Lk 19:45-48
House of prayer: Immediately after predicting the destruction of the city of Jerusalem, Jesus enters the Temple area and begins to cleanse it in preparation for his teaching ministry in Jerusalem (20:1–21:38).
By cleansing the Temple of merchants, Jesus demonstrates his authority, which will be questioned immediately after the incident (20:1-8). Also, his action echoes the prophet Malachi, who, speaking for God, declares, “Lo, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me; and suddenly there will come to the Temple the Lord whom you seek, and the messenger of the covenant whom you desire. Yes, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. He will sit refining and purifying [silver], and he will purify the sons of Levi” (Mal 3:1, 3).
Jesus’ address to those in the Temple echoes two Old Testament prophets: Isaiah (56:7) and Jeremiah (7:11). In Luke’s view, Jesus indicts the religious leadership for permitting the Temple’s true purpose to be perverted. In other words, the religious leaders have not been faithful to what the Temple has meant; therefore, the Temple will be destroyed.
Because the religious leaders have not been faithful, Jesus must teach in the Temple area every day. Luke situates more of Jesus’ teaching in the Temple than either of the other two synoptic writers. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people, meanwhile, are seeking to put him to death because of his teaching in and not because of his cleansing of the Temple.
However, because Luke has much more teaching material to present, Jesus’ adversaries could find no way to accomplish their purpose because all the people are hanging on his words. Here, Luke is able to emphasize one of his principal themes—hearing the word of God and doing it.