Sermon 02-28-2010

Psalm 27:1, 7-9 & 11-14                                                                

Luke 13:31-35

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem…”

Jerusalem, Jerusalem the city that surrounded Jesus’ birth, has become the land that has rejected their prophets. We learn that very few were the miracles that Jesus preformed in Jerusalem during his three years of ministry there, where he primarily found rejection and opposition.

Ironically,  “…in Jerusalem, Jesus’ ministry ended and the church’s mission began.”

                                                                   (Nan Duerling. The Word and You, Vol.1, pg. 128)

This is the second to last scene in the life of Jesus here he laments for Jerusalem a city where soon he will come into for his last time, for his death scene, which we know ends with Resurrection.

PRAYER

What challenged Jesus in his ministry?

“Luke proclaimed that people’s needs challenged Jesus: needs of those sick in the body or mind, or the hungry and the poor, of the fearful and lost, of those whom others rejected and excluded. He met the challenge to reach out to them with healing and hope as the servants of God’s reign of justice and love and peace. But as he met such challenges, some political and religious leaders challenged and opposed him. His mercy threatened their might. His compassion broke the barriers they wanted to maintain. His truth exposed their hypocrisy. This is not something new. The same thing had happened for centuries.”                      (Idem, pg. 127-128)

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way to Jerusalem some Pharisees warned 

Jesus that he was in danger and advised him to seek safety. Surprisingly there were some Pharisees who were not mean toward Jesus, they actually admired and respected him, warning him that Herod was out to stop him. Others were plotting to get rid of him. This is Herod Antipas, king under the Romans and the son of Herod the Great, king when Jesus was born). Herod Antipas had killed John the Baptist (not too long ago). (Luke 9:9). He wanted now to kill Jesus.”                                                                                                                                                                    (Barclay, Luke, pg. 185)

“Jesus knew the risk so he responded 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’”                                               (Nan Duerling, pg.128)

Calling Herod the King a fox, was a daring answer. Jesus rejects the warning as one that will not make him change his purpose. “A fox was a symbol of the slyest of animals… the most destructive of animals… it was the symbol of a worthless and insignificant man. It takes a brave to call the king a fox… Jesus would not shorten his work by one day to please or escape any earthly king.”                        (Barclay, pg.186)

“Jesus continued to meet the challenge to heal, and the whole story would end “on the third day” (a phrase that points to Jesus’ resurrection.)”           (Nan Duerling, pg.128)

From a distance, from the west side of the Mount of Olives, it is believed that Jesus stood in front of Jerusalem. It is the perfect spot to capture the first breath –taking view of the city.”                                  (Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible. E-J, pg. 861)

There, Jesus laments for Jerusalem. He felt sorrow, and he mourned greatly as he wept of his city. He knew what was going to happen to him. “He knew what was going to happen to the city… political maneuver and the intrigue of the Jews ended

in the destruction of Jerusalem in 70A.D…  The tears of Jesus are the tears of God when he sees the needless pain and suffering in which man involve themselves through foolish rebellion against his will.”                          (Barclay. Luke, pg. 240-241)

Jerusalem, Jerusalem the city that surrounded the birth of Jesus, is now the city that waits for his coming, to accuse him, to kill him. Jesus knew, historically Jerusalem was the place where many prophets died. He knew his time was near. “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.” v.33

“Jesus’ lament over the city of Jerusalem is less a final judgment on the city and more a call to repentance. The touching metaphor by which Jesus asserts that it is God’s will to protect Jerusalem through him… that Jesus is predicting not the city’s destruction but its salvation.”                 (Leslie J. Hoppe. Feasting on the Word, Year C, vol. 2, pg. 73)

Jesus’ lament also has to do with his love, a love that he offers to the Jerusalem that was refusing him. Doesn’t this sound like a motherly lament?

“How often have I gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! (v.34). “At these words, Jesus’ original hearers could not have helped but to pick up echoes of frequent Old Testament reference to the God of Israel as the one “under whose wings you have come for refuge. With these surprising words, God appeared in a new light: Herod, these plotting Pharisees, the power players in Jerusalem, all the first who would be first, then and now – they want to see themselves as masters of the universe, as foxy- like, maneuvering slyly… (on the one hand and on the other) Jesus sees them as barnyard chicks lost in a storm, too afraid and too stubborn to find shelter under the shadow of mother hen’s wings.”     (Rodney Clapp. Feasting on the Word, Year C, vol. 2, pg. 72)

How are we like Herod? Wanting to kill Jesus!

How are we like the plotting Pharisees? Pretenders of being friendly with Jesus, and in the end betrayers like foxes.

Or, are we wanting to be embraced and secured by God’s arms, under his wings?

David the psalmist asks another question: If the Lord is my light and my salvation; of whom shall I fear?

So, David asked God: “If you are my stronghold; of whom shall I be afraid?

David needed assurance of triumph over the presence of his enemies and the trauma of false accusations. David holds on to his personal experience with God, he affirms: you are my light, you are my salvation, you are the holder of my life, my helper, keep me safe and secure.

In his lament, he asked God also to hear him: “Hear my voice. Be merciful. Answer me. Do not hide your face from me. Teach me. Lead me. Do not turn me over to my enemies.”                           (Robin Gallaher Branch. Feasting on the Word, Year C, vol. 2, pg. 56)

“The Lenten journey can be a search of the soul, offering us a good time to look deeply within ourselves in order to understand the dark realities that beset us…

If indeed we as human need to look within ourselves and confess our limitations that occasion fears – then we are affirming the faith that we have in our Creator.”

                                                                          (Samuel K. Roberts. Feasting on the Word, Year C, vol. 2, pg. 56-58)

My hope is that at the end of the day we can say:

Wait for the Lord, be strong and take heart, Wait for the Lord!

I would like to end by reading a poem by Gay Williams:

(From: “Before the Amen” by Maren Tirabassi & Maria Tirabassi)

“Lent- an invitation to reflect, to reconsider, to slow down, to discover.

Invited by Jesus to join him in the journey.

Invited to humble ourselves.

Sometimes on that dusty road I feel lonely, and am fearful.

What lies ahead? Will I be enough? 

Will I respond with joy to the blessing to be realized?

We are called forth out of the winter of ourselves

to re-imagine our relationship with God.

On Ash Wednesday we are marked – tagged as Christ’s own;

Humbled now, readied to be exalted

As we draw closer to that place called Jerusalem!”

BENEDICTION

The good news is that Jesus’ arms are still open,

wanting to gather those who are willing to come under his wings! Amen!