Luke 13:31-35 *
March 7, 2004 * Lent 2
* Vicar Caauwe
I don’t know
how you plan for trips. But my guess is that for most trips that people take,
they have a list of things to be done, people to be seen, events to attend.
Perhaps you plan for trips with a couple lists--one with things you absolutely
must do, one with things you’d like to do if you have time, and one with things
you really don’t want to do, things that you would avoid if you could.
You might say
that in our text for today Jesus was on a trip of sorts. Jesus was making his
final trip to Jerusalem. This trip, like
many trips, had an agenda, a list of things that needed to be accomplished. But
Jesus did not have a separate list of things that he wanted to do. What Jesus
wanted to do and what he had to do were one and the same.
Jesus, our Lord and Savior was going
on to Jerusalem
1) willing to die
2) willing to save.
Jesus was in the area known as Perea,
east of the Jordan river, when some of the Pharisees came up to him. They said
to him, “Leave this place and go somewhere else.” and the reason that
Jesus should leave, “Herod wants to kill you.” (31)
Perea was one of the areas under the rule
of Herod Antipas. Even though this same Herod was the one who beheaded John the
Baptist, it is unlikely that Herod would actually kill Jesus. When Herod did
see Jesus all he wanted was to see him do a miracle. What seems more likely is
that either Herod or the Pharisees were trying to intimidate Jesus, to scare
Jesus into changing his course.
In either case, Jesus would not let
anyone else dictate the road he would take. He was on his way to Jerusalem, but
he would go, not out of fear, not in haste, but Jesus would go on to Jerusalem
of his own accord, willing.
“He replied, ‘Go tell that fox, ‘I
will drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and on the third day
I will reach my goal.’”(32) The Pharisees wanted Jesus to go. But in reply Jesus told them to go. They should go
and tell Herod that no scare tactic would change his course. Jesus would
continue his work for a certain amount of time, then when his work was
complete, he would go on, he would willingly go on to Jerusalem to reach his
goal. And what goal was that?
“In any case, I must keep going today
and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!”(33)
Jesus’ reason for going on to Jerusalem was to die. Jesus’ goal was death.
If Herod wanted to kill Jesus, if his
will was to put Jesus to death, he would not get his wish, because Jesus was
going on to Jerusalem, willing to die. Yes, it was his will to die, it was
God’s will for him to die.
That seems strange. We can’t imagine God
wanting anyone to die. Death was not a part of God’s plan for this world. The
plan was for man to live together with God in the world he had created.
Death came into the world through sin.
Satan’s temptation in the garden was to make Eve doubt whether they would
really die if they ate from the tree. “You will not surely die”(Gen 3:4),
he said. Come on, God wouldn’t really make you die for just taking a piece of
fruit.
Because God is just, because God does not
lie, death came into the world. Because all people from Adam and Eve on are
sinful from birth, all people must also die. The wages of sin is death, eternal
death to all who sin.
How strange then, that Jesus goes on to
Jerusalem, willing to die. He hadn’t sinned. Yet he went on willing to die
because someone had to die. Jesus went on to Jerusalem willing to die so that I
would not.
In a sense, we could say that Jesus
didn’t have to die. He didn’t have to die because he hadn’t sinned. He didn’t
have to die just because he was hated by the Jews. He didn’t have to die just
because the Romans soldiers beat him and crucified him. He didn’t even have to
die because of my sins or your sins. Jesus died willingly.
Nothing would move Jesus to go on to
Jerusalem except his willingness to die for the sin of mankind. Not Herod’s
will, not the will of the Pharisees, not my will; Jesus’ willingness led him to
“drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and on the third day
[to] reach [his] goal.”(32) Jesus’ willingness brought him to Jerusalem,
where he was mocked, beaten, and crucified.
Jesus’ willingness brought him to cry out “It is finished”; it brought
him to his goal reached, mission accomplished, salvation won.
Jesus went on to Jerusalem, not only
willing to die, but also willing to save.
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill
the prophets and stone those sent to you...”(34) Jerusalem had a bad
reputation. It had a tendency to kill prophets that were sent there. What Jesus
hinted at when he said “surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!”
he says explicitly here. Jerusalem was knowing for rejecting and killing
prophets. One commentator wrote that “Jerusalem has a monopoly on killing
prophets.” We had one example of that in our Old Testament lesson for today.
The people of Jerusalem threatened to kill the prophet Jeremiah, in the temple
of the LORD, of all places.
What wickedness! Prophets were sent by
God to the people to proclaim his Word to them. It was evidence of God’s grace
to his people that he sent messengers to them, to reveal who God is, to relate
God’s plan of salvation for the world.
But instead of welcoming God’s spokesmen
with open arms, what kind of reception did they get? Jerusalem is known for the
fact that it kills prophets and stones those who are sent to it. They sought
out those who spoke for God and murdered them. What wickedness!
These are the kind of people Jesus is
addressing here. Jesus is addressing wicked people, who reject a message from
God and are violently hostile to those who bring it. Listen again, though, to
how Jesus speaks to these wicked people:
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the
prophets and stone those sent to you”
Jesus speaks to this wicked and rebellious city like a parent to a dear child.
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem...” Jesus calls out to Jerusalem by name, not
once, but twice to demonstrate care and loving concern for the city that kills
prophets and stones those sent to it.
Then Jesus explains how he has shown that
love. “How often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen
gathers her chicks under her wings....” Repeatedly, over and over again
throughout history God called out to the people of Jerusalem, as well as the
entire nation of Israel, to live together as children of God, children who
loved and served their Creator. Repeatedly God showed his love and concern for
them. Just think for a moment of some
examples from Bible history. Think of God’s deliverance from slavery in Egypt.
Think of God’s protection in the wilderness. Think of God’s fulfillment of the
promised land. Think of how God preserved a remnant of believers through all of
it. And all the while...
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the
prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your
children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.” Just
as often as the LORD reached out to Jerusalem, to his dear people, just as often
as he was willing to save them, to bless them, to carry out the plan of their
salvation, they were not willing.
Along with each evidence of God’s grace
in the Old Testament is evidence of rejection by his own people. They grumbled
in the desert, they built idols and worshipped them. They killed the prophets
and stoned those sent to them!
Yet through this all, God remained
willing. And now, towards the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry, he was going on
to Jerusalem, the city that so often was unwilling and violently opposed God,
he was going on to Jerusalem, willing to save. He would go on to Jerusalem to
save the very same people who would kill him.
Oh, that Jesus would never say the same
thing to his people today. Even in a world that is very much opposed to God and
his Word, we pray that Jesus would never say to us “but you were not willing”
Of course, we would never think of such
wicked things as violently rejecting God and his messengers. Yet I know that
there is a part of me that is not willing. The sinful nature in me is not, and
never will be willing to accept Jesus’ Word, or his love. My nature, and your
sinful nature, would oppose Jesus just as violently as Jerusalem. That very
same sinful nature sneaks into our daily lives, pulling us away from our loving
God--repeatedly tempting and enticing and leading us into wicked thoughts, evil
words, and sinful actions.
Jesus went on to Jerusalem, to save. And
if he went on to Jerusalem to save Jerusalem, he went on to Jerusalem to save
me. No, my nature may not be willing,
but in baptism, in the faith given in baptism, God the Holy Spirit drowns my
sinful nature. In baptism Jesus granted what the psalmist asked for when he
prayed, “grant me a willing spirit.”(Ps 51:12) Hearts of faith live with a spirit that is
willing to listen to the Savior, willing to live the lives that children of God
live.
Jesus went on to Jerusalem, willing to
save me, even me, and for that, I am thankful. For that, we are ever thankful.
As we follow Jesus this Lenten season, as
we watch him go on to Jerusalem, may we find great joy and comfort in this,
that Jesus went on to Jerusalem, willing to die and willing to save. Perhaps
this hymn stanza best summarizes the reason for our joy:
A Lamb goes uncomplaining forth,
Our guilt and evil bearing
And laden with the sins of earth,
None else the burden sharing.
Goes patient on, grows weak and faint,
To slaughter led without complaint,
that spotless life to offer,
Bears shame and stripes and wounds and
death,
Anguish and mockery and says,
“Willing all this I suffer.”