JERUSALEM
Jerusalem is on a high mountain plateau approximately 2,500 feet above sea level between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is a Biblically significant area.
1. Melchizedek, “a priest of God Most High” was also the king of Salem, which is Jerusalem (Gen 14:18).
2. God had asked Abram to sacrifice his son Isaac on Mount Moriah, which was later known as Jerusalem (Gen 22:1-14; 2 Chr 3:1).
3. Isaiah prophesied Jerusalem as the site for the temple of God. “In days to come, the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established as the highest mountain and raised above the hills. All nations shall stream towards it” (Isa 2:2).
4. While the Israelites settled in Canaan, King David conquered Jerusalem from the Jebusites and established it as the capital of his kingdom. Though that area was assigned to the tribe of Benjamin, they had not conquered it (Josh 18:28). King Solomon built the Temple there.
5. As per prophecy, the Jewish scholars and Jesus preached from Jerusalem. “For from Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem” (Mic 4:2).
6. Joseph and Mary presented the Infant Jesus in the Temple (Lk 2:22) and brought him to the Temple each year for the Passover (Lk 2:41).
7. Jesus was lost and found in the Temple when he was 12 years old (Lk 2:41-50).
8. He took part in the major feasts of the Temple, preached there, and performed miracles.
9. Jesus was sentenced, tortured, crucified, and buried here. On the third day, he rose from the dead here.
10. According to Jesus, “Repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem” (Lk 24:47).
11. Peter and John healed a crippled beggar at the temple area (Acts 3:1-10).
12. Peter preached in Jerusalem and the Sanhedrin questioned Peter and John there (Acts 4:5-22).
Jerusalem was the capital of the united Israel and later of Judaea. The Temple was located there. The presence of the elite Jews, especially the Sanhedrin, was a hurdle for Jesus because he challenged their corruption and the undue importance they gave to the man-made traditions that were inconsistent with the genuine spirit of the precepts given by God through Moses. Even people from Jerusalem came to Galilee listen to Jesus (Mk 3:8). They had to travel around 150 km from Jerusalem to reach Capernaum.
GOING UP TO JERUSALEM
On the map, Bethlehem and Jerusalem are below or south of Nazareth. When recording the travel of Joseph and Mary from Nazareth to Bethlehem, the text could be “went down from Nazareth.” However, Luke records, “Joseph too went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David that is called Bethlehem” (Lk 2:4). Bethlehem, that is near Jerusalem, is at a high altitude than Nazareth in Galilee. So, one who travels from the north to the south was climbing up.
Regardless of where one was traveling from, that person would be “going up” to reach Jerusalem. The climbing was especially felt when one was walking on the street that led to Jerusalem. Going up to Jerusalem” has also a spiritual meaning because it was the site of the temple of God, “the Mountain of the Lord’s House.”
According to the prophesies, Jerusalem was the peak of the world from where the Lord’s instruction would come to all nations. “In days to come, the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established as the highest mountain and raised above the hills. All nations shall stream toward it” (Isa 2:2). “Many nations shall come, and say, ‘Come, let us climb the LORD’s mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may instruct us in his ways, that we may walk in his paths.’ For from Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem” (Mic 4:2).
DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM
Jesus had predicted the destruction of Jerusalem along with its Temple because of their denial of him as the Messiah. The destruction of the Temple and death of many Jews happened in 70 A.D., 40 years after that prediction. Besides the political destruction of Jerusalem and its inhabitants who, those who do not follow Jesus would also face spiritual damnation in the future.
Revolution was developing among the Jews against Roman rule. There were groups like zealots that organized such revolts. Forty years after Jesus’ warning, the Roman army, under the leadership of Titus, attacked the Jews and destroyed Jerusalem along with the Temple in 70 AD. The Jews would earnestly desire the intervention of the Messiah to save them from that distress. But no other Messiah would come because Jesus is the only Messiah, and they resolutely avoided him. According to the historian Josephus, the Roman army killed 1.1 million people and took away 97,000 as slaves to Rome. Many fled to areas around the Mediterranean Sea. The Roman army destroyed the prestigious Jewish Temple.
The prophecy of the destruction of the unrepentant happened within 40 years. The Christians who believed in Jesus escaped from the attack of Romans. They fled from Jerusalem because of persecution from Jews and because they believed in the words of Jesus about the imminent destruction of Jerusalem and had fled when they saw the sign of a Roman attack. “Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that arose because of Stephen went as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to no one but Jews” (Acts 11:19). According to the early Christian historians Eusebius and Epiphanius, the Christians in Jerusalem escaped to Pella, a Decapolis city prior to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 A.D.
DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM AND INNOCENT MAN’S BLOOD
When Pilate could not convince the Jews to release Jesus and they were on the verge of rioting, Pilate washed his hands in public and said, “‘I am innocent of this man’s blood. See to it yourselves.’ And all the people answered, ‘Let his blood be upon us and upon our children’” (Mt 27:24-25).
Jesus’ blood stands for his life and sacrifice. He shed it for the forgiveness of the sins of all humanity. However, the entire crowd gathered at Jesus’ trial was so taken up by the influence of the Sanhedrin that they, out of their emotion, took up the curse of the innocent blood on them and their future generations. The Jews believed that the guilt of innocent blood shall fall upon the false witnesses and their children to the end of the world. Some interpreters view that Rome’s attack of Jerusalem after 40 years in 70 AD, the destruction of the Temple and its sacrifices, the assassination of many Jews, and the exile and dispersion of the Jews were results of the above pledge they made. The Catholic Church does not hold this view and attributes them to the Temple aristocracy and the supporters of Barabbas.
REFLECTION
God dwelt among the Israelites in the Holy of Holies of the Tent and later in the Temple Solomon built. When the Israelites abandoned God and ended up in idolatry, the Temple was destroyed. Babylonians and Romans were only instruments of God for this destruction. Now God dwells in the hearts of his faithful (Eph 3:17; 1 Cor 3:16). Jesus clarified the condition for this: “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him” (Jn 14:23).