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Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem. We remember that, at the Transfiguration, the subject of the discussion among Jesus, Moses, and Elijah, was His coming departure: the things He would suffer and do to accomplish the redemption of the world. At this point, Jesus was in a region ruled by King Herod. And as the Lordtraveled from village to village, He continued to teach and preach =concerning the Kingdom of God that was in their midst.
“At that very hour, some Pharisees came and said to Him, ‘Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.’” As we heard last week, Satan ceased his temptations, waiting for an opportune time. But in the meantime, the devil had others to do his bidding. And the Pharisees were all too willing to do the devil’s dirty work.Were these Pharisees really concerned about our Lord’s welfare? Or were they just trying to move Jesus toward Jerusalem, where it would be easier for them to kill Him? Perhaps there was some danger from Herod. After all, Herod had carried out the brutal execution of John the Baptist. But these Pharisees were engaged in gross hypocrisy. At the same time they were warning Jesus about Herod, Mark tells us they were plotting with supporters of Herod to do away with Jesus. They were no friends of Jesus. They were using such threats to serve their own evil purposes. They despised Him. They wanted Him to go to Jerusalem.
Our Lord’s answer made no reference to the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, though He certainly knew it for what it was. But He expressed His contempt for Herod and any danger which that sly old fox might present. He had come by his evil ways honestly, for Herod’s father had slain the innocents in Bethlehem, trying to get at the child Jesus. The Savior had faced all of this before, and He was not about to be deterred from what He had come to do.
Jesus wanted Herod to know, and the Pharisees, too, that He would continue His work, and that there was time frame in which it would all be done. And then, on the “third day,” which is surely no coincidence, He would bring His entire work to completion. It would be finished. The death and resurrection to which He was headed would not be accomplished to satisfy Herod’s whim, but as Jesus and the heavenly Father had determined in eternity. And so, He must continue His journey to Jerusalem, for it was there that the faithful prophets of God met their end.
And then the Lord spoke of the city He loved: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! 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!’” It was a cry of great love, but also one of excruciating emotional pain. Jerusalem, the city of peace, as its name indicates, killed the very men sent by God to preach that peace. Jesus desired her salvation. He had sought to love and protect her like a mother hen gathers her chicks beneath the protection of her wings, sheltering them from the hawk that is circling above. Even so, this people belonged to Him. He wanted them to be His own. But they did not want Him! Are there more tragic words than these? Jerusalem rejected Him, the One who came to save them. And now, the result of their rejection was pronounced. Their house would be left desolate; their city destroyed. Only those who would acknowledge Jesus as Lord, who would call Him “blessed,” would see Him again as Savior. The rest were doomed to destruction.
As we see the Savior on His way to Jerusalem, we are witnesses to His boundless love. His love is shown in the self-sacrificing way in which He is determined to go there, knowing full well what must happen to Him there. His love is even directed toward those who would reject Him and bring upon themselves their eternal destruction.
Nothing from this story is different today, really. Satan still mounts his opposition, and he still has plenty of willing servants to do his bidding, even some within the Church. There is still opposition to the saving work of Jesus, those who insist that His journey to Jerusalem was useless. And still Jesus comes; He stretches out the arms of His Church, with the promise of peace and eternal life to all who will believe it.
The question is, do we believe it? Or are we part of the opposition? Do we know that peace to be ours? Or are we plagued with the doubt? What is the answer? Where do we find it? The answer is in repentance; it is in the acknowledgment that we have all too often been the opponents and the doubters. But repentance also opens the door to peace and to the life of the resurrection Jesus would have us live. And as the seal of His promise, He offers you His body and blood, a sacrifice though which He obtained that peace in the forgiveness of sins. Be fed, and be an opponent no longer. Be nourished, and doubt no more. Receive these gifts of life and salvation. Have the peace that will never end. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.
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