NOT AFRAID NOR DISMAYED
Text: Luke 13:31-35
Luke 13:31-35 At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, "Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you." (32) He said to them, "Go and tell that fox for me, 'Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. (33) Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.' (34) Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! (35) See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, 'Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.'"
Just recently, I read a fascinating story. “There was a minister, a seminary student who had an assignment to visit those in the nursing home and the shut-ins. He got to know one of the residents in the nursing home. He might have been old and somewhat feeble but mentally, he was sharp. After numerous conversations and visits this 23 year old seminarian asked this wise old man in his nineties a question. “What is it like to be old?” The man thought for a minute and responded, “I now view everything in life from the point of view of my death.” To that W. Maynard Pittendreigh, Jr. (the seminarian) said, ”without thinking”, “How sad.” “Not at all” said the old man. “We are all dying, but for most people death is a secret. People hide it from themselves. But I know the secret. I know I’m going to die. And that helps me treasure life, and enjoy it. Even here in a nursing home.” ” (As quoted and paraphrased from Reverend Dr. W. Maynard Pittendreigh, Jr. Pastor of Sunrise Presbyterian Church in Miami Florida [Address: 18400 NW 68th Ave., Miami, Fla. 33015]. Sermon: “Laughing At The Shadow Of Death.” Text: Luke 13:31-35. August 1, 1999). Jesus looked at all He did through the lens of His hour of suffering to come---His death and resurrection. In spite of the opposition of the Pharisees, Jesus never wavered from His mission---to seek and save the lost.
THE OPPOSITION OF THE PHARISEES
The Pharisees issued a death threat to Jesus that had seemingly come from Herod. The Pharisees were known for their religion. Jesus said that unless one’s righteousness surpassed that of the Pharisees that he/she would not be able to enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:20 paraphrased). The religion of the Pharisees was ….
1.… based on rules and regulations and not a relationship with God.
2.… almost idolatrous an legalistic; they burdened others with their failure to keep law (Matthew 23: 4, Luke 11:46).
3.… blind leaders (Matthew 15:14, 23:16, 17,24,26).
One size does not fit all! Not all of the Pharisees were bad people. Nicodemus, Joseph of Aramithea, and the apostle Paul were all Pharisees. It is these three Pharisees prove that not all the Pharisees were alike.
Oskar Schindler had a what someone has called a “comfortable relationship” with the Nazis. He did some of the same things that the Nazis had done “drinking, gambling, womanizing”. In 1930, Schindler had bought an enamelware factory that went bankrupt and converted it to a munitions factory. He employed 1,200 Polish Jews which saved them from the Nazi death camps. In 1993 filmmaker Stephen Spielberg made a movie about Schindler. It was called Schindler’s list. Although we would not condone his immoral behavior, we certainly applaud the way that he saved 1,200 Jews from almost certain death. Even though he associated with the Nazis, it would seem beyond the shadow of a doubt that he did not agree with their hatred of the Jewish people (anti-Semitism). In a similar way even though Nicodemus and Joseph of Aramathea were Pharisees, they did not necessarily agree with the anti-Jesus sentiments of their peers. In fact, history tells us that it was Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus who saw that Jesus got a decent burial. One size does not fit all!
RESPONDING TO THE DEATH THREAT
Jesus was not afraid of death. He was working on God’s time table. He was still busy about His heavenly Father’s business (Luke 2:49). When news of Herod’s death threat got to Jesus, Jesus was not about to quit doing what God had sent Him to do because His work was not yet finished (John 19:30).
Jesus called Herod a fox. Consider what a fox does to chickens. It preys on them. It just so happens that in this passage of scripture Jesus calls Herod a fox and those that Jesus came to gather whether willing or unwilling were vulnerable chicks (Luke 13:34).
To some degree it was Herod that was afraid of Jesus. Fear can be paralyzing. I read a story about a Japanese soldier, Shohoiya Yokowai, who was on the island of Guam during WWII. He fled when the American forces landed. In fact, he took refuge in a cave for the next twenty-eight years. He had learned about the war’s end by pamphlets that had been dropped in the jungle. But, fear had imprisoned and dominated him. He would only come out at night to look for roaches, rats, frogs and mangoes to eat. Finally, one day, some native found him and convinced him to come back to civilization (A sermon illustration that is quoted from Melvin Newland via sermoncentral.com sermon submission). Jesus knew that Herod would have a hand in His crucifixion (Luke 23:8-12), but until it was time, He was not going to quit healing, exercising demons, forgiving and saving men’s souls for eternity.
