Lent 3
– 28 February 2016 – Year C
Grace
to you and peace from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen
The
text for this meditation is written in the 13th Chapter of the
Gospel according to St Luke: Verses 31 – 35:
31 At that
very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod
wants to kill you.” 32 And he said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and
perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course. 33 Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and
the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from
Jerusalem.’ 34 O
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are
sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen
gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! 35 Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will
not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the
Lord!’ ”
There comes a
time in each of the Gospel accounts when Jesus makes a transition in His
ministry. The beginning of His ministry
is about getting the word out. We see
Him preaching, teaching, and healing.
Then, as the time of His death draws near, He focuses more and more on
what He must do in Jerusalem to save us from our sin. The Holy Spirit inspired Luke to describe
this with these words: [Luke 9:51] When the days drew near for
him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.
Throughout our
Lenten Meditations we have talked about how Jesus knew from the beginning of
His ministry that His path led to Jerusalem.
We also discussed the devil’s effort to tempt Jesus away from that
path. In today’s Gospel, some Pharisees
come to Jesus and warn Him that Herod wants to kill Him. Is it possible that the devil used these
Pharisees to tempt Jesus away from His path to the cross in Jerusalem?
It is
difficult to determine the motives of these Pharisees. They seem to have good intentions toward
Jesus. Is it possible that these
Pharisees have a genuine desire to help Jesus, or is it possible that these
Pharisees simply want Jesus to avoid their territory and they are using the
Herod story as a convenient excuse to hurry Jesus on His way? It is difficult to say.
What we do
know is that whether the Pharisees had good or bad intentions, they were urging
Jesus to abandon His mission to Jerusalem.
Whether their intentions were good or ill, they were agents of
temptation – temptation to abandon the way that led to the cross.
The response
that Jesus made to these Pharisees made it clear that He was on a
schedule. He had an appointment with the
cross. He would be on time for that
appointment. Jesus would take time out
from His travels to preach and teach, but at the end of each day, He would be a
little bit closer to Jerusalem – a little bit closer to the cross.
Jesus knew
that Herod would not kill Him. Jesus
knew because of His office as prophet.
It was not that, as a prophet, He knew the method and time of his death. Rather, it was because Jerusalem is the place
that killed prophets.
How ironic
that Jerusalem means “city of peace,” for the history of Jerusalem has been
anything but peaceful. Jesus expressed
His great sorrow over the rebellious nature of His own people: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that
kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have
gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and
you would not!” Over and over and
over again, the Son of God had sent His messengers to Jerusalem only to have
them die at the hands of the very people they were trying to save. This is the great burden of the servant of
God.
The Old
Testament gives a primary example of this violence to the prophets in the
ministry of Jeremiah. Notice that the
people were not interested in the truth of Jeremiah’s words. They condemned Jeremiah because they didn’t
like the message he brought from God.
The people refused to believe that Jeremiah’s message was from God, not
because it wasn’t true, but because it was something that they did not want to
hear.
Nothing has
changed over the centuries. If I were to
ask any one of you about the value of the forgiveness of sins, no doubt all
Christians would readily admit that it is beyond price. It is worth infinitely more than a million, a
billion, a trillion, or any amount of wealth this world could ever
produce. It is worth the life and death
of God’s only begotten Son. Friends we
say that, but I ask the hard question; are we really sure we believe it?
The Holy
Spirit inspired Paul to write these words to the congregations in Rome: [Romans 3:24‑25]
[All] are justified by [God’s] grace as a gift, through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be
received by faith. Then a little on
in the same letter Paul wrote: [Romans 10:17] Faith comes from
hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. Paul is saying that we receive justification
by faith and that faith comes by hearing the word of Christ.
These should
be words that stir us up, these are words that should have us enthusiastic to
hear and learn more of that Word of Christ.
If we are serious about building our Faith in God’s plan for our
salvation, we should be seeking more opportunities to gather together around
the word of Christ.
Friends, my
experience is that some people will actually get insulted and angry when
encouraged to put in a little extra time to feed their souls with the Word of
Christ. Think about it. Forgiveness is beyond price. We receive it by faith. The Holy Spirit has promised to work faith by
hearing the Word of Christ – and yet - the greatest insult and inconvenience
that can be offered to some people is to encourage them to join others over the
very Word of Christ that will strengthen their faith. I ask the question - How can this be?
Brothers and
sisters in Christ, It is in our own natural, sinful nature to reject God. We inherited that nature from our ancestors
all the way back to Adam and Eve who sinned and lost their innocence. We are all born as enemies of God with hatred
for His gifts. That is the reason the
people of ancient Jerusalem killed the prophets and stoned those whom God sent
to them. That is also the reason we find
it hard to get to church on Sunday 8:00am when we can get to work or school
much earlier during the rest of the week.
That is the reason we sometimes stay home to get a little work done
around the house. That is the reason we
treat the priceless treasures of God like worthless pieces of junk.
Fortunately,
God loved us even while we hated Him.
Jesus is God’s Son sent to rescue us.
The events of today’s Gospel happened while Jesus was on His way to
complete that rescue. He was taking His
farewell tour of Israel before He went to Jerusalem to offer Himself up as a
sacrifice for us. That is the reason He
said, “It cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.” That is also the reason He had no fear of
Herod. He knew that His death would take
place in Jerusalem, not in Galilee.
After He
arrived in Jerusalem, His journey would continue. At the end of that journey, He would carry a
cross to Calvary. He would also carry
our sins. Jerusalem is the place He
would complete His journey. It is the
place where He would proclaim, “It is finished,” as He finished His mission to
pay the penalty for our sins.
Jerusalem is
also the location of an empty tomb. It
is the place where His friends laid Jesus’ body after He died on the
cross. It is also the place that the
angels proclaimed, [Luke 24:5-6] “Why do you seek the living
among the dead? He is not here, but has
risen.” For Jesus did not remain in
the grave, but rose to live again.
Jerusalem is the place of the resurrection from the dead that promises
us eternal life.
How often do
Christian ‘outreach programs’ fall flat and we are filled with frustration. You know, it is so easy to be discouraged
with the low attendance at Divine Service, the lack of interest in Bible Class,
the lack of respect for the Sacraments, and a general apathy toward God’s
Word. There are times that we want to
scream out, “Don’t you people understand the priceless nature of God’s
gifts? Don’t you understand that God
wants to gather us together under His protection?”
When we have
these feelings we can remember that we
people don’t make Christians; the Holy
Spirit does that. Instead, God asks
His church to remain faithful to His Word, proclaim the forgiveness of sins,
administer the sacraments according to His command, and teach all the
things that Jesus has taught us. We can
rejoice that God has blessed us with all these gifts and rely on Him to sustain
His Holy Christian Church until the end.
That is certainly worth more than all the treasures of this earth. Amen
The love and
grace of our great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your
hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen
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