Most people don’t realize that many
if not most of Jesus’ parables were intended not as general morality tales, but
as particular pronouncements of coming judgment and change. Jesus was warning
Jerusalem to repent and to accept its new King (Jesus) or else fall under
ultimate condemnation of God. In fact, much of Jesus’ teaching in the Gospels pertains primarily to
that pre-ad 70 crowd, and without reading it in this light, we misunderstand
it. And when we misunderstand it, we misapply it.
The following section of Luke
requires this understanding. The parables Jesus tells during His final journey
to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51-20:26) almost all pertain to the
rebellion, faithlessness, judgment, and coming destruction of Jerusalem….
(Full text
at link below)
Not only is Jesus threatening the “faithless
generation” (Luke 9:41; 11:29-32, 50-51) with “desolation” (11:17, 13:34-35;
21:20), but there is further textual correlation with Leviticus 26. Four times in Leviticus 26 God promises that if the
rebellious Jews do not respond to His chastisements, He will punish them seven
times more for their sins (Lev. 26:18, 21, 24, 28). In Jesus’ parable in Luke 11:26, the cast-out demon goes and finds
seven more demons to return and possess the desolate house.
In announcing this seven-fold worse
punishment, God phrases it this way: “I will set my face against you” (Lev. 26:17). The Greek phrase in the Old
Testament Greek (called the “Septuagint” or LXX) is the same as in our
turning-point passage here (Luke 9:51): Jesus “set
His face” to go to Jerusalem. In Leviticus 26:17, God says His face will be set
against the people. This Greek phrase eph’ humas “against you” obviously
designates judgment in this context. The exact same phrase appears in the
Strong Man parable: “the kingdom of God has come upon you [eph’ humas]” Luke 11:20). In the person of Jesus, the
Strong Man, the kingdom had indeed come not only “upon” but literally “against”
the unfaithful people.
Some people may find it difficult to
believe this “binding the
strong man” passage has its primary if not only interpretation in the
first-century context of unbelieving Israel. But the parallel account in
Matthew makes this context and application explicit. After his version of the
story where the wicked spirit is cast out, Matthew records Jesus concluding
with this statement:
Then it goes and brings with it seven
other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the
last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this
evil generation” (Matt. 12:45).
The
last sentence in this verse proves the context: Jesus was applying this parable
of judgment to “this generation”—the generation to whom He was speaking. And,
that generation Jesus considered “evil,” and thus deserving of the judgment
that was to come. He was bringing a legal declaration of desolation to
come. He had truly set his face against Jerusalem.
[This essay and many more like it are
available in the author’s book Jesus v. Jerusalem: Jesus’ Lawsuit
Against Israel.]