RESPONDING TO UNREQUITED LOVE
Jesus was risking His life, out of love, for many who could have cared less. When the Polish Jews thought about Oskar Schindler’s efforts to save them from the Nazi death camps of WWII, they were grateful as well as curious as to why he even risked his life to save them. Unlike the Polish Jews of Schindler’s roll, a good many of the Jews of the days of Jesus’ earthly ministry could have cared less. They were either blind or indifferent or both. Nevertheless, Jesus was unwavering in His efforts to save them.
Jesus wanted to gather His own people, as a hen gather her chicks. A hen will not turn her back on her chicks. No matter how great the danger, a hen never abandons her young . A hen will lay down her life for her chicks in much the same way that the Good Shepherd laid down His life for His sheep (John 10:11). A hen will stand between the element of danger whether it is fire, a snake or even a fox.
An Indian Christian, (Sadhu Sundar Singh) once observed a bird protecting its young in a fire. The nest had caught on fire. He thought that the mother bird would abandon her nest and leave her young to their own fateful death. Instead, what he saw was a bird who spread her wings over her young and perished with them. (C. F. Andrews, Sadhu Sundar Sigh: A Personal Memoir. London: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd. 1934, pp. 144 –145). Jesus came to serve, protect, save and liberate!
God sometimes uses object lessons to teach us what we are too stubborn to learn. “A minister was boarding at a certain farmhouse. The farmer was not a Christian, but his wife had been praying for him for some time, and the minister was awaiting his opportunity to make plain to him the meaning of the sacrifice of Calvary. Early one morning the farmer beckoned to the minister to follow him out to the chicken house. There on one of the nests sat a hen with a brood of chickens peeping out from under her wings. "Touch her, Mr.—," the farmer said. As the minister put his hand on the hen he found that she was cold. "Look at that wound in her head," the farmer continued. "A weasel has sucked all the blood from her body, and she never once moved for fear the little beast would get her chickens." "Oh," said he, "that was just like Christ. He endured all that suffering on the Cross. He could have moved and saved His own life, but He wouldn't, because you and I were under His wings. If He had moved, we would have been lost." The farmer saw the point, and accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour.” (Theodore Engstrom. 227 Heart Reaching Illustrations. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1949, p. 39). Have we ever had the stubbornness of this farmer? Do you know someone who shares this farmer’s stubbornness?
Imagine that you have come to rescue someone, only to hear that they could care less. Have you ever been a rejected rescuer? How did it make you feel? Imagine what God must feel like when people reject His invitation to salvation through Jesus Christ! Let me share with you a story that seems to reflect a glimpse of what God must feel like when He gets rejected. I once had a cat who had a litter of kittens. One of those kittens was weak. In fact, he was getting cooler by the minute. So I called the vet, just before his lunch break was over. He told me to meet him at the office. So I did. To keep my kitten's body-heat up, I wrapped him in a t-shirt and then place a heating pad over him to warm him up a little bit before making the ten mile trip. The vet gave him a shot, and he perked up for a little while. That was a twenty dollar shot. Two miles down the road that kitten died. I felt somewhat rejected. I then imagined how God must sometimes feel when He has sent His son who paid the price for our sins when there are people who die having rejected God's love through the price that Jesus paid for our sins on the cross.
Jesus never quit—He came to conquer sin, deliver the all of the sinners and save all of the lost who are willing to receive His gift of grace. Consider John 17:12, Jesus said, “While I was with them, I kept them safe by the power of your name, the name you gave me. I protected them and not one of them was lost, except for the man who was bound to be lost [Judas] ---so that the scripture might come true” (GNB). Jesus could not save those who refused God’s grace, because they simply were not willing to be gathered into Jesus’ care as a hen gathers and guards her chicks. If you have been rejecting God's love, consider the cost. Consider the cost of our redemption. Consider the cost of rejecting Jesus. Consider if you have been rejecting Jesus and if this were your last chance to do something about it.
In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
