Lament for those who think they know
Luke 13:31-35
31 At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” 32 He said 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. 33 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.’ 34 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! 35 See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
The threat of a showdown is now on everyone’s mind. What is the Pharisees’ motive in telling Jesus about Herod’s plans? The Pharisees are Jesus’ opponents, they are not saying this in order to keep Jesus alive. Maybe they are hoping Jesus will hide and become silent trying to save his life. So maybe the Pharisees are passing on a threat to intimidate Jesus.
In whatever case the intimidation does not work. For Jesus’ uses it to give foreshadowing of the resurrection in vs. 32 – “on the third day I finish my work.”
It seems unlikely that anyone in Jesus’ audience understood what he was talking about, but we who have the benefit of living on this side of the cross and resurrection, we have the benefit of catching the Third Day reference. The passage ends with another foreshadowing – “until the time when you say, ‘Blessed is the one” – which looks forward to Palm Sunday (Luke 19:38).
Between those foreshadowings of what will happen in Jerusalem is Jesus’ lament for Jerusalem (see also Luke 19:41-44 where there is another lament for Jerusalem.) Here the lament is that Jerusalem kills the prophets, Jerusalem turns away everyone who comes speaking God’s desire to gather the people of Jerusalem into God’s care as a mother hen cares for her chicks. Jerusalem turns away all those who would seek to call its inhabitants closer to God.
The people of Jerusalem, where the temple was, where people came to worship God, thought they knew all that God wanted and they had figured God out. Those who spend much time speaking for God, acting for God, leading other people in God’s name, can begin to think they know what God will and won’t do. When God sends a new messenger who speaks words that challenge the long-time leaders, there is conflict.
PRAYER:
God of grace, we have spent much time listening to your word preached, so much that we sometimes think we know exactly what you will say and do. Teach us by the Holy Spirit to live open to your surprise, open to you shaking us out of our comfortable assumptions about your kingdom. In Jesus’ name. Amen.