Continue Luke 13:31-35
1. Jesus was traveling toward Jerusalem when confronted by Pharisees
• Pharisees said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you!” (Luke 13:31).
• Pharisees wanting to help Jesus or what is going on? It’s hard to tell
2. It’s time for Panic Mode “Get away from here” — now! “Herod wants to kill you” — today!
• We would run, for our lives. But Jesus is more concerned about the future
• . “Go and tell that fox for me,” he says, “‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work’” (v. 32). Today Tomorrow and the next day I am
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3. No Matter what Today, tomorrow and the next day “I will continue the Journey”
I will continue, casting out demons and perform cures; and in three days, I will reach the goal.
• He even says, “I must Press On” ,” he says to the Pharisees, “because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem” (v. 33). Jerusalem is the place most of the prophets would die it’s a city with a history of violence toward prophets: Uriah and Zechariah were killed there, and maybe even Isaiah. Jesus knew that he would die in Jerusalem, just as his follower Stephen would be stoned there.\
• I will continue the journey even though: I must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised” (Luke 9:22).
4. Jesus continues despite Jerusalem (Miracles performed yet people doubted)
• Hear Jesus’s passionate expression of sorrow. “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets. “How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings,
• Jesus knew that he would be killed in Jerusalem, by the people of Jerusalem even though they would do horrible things to him yet he showed them motherly love and protection, like a hen would shelter her chicks.
5. We need to continue with focus crucifixion and resurrection, just as Jesus did.
• We keep crucifixion in our future by remembering that Jesus said, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13). Keeping the cross in front of us means that we focus on service to our neighbors, following a Lord who said that he “came not to be served but to serve” (Matthew 20:28). Today Tomorrow and the nest Day “Follow Me”
6. In conclusion, Jesus says continue “Follow Me” and keep a thought and hope on the resurrection
• Continue Today feed the hungry, house the homeless, heal the sick, visit prisoners, and welcome strangers (Matthew 25:35-36).
• Continue living resurrection type life. This means becoming people who can forgive others because we have been forgiven by God … who can welcome strangers because we have been welcomed by Christ … who can act boldly because we have been filled with the power of the Spirit of God.
• With a focus on resurrection, we know that nothing in all creation, not even death itself, “will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39).
• But a focus on the day of resurrection means the following: Continue new possibilities. Continue to forgive, Continue to welcome, continue to share the grace, love, healing and hope of Jesus Christ.
