Five Fundamentals Of Jesus’ Relationship With Israel Series

- This passage provides a nice coda to the section that we have been working through. When taken as a whole, I think these few verses recenter us to the heart of who Jesus was and what He was doing. In particular, this passage highlights Jesus’ relationship with Israel. Of course, that is a relationship filled with contention.

- Israel’s place in the life of Jesus as well as the future of Israel as we look to the end of time are important subjects and ones that we need to understand. This passage is insightful on both counts.

FIVE FUNDAMENTALS OF JESUS' RELATIONSHIP WITH ISRAEL:

1. Jesus was opposed at every turn.

- Luke 13:31.

- There are two groups opposing Jesus as we look at v. 31.

- The first is Herod. This is Herod Antipas. This is the Herod who jailed John the Baptist and who Jesus appeared before during the trials that led to His crucifixion. After the death of Herod Antipas’ father Herod the Great his kingdom was broken into four parts. Herod Antipas was given Galilee and Perea. He is referred to as a tetrarch, which means one-quarter. He was given one-quarter of his father’s kingdom. You’ll remember that he happened to be in Jerusalem during Jesus’ trial, even though he was the ruler of Jerusalem.

- Did Herod really want to kill Jesus? We don’t know for certain because the Pharisees - as we will discuss in a moment - did not have pure motives.

- The arguments here are mixed.

- On the one hand, in favor of Herod wanting to kill Jesus:

a. It makes sense to kill anyone else claiming to be a king.

b. He was brutal in his actions toward John the Baptist.

c. Jesus in v. 32 does not call the Pharisees out as lying. Of course, calling Herod a “fox” may just be a way of dismissing him, but the lying point still holds.

- On the other hand:

a. When Jesus finally does stand before him in trial, he seems more interested in finding out more about Him than immediately killing Him.

b. As stated, the Pharisees had questionable motives. Particularly, the hope that this threat might drive Jesus out of their region.

c. If Herod was really going to kill Jesus and the Pharisees wanted Him dead, why warn Him of the threat?

- Overall, we know that Rome was in the end not sympathetic to Jesus, which is a seriously understated way to say it. Although it was the Jewish authorities who pushed for His execution, the Roman authorities were not open to a new power center rising in Palestine and disrupting their rule.

- The bottom line is that Rome was opposed to Jesus rising in power.

- The second group is the Pharisees.

- They come in v. 31 to Jesus with a warning: get out because Herod is coming after you.

- As we’ve just unpacked, this may have been a legitimate threat that Jesus was facing or they might have made it up to try to drive Him out of their region. One thing is certain, though, whatever the truthfulness of the statement, their motives were not pure. They opposed Jesus. They wanted Him taken off the stage. They wanted Him to leave their area.

- The Jewish religious leaders are, of course, the ones who will push for Jesus’ execution because He is a threat to their power.

- The bottom line here is that the Jewish religious authorities were opposed to Jesus rising in power.

- In sum, we begin with the simple fact that Jesus was opposed at every turn. He is opposed by Rome. He is opposed by the Jewish religious authorities. He finds many potential followers walking away from Him because they don't like His unorthodox message.

- Jesus faced opposition everywhere He turned.

- This is crucial to understand how it stands in opposition to the image of Jesus as someone who everyone loved. He is often thought of as a Mr. Rogers’ type of figure. Gentle, meek, lowly. But no one ever tried to crucify Mr. Rogers.

- Jesus stood for something. Jesus had a radical agenda. Jesus was trying to transform the world. Those who had a vested interest in the world as it was were not happy to see what He was doing.

- How does this apply to us today? We need to understand that Jesus is still trying to do something radical. He doesn’t want us to just float down the world’s river. He is bringing forward a Kingdom that seeks to transform the world.

- It also seeks to transform us.

- Jesus was opposed with good reason. He came to change things.

- If we’re not interested in being a part of that transformation, we should rethink our allegiance to Him.