hanging on His words

And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him, but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were hanging on his words.

Luke 19:47-48

Jesus was an amazing teacher, able to say the most difficult things in terms that captured the hearts of His hearers. And here we have documented just how the crowds reacted to His compelling teaching. They were captivated by it. They kept crowding into the temple in Jerusalem day after day to hear more from Jesus. Even as His preaching got more and more direct after the triumphal entry (He wept at Jerusalem’s coming rejection of Him - Luke 19:41-44; He confronted and drove the money changers from the temple courts - Luke 19:45-46) the audience flocking to Him kept growing and was all the more supportive.

The religious leaders were plotting to do away with the controversial young rabbi, but they found no way to do it without raising the ire of vast throngs against them. So they waited and they plotted. They could not success in a public confrontation with Jesus so they questioned His teaching (which is what is documented in the next chapter). They simply cringed in jealousy at the large following of supporters of Jesus and waited for a time to show itself.

The honest preaching and teaching of Jesus continued to compel the crowds because of Who Jesus is. God was speaking directly to humanity. The Word was made flesh and was speaking clearly and compellingly to the people that Jesus came to save. He was showing truth, breaking through the man-made constraints of false religion to show the love of the Father, and proclaiming hope to Israel. How could they not hang on His every word?