May 4, 2012  

Luke 13

Jesus' Sorrow for Jerusalem

³¹ 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 keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.' ³³ In any case, I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day-for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!

³⁴ "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, and 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.'"

 

 

We witness here, first of all, Jesus' absolute dedication and courage to fulfill the mission and ministry for which the Father had called him. Upon being told that Herod wanted to kill him, Jesus unhesitatingly states that he will continue to do that for which he came. He feels strongly that he must press on toward Jerusalem. He knows what awaits him in that city but he still states that he "must press on today and tomorrow and the next day."

 

That conviction to do God's will and to bring the message of Christ to the world must be a driving force in our lives as doing God's will was to Jesus. There are times when honoring Christ's teachings causes some tension and misunderstanding with others, perhaps leading some of us to wonder if we can press on in faithfulness. The witness of the Christian faith depends on disciples who stand by the cause of Christ and his way of life whatever the cost. I hope you are a person of such conviction.

 

We then see a highly emotional moment for Jesus. Later in chapter 19 he actually weeps for the city. As a man raised in the Jewish tradition and one who respected the healthy tenets of this special tradition, Jesus felt remorse over this great city and its detachment from the heart and mind of God. As Jesus saw Jerusalem, it had lost its spiritual vitality as it capitulated to religious, political, and social influences.

 

I think for us Christians a similar feeling may occur if we watch a vibrant church lose its heart for the things of God and its passion to be a community committed to Jesus. I'm not thinking here of any church in particular but I know, as you do, that churches are not beyond forgetting why we exist. We aren't social clubs; we aren't entertainment or recreational centers; we aren't civic organizations whose primary purpose is to do good deeds. Rather, the Church is the body of Jesus Christ which seeks faithfully and passionately to live Christ-centered lives, to spread God's love, to embrace every person as a child of God, and to plant seeds of compassion which can indeed transform the world.

 

So on this day may we, like Jesus, live our lives with conviction and help Germantown Methodist continue to be all that God is calling her/us to be!