What does Luke 19:45 mean?
At some point after the triumphal entry (Luke 19:37–40), Jesus enters Jerusalem and climbs to the Temple Mount. The courtyard of the temple is lined with covered porticos where rabbis teach those gathered around them. The bulk of the court, south of the temple, is reserved as a place for Gentiles to worship the Jewish God. By the west wall on the north side is the temple. On the northwest corner is the Antonia Fortress: the Roman army garrison.This being Passover, tens of thousands of Jews have come from Judea, Galilee, across the Jordan, and everywhere else in the Roman Empire. They all need a lamb for Passover. They need to convert their Roman coins into half-shekels for the temple tax. And those who do not get to Jerusalem often will need animals, wine, oil, salt, and birds for the personal sacrifices they have missed.
Sacrificial requirements, everything from oxen to salt, is being sold in the Court of the Gentiles (John 2:14). The prices are marked up for a large profit. The money changers charge fees for themselves and for the high priest's family. The place that God meant for Gentiles to worship Him is filled with animal waste and haggling merchants extorting money from the devout.
Mark 11:15 says Jesus "overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who sold pigeons." John 2:15 describes Jesus making a whip of cords, while Jesus might have done something similar here, the event recorded in John likely happened early in Jesus' ministry. Matthew 21:12 and Mark 11:15 only mention moneychangers and pigeon sellers, so it's possible Jesus' work in John 2 convinced those who sell larger animals to stay outside the Temple Mount.
Unfortunately, these passages have been misapplied to justify a militant defense of Christianity. Some claim Jesus' actions justify fighting against government restrictions or unpopular laws. That completely fails to grasp the context of these events. Jesus isn't driving out the Romans. A truer parallel would be driving out those who exploit other Christians and make unbelievers feel unwelcome, all with the approval of church leaders.
Luke wrote his Gospel before Jerusalem's destruction by Rome in AD 70. He doesn't know that less than forty years after Jesus enters Jerusalem, decades of Roman taxation will cause Jewish farmers to lose their land. Nor is he aware that Nero will order the local governor to raid the temple treasury. In response, disgruntled Israelites will portray the governor as a poor beggar; the governor will crucify by-standers when he can't find the perpetrators.
Financial hardship is only one of many reasons the Jews will start rebelling against the Romans in AD 66. Another is corrupt Jewish leadership seeking its own gain and power rather than leading the people well. To this, Luke also finds a parallel in Jesus' experience. The Jewish leaders hear Him preach. They know He fulfills the prophecies of the Messiah in the Jewish Scriptures. But they are jealous, so instead of fighting the real enemy, in this case Satan, they destroy their one chance at salvation (Luke 19:47).
