March 11, 2001 Luke 13:31-35
At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, “Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.” 32 He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’ 33 In any case, I must keep going today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem! 34 “O 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, but you were not willing! 35 Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
King Solomon is said to have been one of the wisest men to ever have lived. But even he admitted in Proverbs 30: “There are three things that are too amazing for me,
four that I do not understand:
19 the way of an eagle in the sky,
the way of a snake on a rock,
the way of a ship on the high seas,
and the way of a man with a maiden.
Wouldn’t it be nice if those were the only mysteries of the universe? But they aren’t. There are many things we don’t understand - that we can only hope to get a grasp on in life.
One of those areas of things that are hard to understand is the will of God - which is revealed in today’s text. At one point - Jesus tells the Herod, “I’m going to do what I WANT to do, and you can’t stop me.” But then, Jesus mourns over the fact that Jerusalem is not coming to Him like He WANTS.” It naturally makes us ask, why can Jesus do what he wants, yet not do what he wants?
What is Up With the Will of God?
I. It is not absolute over the will of man
As Jesus was going through the region of Perea, He says, “O 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, but you were not willing! He compares Jerusalem to his reckless and foolish chicks who do not want to gather under his wings. You can sense the anguish in Jesus’ voice over the situation. What does this tell us about the will of God? It is not absolute. It cannot be imposed upon someone who absolutely does not WANT it.
This is hard for us to comprehend -especially when it comes to conversion. If God wants us to be saved, why doesn’t he just make us believe? If God could create the world in six days - if he could walk on water - if he could raise the dead - if he can convert people dead in sin - if he can HARDEN people’s hearts, in other words - if God is ALMIGHTY, and He wants ALL MEN to be saved, then we naturally ask, “then why doesn’t God force the world come to faith?” Yet what does Jesus do in today’s text? Instead of forcing their conversion, he cries over Jerusalem’s unwillingness.
We have a hard time understanding this, because we are naturally born with a sinful work righteous law driven attitude - thinking that the only thing that will change people is a swift kick or a threat. Husbands think that abuse will work to MAKE their wives will obey them or their children listen to them. Wives think that complaining will FORCE their husbands to spend time with them. But how does this use of FORCE really work? Think of it through modern day illustrations. When my mom was young, she liked a young boy. She didn’t know how to get his attention, so one day after school she ran after him and tackled him. But as she looked down on her hapless victim, instead of having googly eyes, he had eyes of terror. Her power only served to scare her young suitee into distress. The Beatles sang a similar theme with the song, “Can’t buy me love.” It doesn’t matter how much power or money you have - you can’t force someone into loving you. In the movie Aladdin, the one thing Genie couldn’t do was make someone love someone else. When the Catholic Church tried to FORCE conversions during the Middle Ages, it only put an eternal scar on their church. So why should we be surprised that God doesn’t force LOVE with POWER?
God doesn’t work that way. He may use threats and punishments to get our attention. But ultimately, He limits his power when it comes to conversion. Instead of using THREATS to MAKE us love Him - he uses the gentle call of the Gospel through the PROMISE of eternal life through the blood of Christ. Even when God makes it clear that HE is the one who converts us and it takes the power of the Holy Spirit, it’s not as if He gets us in a spiritual headlock and forces us to love Him. Instead, Jesus calls out, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28) Through the gentle waters of baptism he pours His love in our hearts and opens us up to Him. By showing us that He is a forgiving and Loving God - he convinces us that He is a God of love and compassion. He says to us, “I already died for your sins! I still love you! Come back! Come back!” It’s these gentle promises that the Holy Spirit works through to change our spirit. He changes us from being people who are suspicious and hateful toward God to realize that God is a God of love and compassion - someone that we want to be close to and stay united to. That’s how God works. Jesus didn’t force the Israelites to come to Him. He limits His will when it comes to conversion.
II. It is independent of the will of man
Nonetheless, when you see Jesus mourn or lament over Jerusalem - what’s the impression you might get of him? That he isn’t so powerful - that things are out of control. In today’s society - if a man cries or admits a weakness - has a lack of control - he’s thought of as weak. But Jesus puts on His spiritual shoulder pads and chases any thought of that out with his reaction to the Pharisees. At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, “Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.” But how did Jesus reply? “Go tell that fox, ‘I will drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’ 33 In any case, I must keep going today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem! Jesus was totally unfazed by the Pharisees warning.
Why did Jesus not fear Herod? First of all, the Pharisees were probably the ones who goaded Herod to want to kill Jesus. They probably told Jesus this because THEY didn’t want Jesus to stay in the region after converting many and healing many. Second of all, Jesus said, “go tell that sneak, I’ve got more people to heal - today, tomorrow, and the third day.” This was a common figure of speech back then - and what Jesus was telling them was, “listen, I don’t care what Herod wants to do. I work by my own time table and I determine where I go and what I do. And besides, no prophet can die outside Jerusalem.” Jesus knew what He wanted to do and what His destiny was - to die in Jerusalem - where most prophets were normally put to death. As God - if He wanted to go to Jerusalem and die there - He could and He would. Instead of being intimidated, Jesus remained determined to do what he wanted to do.
