The Yearning, Wooing, Longing Pleading Heart Of God

2nd Sunday in Lent

Luke 13:31-35

"The Yearning, Wooing, Longing Pleading Heart of God"

31* At that very hour some Pharisees came, and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.”

32* And he said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course.

33* Nevertheless I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following; for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.’

34* O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!

35* Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’”RSV

Grace and peace to your form our Lord and Saviour, Jesus who is the Christ. Amen

A small child, not even old enough for school, went into one of those mirrored mazes at an amusement park. When her father discovered that she had slipped away he saw her trying to find her way out and beginning to cry in fear. She became increasingly con. fused by all the paths, until she heard her daddy call out, "Don’t cry, honey. Put your hands out and reach all around. You’ll find the door. Just fol. low my voice." As he spoke the little girl became calm and soon found her way out and ran to the security of her father’s outstretched arms.

God’s voice is calling us from the confusion of the maze of life. He is waiting for us to reach hos out stretched arms. god is calling us through Jesus to him. We are hearing as God calls to us through his yearning, wooing, longing, pleading heart.

God yearns for us,. He years for the time when we will be with him again. He yearns for the time when the relationship between him and his creation will be perfect as it once was. God yearns for the time when all will be right between him and his creation.

As Jesus laments for Jerusalem in our gospel lesson as He says: O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you!

Jesus is expressing in our gospel lesson this morning that yearning of God. Can you imagine the ache, the hurt in god’s hears as he years for what he has made to be in good relationship again with him.

Jesus says further: How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!

Jesus is lamenting that God has tried to bring the creation back to Him. God has tried to bring the fallen creation back to him, from Noah to Jesus. God has tried in all kinds of manner to make the relationship between him and his people right.

God tired through Noah and the flood. He tried through Moses and the prophets. God tried through the Judges. God has tried in all kinds of manner to make the relationship between him and his people right.

God has tired to woo, to win back, to persuade his people to come back to him. Through the history of the Old Testament, God worked with the people of Israel trying to win them back. But at last, it was to no avail as Jesus says in our text: and you would not!

So God decided he would send Jesus to reconcile, the bring human kind back to God. What human kind would not do for itself, God did for them. That is the great news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. god decided that man could not be won back, so God decided in Jesus, to give man the girt of salvation. God decided that man would surely accept a free gift. A gift he did not have to earn, to work for, man only had to accept this gift by faith.

God’s heart longed for his people. He longed for them to trust, to believe in Him. But they would not. so God decided if he came among his people, if he walked with his people, if he told them as one of them of the great love he had for them. Maybe they would listen, maybe they would understand how he longed for have a right relationship with his people. So God became flesh and tented among his people. He lived among his people. He walked with them, he hurt with them, he taught them and pleaded with them.

God is like the ruler in the following: