Spellbound by the Teachings of Jesus

Scripture — Luke 19:47 (NRSV)

Every day he was teaching in the temple. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people kept looking for a way to kill him; but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were spellbound by what they heard.

Devotion

In last Wednesday’s devotion, we saw that Jesus disrupted the worship of the temple in Jerusalem by driving out the vendors who sold sacrifices (19:45). He accused the temple leadership of having turned it into a “den of robbers,” a kind of hideout from accountability for their failure to lead according to God’s standards (19:46). By quoting the phrase “den of robbers,” which appears in the prophecy of Jeremiah (see Jer 7, especially vs. 11), Jesus also implied strongly that the temple would be destroyed as in the time of Jeremiah, something Jesus later prophesied explicitly (21:5-6).

Yet, despite his disruption of the temple, Jesus returned there to teach “every day” (19:47). Given his opposition to the temple leadership, it’s not a big surprise that they “kept looking for a way to kill him” (19:47). Not only had Jesus condemned their leadership, but also he was acting in a way that might bring Roman wrath down upon their heads. Somebody who preached about the coming of the kingdom of God and received praise as the king who comes in the name of the Lord was surely in the center of Roman crosshairs (19:38).

The Jewish leaders were not yet able, however, to do anything to Jesus. Why not? Because “all the people were spellbound by what they heard” when he taught (19:48). Jesus, though immensely unpopular with most of the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, was immensely popular with the vast majority of Jews there. Thus, the leaders could not have Jesus killed without risking a revolt against their authority, which also could have brought down the iron fist of Rome upon Jerusalem. So, for the time being, those who wanted to kill Jesus were stymied.

I find the description of Jesus’s widespread popularity among the Jewish people to be provocative. The NRSV says that “all the people were spellbound by him.” The NIV gets closer to the literal meaning of the Greek verb behind “were spellbound” with the translation, “all the people hung on his words” (19:48, NIV). That Greek verb in this phrase (ekkremannumi), which appears only here in the New Testament, literally meant to hang on something. It conveys the eagerness and attentiveness of the people in response to the teaching of Jesus.

As I reflect on this passage, I wonder about my own response to Jesus. I know I don’t want to get rid of him like the temple leaders. But am I like the people who hung on Jesus’s every word? Or do I let my familiarity with the teaching of Jesus dampen my enthusiasm?

Not to boast, but I would share with you that, in recent years, I have found my interest in the words of Jesus to be growing. I receive this, not as proof of my superior religiosity, by the way, but as a gift of God’s grace. In particular, I have discovered a new hunger for hearing the words of Jesus each day. I do this by reading or listening to one chapter of one of the biblical gospels most mornings. For me, hearing the words of Jesus sometimes helps me to “see” things I had overlooked when reading with my eyes.

As we follow Jesus through the season of Lent, may God give us a deep and lasting desire for the teachings of Jesus. Along with those who heard him in the temple, may we also be spellbound, hanging on his every word.

Find all Life for Leaders devotions here. Explore what the Bible has to say about work at the High Calling archive, hosted by the unique website of our partners, the Theology of Work Project. Reflection on today’s Life for Leaders theme can be found here: Look Who’s Talking.