Stay on Track
Text: Luke 13:31-35
Title: Stay on Track
One of my greatest dangers is getting off track. Someone may have asked me to do something for them and in the process another person has a request and now I am trying to do two things. Then something happens in my family that requires my total attention and, boom, there goes the first two items. Now depending the quality of my memory for that day, I may remember that I have those other things to do. Getting off track is easy to do and it may happen for the best of reasons, but we still get off the track. We do it all the time. In our actions and even in our conversation. Teaching a class is a good example of trying to keep things on track. A word , or an idea is brought up in the conversation, or even in a sermon, and the mind takes that track. We call this chasing rabbits when a person’s mind wanders during the sermon. But God has a track that he wants us to be on and Jesus had a very specific track laid out for him.
Today’s scripture is very appropriate for Lent that it is about Jesus heading for Jerusalem and the cross, we are heading for Good Friday. The journey narrative is a favorite of Luke’s. It starts in Luke 9:51 where we read that “Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem.” In Acts, Luke also uses the journey format for characterizing Christians as he calls them pilgrims and those of “the Way.”
We find Jesus headed toward Jerusalem. Jerusalem is also dominate in Luke’ gospel. Of the 139 time that Jerusalem is mentioned in the New Testament, 90 of them are by Luke. Luke’s gospel begins in Jerusalem with the birth of John the Baptist and it also ends in Jerusalem with the disciples returning after the ascension of Jesus to wait for the Holy Spirit. It is no wonder that Jerusalem plays such a part in Jesus’ journey.
Pharisees
We open the text with Jesus being approached by Pharisees warning him about Herod wanting to kill him. It begs the question are these Pharisees sincere about the warning? Do they care about Christ, or are they part of a plan by Herod? There was no love lost between Herod and the Pharisees. Herod was not loved by the Jews as he was a foreigner who became ruler by his cunning and ruthlessness. He was certainly capable of murder as he had John the Baptist beheaded, and what a negative scandal that was. You think Tiger Woods has his image problems. Here was another wild prophet that would cause him problems. If he could just get Jesus out of his region quickly he would be rid of him. Herod later would meet Jesus again on Good Friday and again he would avoid dealing with Jesus when Pilot sent Jesus to him. We do not know the pharisees true motivation. Perhaps this was a genuine effort by the Pharisees to save a Jewish boy from being another victim of the evil ruler.
The last time a Herod threatened Jesus’ life, when he was a child in Bethlehem, the family took flight to Egypt. It was not his time. But now as man Jesus feared nothing except getting off the track laid down by the Father. Jesus is not intimidated by Herod and does not let him deter him in his ministry. Even though death was near for Jesus, there was a plan for it and it did not include Herod. Herod’s rule was outside of Jerusalem and Jesus knew that Jerusalem was where he was to die. He would do what he came to do. Where his path, his journey had been laid out for him and he would continue to do what he did, where he did it, even in Herod’s land. Death in some obscure village would mean nothing, but death in Jerusalem is a judgement on the whole nation.
Jesus didn’t die some martyr’s death over which He had no control. They didn’t execute Him; He willingly laid His life down. He makes that clear by what He said in John 10:17-18:
“The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life–only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.”
I have always been fascinated by that phrase from Revelation 13:8 which says Jesus was the Lamb of God who was “slain from the foundation of the earth.” The cross was not an afterthought of God. It was not “Plan B,” because Adam and Eve sinned. It was not the contingency plan–it was always God’s plan.
Of course the Pharisees and Herod weren’t the first to try to get Jesus off track. Last week we heard how Satan tempted Jesus early in his ministry. Satan wanted Jesus to think that this was the “easy” way out. Thankfully Jesus blew Satan off as he did Herod and the Pharisees. Nothing, not even Satan was going to stop his march to Jerusalem where he would die for the sins of the world.
Jerusalem
Jesus knew that it was Jerusalem where he would die. As he pondered Jerusalem, it made him sad. Jerusalem. The name means “city of peace.” What a joke. This city with so much blood on its hands was the known for killing those that brought the word of God. This place that was to be a special place for who sought God, had become a place of abuse of power. Jerusalem was symbolic of the whole nation of Israel. There is the center of worship, the Temple. There sits the most authoritative council, the Sanhedrin. It like having the Vatican and Washington DC wrapped in one city. And now, in an ironic way, Jerusalem would put God’s own Son to death but in doing so would literally become a city of peace because Jesus’ death paid for our sins and gives us peace with God.
The house that most represented Jerusalem was the Temple, symbol of God’s presence. This house will be made desolate. Residents of Jerusalem proudly called themselves “the house of David.” Jesus was saying their family background as well as their beautiful Temple would become desolate. And about 40 years later, the Roman General Titus totally destroyed Jerusalem and tore down the Temple–all because they rejected God’s offer of love. And the proud nation of Israel passed out of existence until just 62 years ago. And the Temple Mount is still desolate for the Jews.
The Rejected Lover
A few weeks ago I told you that Jesus was the greatest lover. He was also a rejected lover. Even though you love greatly does not mean that your love will be returned. God certainly understands what it means to be rejected. No people on earth has God reached out to more than his chosen people the Jews, yet they turned their back on him. It is like the parable of the king who sent servants to collect the rent and they killed his servants. Finally he sent his son thinking they would respect him only to have him killed by these renters.
Jesus lamented as he cried out.
“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.”
After a forest fire swept through Yellowstone National Park a few years ago a park ranger went out to survey the damage. As he walked through the woods he came across the charred carcass of a bird huddled at the base of a tree. It didn’t make sense. Why didn’t this bird fly away to freedom when the fire threatened? When he nudged the carcass with his boot three chicks came scurrying out from underneath it. Now it made sense. The hen had not flown away because that would have meant certain death for her chicks. Therefore in an act of love she stood over her chicks shielding them from the fire with her wings even though it meant a horrible death for her. And in Jesus case he died for those that were rejecting him. But Jesus stayed on track, even in this rejection.
Jesus is Our Way
The path for Jesus went to one place , the cross. And although we are walking with Jesus toward the cross this lent, our way is not the cross, but Jesus is our way. The cross should have been our way, it is what we deserved but he walked instead. The way is not just to be understood, or a path that we can feel under our feet, but to be know personally. It is a relationship with Jesus Christ.
In John 14 Jesus said,
“You know the way that I am going’ Thomas said “We don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one come to the Father except through me.”
Our way is through the cross. God has a plan for us just as he had for Jesus.
The most amazing thing Jesus said in this passage is that you have the power to choose. Those last four words in verse 34 are also some of the most powerful words in the universe. He says to us, “I will love you and shelter you like a mother hen protects her chicks if you are willing.” You have the power to choose. When you choose to change the direction of your life that’s called repentance. Have you ever repented and accepted Jesus’ love?
Today Jesus invites you to run under His wings of safety and warmth. Some of you are Christians who left the circle of His love. He never stopped loving you, but you have vacated that zone of blessing. Will you move back to a position of obedience so He can bless you? Others of you need to accept His love for the first time. Will you do that? Because if you choose not to receive His offer of love, for you He is still Jesus, the rejected lover.
Benediction
And may God be your saving light and fortress;
May Christ Jesus gather you into the safe wings of mercy;
And may the Holy Spirit make you citizens of heaven.
........In the name of Christ. Amen.
