The Lord Stays the Course 2 Lent C Luke 13:31-35

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

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.” (Luke 13:31–32 ESV)    

Pray: Love caused Your incarnation; Love brought you down to me. Your thirst for my salvation Procured my liberty. Oh, love beyond all telling, That led you to embrace In love, all love excelling, Our lost and fallen race. (O Lord, How shall I Meet You? LSB 334)

Dear Fellow Pilgrims on the Way to the Paschal Feast,

Although last Sunday was the first Sunday in Lent, it gave us no real indication of what lies ahead for Jesus, that is, what Lent is really all about –the suffering and death of our Savior.  Even though in last week’s Gospel reading we heard how Jesus, during a time of great personal weakness, was confronted by the devil in the wilderness, there was no indication that Jesus’ life was in mortal danger.  Certainly the devil meant him great harm, and yes, would have killed him given the chance, but Jesus’ walked away alive.

This morning it’s somewhat different.  Here we hear of someone actually wanting to kill Jesus’ life.  It is Herod, who Jesus characterizes as a fox.  And it is a group of Pharisees who come and tell Jesus to get out of that region because Herod seeks his life.  At last, now we are getting some indication that Lent is about Jesus’ death.

But once again, Jesus will not be distracted.  He stays the course.  He is in this until he can say the words, “it is finished.” 

What great comfort and encouragement we find here when we hear that Jesus was determined to fulfill all that was necessary to complete the work of our salvation.  What assurance this gives to each of us here today, that our sins are forgiven.

And not only does Jesus go willingly; he goes knowingly.  He is fully aware of what must be done.  He has known it from the foundation of the world.  It is our salvation that Jesus heard even in the bosom of the Father –from all eternity.  And soon He will return there, from whence he came into our world.

In the Nicene Creed we confess,

“Who for us men, and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate of the virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried.”

Jesus knows both Herod and the Pharisees too well, and he won’t be distracted from his mission just because they bring word that Herod is breathing threats.  As a matter of fact neither devil, nor Herod, nor anyone else but the Father will set the agenda for the Son of God and his work of redemption by dying on the cross.  Jesus will have to die, that is certain.  And it will have to be in Jerusalem, where prophets die.  But it will be into the Father’s hands that Jesus will at the last commend his spirit.

Perhaps you too, have found yourself in a similar situation.  People can be tricky and duplicitous. The Bible actually doesn’t have much good to say about sinful mankind.

Before the great flood in Noah’s day it says,

“The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Genesis 6:5)

Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes,

“Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.” (Ecclesiastes 9:3)

The prophets, who were in so much trouble with the people for what they said, also exposed their hearts for what they were. Jeremiah writes,

“But they say, ‘That is in vain! We will follow our own plans, and will every one act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.’” (Jeremiah 18:12)

Our Gospel Lesson is not the first time Jesus was confronted with the evil thoughts and plans of men’s hearts.  Nor would the savior be led on. St. John writes, “he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man” (John 2:24 -25),

Jesus assesses the situation accurately.  He calls Herod a fox, acknowledging that he is cunning and tricky.  By this time Herod had John the Baptizer put to death by cutting off his head.  He had allowed it in a moment of weakness and most likely drunken stupor.  It was an unpopular move.  Now, he had it with prophets.  If he could scare Jesus away, that would be all the better for him.  They would be seeing each other soon enough, although Herod couldn’t have imagined at the time, when Pilate would send Jesus to Herod who was in Jerusalem for the Feast.

But there is also the possibility that Jesus also with these words means to implicate the Pharisees, too.  For they are just as dangerous as Herod.  They have their own agenda.  Get Jesus out of their territory.  Rid themselves of the competition. Jesus has hardly had a good word to say about them. For Jesus to go on to Jerusalem would mean that he could be more easily dealt with.  Here in Galilee nothing is going to happen to Jesus.  But Jerusalem is another story.  The city is dangerous to prophets –as Jesus reminds his listeners at the end of the reading.

And we know what this is all about.  Everyone of us has known the duplicity of others. 

One of the things they teach seminarians who are about to be pastors is to be aware of those who come to you at your new charge and try to befriend you and also generously share with you all the problems in the congregation, or what is with this or that board, or what was wrong with your predecessor.  It may sound like a cynical thing to teach young pastors, but experience has proven the truth of it.

As a pastor I know that I must practice discernment about every thing that is told to me.  A few weeks ago we heard of God’s offer to Solomon for any thing he wished. The young King at that time asked for discernment above all else. A more accurate way to render the text there in 1 Kings 2:9, is that he asked for the ability by the power of the Holy Spirit to see men’s hearts. That was a very great gift.

The only way that such sin can be removed from people’s hearts and even from a congregation is by repentance and faith in Christ –not in our own plans and mechanizations.  There is no other agenda for a Christian congregation than the preaching of God’s Word, first to her own people, and then to preach that Word to others.  To undermine, withdraw support, sow contention and work one’s own plan where the Holy Spirit is active is dangerous thing.  The peace of a congregation is a priceless gift of God.  To work against it is to sow your own weeds where God has put his crop.  It may be that the two must grow up together for the sake of the good grain, but in the end the weeds are burned.

Our Gospel Lesson shows us that while it may very well be that there is more than one side to an issue, that in the end, what is in the heart, and willingness to work toward God’s peace may mean setting aside personal wants and agendas for the greater good and to avoid greater sin.

 Our Savior Jesus helps us whenever we are up against formidable forces that threaten us and the kingdom.  He shows us today that he kept the course.  God has a plan in everything.  While troubles may come our way, Jesus knows and cares.

The prophets may have had to die in Jerusalem, but in this way they become judges over Israel and all nations.  The apostles too, would all die martyrs deaths.  “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”

But first the holy and innocent blood of Jesus must be shed.  It is to Jerusalem that Jesus is determined to go, and it is Jerusalem where he will find the end of his life.  But it is not a tragic end, that means all is lost and forfeited.   But an end that means great victory for him and all mankind.  It means that in his death and resurrection the people of God need fear no more those who would threaten their lives, now, and especially in eternity. Amen.