When we see such determination in someone, we often associate it with being hard headed, arrogant, or selfish. When we act with such confidence and do what WE want to do - no matter what anyone else says or what the dangers are - it is often a sign of arrogance or selfishness. But sometimes when we see such determination in someone - we admire it. When we see someone stick to his guns in the face of adversity, sometimes we call it bravery.
With God, we call this an attribute of His absolute independence. In other words - God will do what He WANTS to do - no matter what you THINK about it - because He is always RIGHT. He can’t be intimidated or sweet talked into making a decision that is wrong. Psalm 2 puts it this way -
Why do the nations conspire
and the peoples plot in vain?
2 The kings of the earth take their stand
and the rulers gather together
against the LORD
and against his Anointed One.
3 “Let us break their chains,” they say,
“and throw off their fetters.”
4 The One enthroned in heaven laughs;
the Lord scoffs at them.
5 Then he rebukes them in his anger
and terrifies them in his wrath
This is another aspect of God that people often don’t like. I suppose the Pharisees went away, rather miffed, saying, “well, that’s the last time we try to help HIM!” And that’s the way many people today react. They get rather miffed when God doesn’t see it THEIR way. No matter how much they pray for something - when their prayers don’t get answered the way THEY want - they get angry with God. When God tells them they are doing something that is SINFUL - they call him an unfair and unjust God. They threaten Him that they’ll run away! Or they throw their hands in the air and say, “God will do what He’s going to do - so what does it matter?” Many people become angry with God because He IS in control.
Isn’t it sad then that we fall into the same sins. It’s kind of ironic. We question God when He doesn’t use his power. But then we become angry with God when He does exercise His will over us and not give us what we WANT or DESIRE. We complain when He tells us to do something that we don’t THINK is right. If God doesn’t fit into our brains we tell him to get out.
III. The will of God is all that matters
The truth of the matter is - no matter how much we complain - God will end up doing what God WANTS to do. Like it or not - God is in control. And Jesus made this plain to the Pharisees and his disciples around him as He said, on the third day I will reach my goal.’ And then Jesus went on to say, Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” Jesus was saying, “my will will be done. I am going to Jerusalem. Since Jerusalem doesn’t like it - their house is now desolate. Since they didn’t want to go with my plan - they are left out in the spiritual cold. As a matter of fact - they won’t see me as Messiah again until Palm Sunday and again on Judgment Day. Those are the facts.”
This is what we need to realize - the way it works with God. He is a fair God. He doesn’t twist the rules. It’s either His way or the highway. If you want to live apart from God - then God says, “so be it. Live apart from me forever - in hell.” If your will is in conflict with His - God’s will will be done.
Some might look at this like a cold thing. But look at how comforting it is - for what was the will of God? Ezekiel 33:10 makes it clear when God says - I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Look at today’s example! In spite of the fact that Jerusalem had rejected Him time and time again - God continued to hold His arms open to them. Jesus continued to want them back! And even though they continued to hate God - instead of walking away from His mission - Jesus DID do something about it. He Jesus resolutely went on to Jerusalem - why? To DIE for the sins of the very people that hated Him. No matter how much they HATED Jesus - Jesus showed them His love by dieing for them. Jesus once said, “greater love has no man than this - that he lay down his life for his friends.” But Jesus did have a greater love than this. He decided to lay down his life for his enemies - even though they didn’t want Him as their Messiah.
Isn’t this the greatest thing about the will of God? God wants all men to be saved - and His love is INDEPENDENT of our actions. His love and His mission to save the world doesn’t depend on how we act or how we react to His decisions. Even though we continually complain to God and try to buck against His will - He still says, “I love you!” No matter how many times we run away from God - God is always willing to take us back. God always wants to call us back - just as Jesus said with Jerusalem. This all because Jesus stayed on His mission - and went to that cross to take God’s punishment on His shoulders. Now our forgiveness is an accomplished fact. 2,000 years ago - Jesus died for us. God forgave us. That never changes. God always loves us and always forgives. Not even the rejection of the Jews and their crucifixion changed Jesus compassion for their souls. That’s why we can say with Paul - For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
One of the four things Solomon couldn’t figure out was way of a man with a maiden. Whereas a man may be regularly hard nosed and unloving, when he meets a woman he likes, she can turn a man of stone into a little softie. Think of Samson - whereas he could overpower any Philistine man, a woman brought him to his knees. It’s hard to understand the way of a man with a maiden.
But the most impossible thing for us to figure out is the way of God with man. Why would God even WANT to love and save us - sinful - weak - rebellious - human beings? We may never understand the will of God. But that’s ok. Even though our minds can’t comprehend the will of God - we at least know and believe what in God’s will is for us in Christ - to be with Him in heaven. Amen.
