that Luke provides in 21:20-24 resonates with the description that Josephus provides.) So we are looking at the journey of Jesus and his words over Jerusalem with the benefit of hindsight. This is not “straight history”; this is “theological interpretation”.
Once Jesus has arrived in the city, the narration of his arrest, trial, betrayal, sentencing, death and burial follows the pathways recounted in other canonical Gospels. However, in the Lukan account, the risen Jesus appears, not in Galilee (as in other versions), but only in the nearby town of Emmaus (24:28-32) and then in Jerusalem itself (24:33-49).
In Acts, the focus is singularly on the early movement as it formed in Jerusalem (Acts 1-7, 12) before spreading out from Jerusalem into other regions. Indeed, Acts 1:8 provides a programmatic statement that prioritises Jerusalem amongst all locations.
Later in Acts, in the Lukan version of the story of Paul, despite his self-proclaimed credentials as “apostle to the Gentiles”, Jerusalem remains as the central pivot of the Jesus movement. The community of believers in Jerusalem is regularly visited and consulted by Paul (Acts 9:26-28, 12:25, 15:1-4, 18:22, 19:21, 20:16,22, 21:13-23:30, 25:1-26:32). This sits rather at odds with Paul’s own claim that he rarely went to Jerusalem (Gal 1:17-18, 2:1).
Only in the final scene of Acts is the central point shifted to Rome (28:14-41), as had already been declared by the Lord (23:11). For Luke, that’s a signal about the re-orientation of the emerging Jesus movement, away from Jerusalem, the centre of the Jewish world, to Rome, the centre of the Roman Empire, the dominant world power of the day. That signals the movement from Jerusalem … to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).
So, Jerusalem is pivotal and central in the two volumes we know as Luke-Acts. The testing of Jesus on the pinnacle of the temple represents the ultimate desertion of his calling to bring renewal and fresh hope to the people of Israel. Jesus faces this testing and proceeds resolutely towards the capital city, where his fate awaits him.
III. Jerusalem in theological perspective: judgement and compassion
The lectionary offers us this striking claim in the Gospel passage from Luke 13: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!” That striking claim connects with Israel at key points. Prophets being killed in Jerusalem are reported by Elijah (1 Kings 19:14), Jeremiah (Jer 29:15-21) and Ezra (Neh 9:26), for example; so it seems this was a standard claim in Jewish history. (There’s also the reference to the string of deaths, culminating in that of Zechariah, son of Barachiah, in Matt 23:35.)
However, it is not the case that every single prophet that went to the capital city was killed in Jerusalem, nor even that they were persecuted. Isaiah, who has the ear of the King as court prophet, died in Jerusalem; tradition is that he was sawn in two and then buried near the Pool of Siloam! Ezekiel died in exile in Babylon. Jeremiah certainly was persecuted, but we do not know where he died. One story in Jewish tradition says he was stoned to death in Egypt. Most of The Twelve (the minor prophets) died outside of Jerusalem.
The point is not historical accuracy; it is the rhetorical flourish in the words of Jesus, which indicates that the fidelity of the prophets was, sadly, met on many occasions with rejection and even martyrdom. Ominously, that is the pattern into which he will step, himself, in coming chapters.
The lectionary also offers this striking image: “How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” This image, of a mother hen, exudes the care and compassion that is at the heart of God.
Whilst we think of Hebrew Scripture as being a collection of patriarchal texts, written and compiled over time in a society that maintained a strong patriarchal ethos, there are, nevertheless, texts which offer a counter-narrative to the dominant paradigm. By explaining his mission in this image, and, by implication, comparing God with a mother hen, Jesus invites us into that alternative perspective.
We can find texts which compare God to a mother (Hosea 11:3-4) and like a mother eagle (Deut 32:11-12). We can find God described as one “who gave you birth” (Deut 32:18) and like a woman in labour (Isa 42:14). God is depicted as being like a nursing mother (Isa 49:15), like a mother who comforts her child (Isa 66:13), like the mother of a weaned child (Ps 131:2). And once God is described as a fierce mother bear who acts with vengeance when her cubs are snatched away from her (Hosea 13:8). There’s an interesting reflection on these passages at The Julia Project (https://juniaproject.com/biblical-maternal-images-for-god/)
The final words of Jesus in this oracle look to the imposition of divine judgement: “See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’ ” The die is cast. Jesus sets his face to the city to bring judgement (Luke 9:51). He is clear that he must travel with that end in view (13:33). When he enters the city, he comes as the messenger of divine judgement (19:44; the “visitation of God”is a biblical phrase for executing diving judgement).
The Lukan account of the moment when Jesus enters the Temple is compressed, succinct, and redolent with meaning. In the seat of holiness, Jesus casts out the merchants (the action is described in a word with inherent violence), and cites scripture to lament the brokenness of the site (Luke 19:46, conflating Isa 56:7 and Jer 7:11). There needs now to be a renewal of the pathway of holiness. That will be provided by the one who is called to be the Holy One of God (2:23, 4:34).
As Jesus continues inexorably towards the holy city, his mission is being clarified: he walks a path that will renew a fractured holiness, and he issues a call that requires of us, as we follow in his way, to live out that holiness. He demonstrates that this way of holiness incorporates openness and welcome, as he sits to eat with sinners. This way of holiness includes transformative engagement with those on the outer, those whose lives are marred by illness or caught by negative forces. The journey to Jerusalem is a journey to the heart of God’s holiness.
For other posts in this series, see