"Getting Ready For The Resurrection:
Getting Ready Right Before Your Very Eyes"
(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.' "
(NRSV)
INTRODUCTION:
How many of you saw the special on Tuesday Night, "The Magician's Code: Magic's Secrets Revealed"? Tuesday was a rare night when I didn't have a meeting or an appointment, so I watched this special. In the midst of all the showmanship they revealed how some of the most famous magic tricks are done.
I've always found magic fascinating. It is the art of illusion, the art of deception. Sometimes the simplest tricks seem the most amazing and the most elaborate tricks are actually the simplest to perform. Take for example, making the elephant disappear or making the young woman instantaneously transfer from one tower to the next. The elephant trick was done with mirrors and the transfer was actually down with twins.
We like magic tricks. We like the art of deception and illusions. It pushes that "Oh, Wow!" button in each of us. We like trying to figure those things out. (Do a simple magic trick or two.)
Okay, so why all this stuff about magic and deception? If you'll look at the text, you will notice two things. First, the Pharisees come to warn Jesus about Herod. Is this some little scheme of theirs. Are they trying to deceive Jesus? Or maybe they were just of the school of thought that says: "the enemy of my enemy is my friend." They didn't like Jesus, but he was the lesser of the two evils. Probably not.
There might have been a touch of that but most scholars agree that there was a contingent of the Pharisees, like Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, who believed that Jesus WAS the Messiah. But they did so secretly. And it was this group who came to warn Jesus because they remembered how Herod had confronted and beheaded John the Baptizer, Jesus' cousin.
The Second thing I want you to notice is how Jesus responded. He was sort of throwing down the guantlet here. You see, according to William Barclay in his Daily Study Bible on Luke, he says: "To the Jew the fox was a symbol of three things. First it was regarded as the slyest of animals. Second, it was regarded as the most destructive of animals. Third, it was the symbol of a worthless and insignificant man." (1)
Herod was the great deceiver. Mostly he deceived himself. He thought he was King of the Jews, King of Galilee. When in reality he was just a puppet of Rome, put there for appearance and to appease the locals. He tried to deceive himself and everyone else concerning his adulterous affair with his sister-in-law Herodious. John the Baptist called him to task for his lifestyle choice.
In confronting both the Pharisees and Herod in this manner, Jesus is saying: "Here I am. What you see is what you get. I have done nothing in secret. I have done nothing deceptive. You all are the deceivers. It's your own blindness not my deception that causes your unbelief. I have preached and taught and healed and gotten ready for the Resurrection right before your very eyes."
How and why would Jesus say something like that?
I. POWER:
A. First, because of the source of his power. Let's compare Herod and Jesus. What was the source of Herod's power? There was really only one source of Herod's power, that was fear. You see Herod was really only as powerful as Rome let him be. He had no real power. Oh, he could make the lives of his people miserable with more taxes and stupid laws. He could end any life he wanted if he could come up with a somewhat plausible reason. But if he got too carried away, the religious leaders and civic leaders would gang up and go over his head to the Roman officials. Herod feared Rome and ruled with that same fear. It was the basis of all that he did.
B. On the other hand, Jesus's power came from God through prayer and the presence of the Holy Spirit. While Herod used his power for himself, Jesus only used his power to glorify God. Where Herod's power instilled fear. Jesus' power, the power of love, mercy, grace and forgiveness instilled faith.
His was the power of creation and transformation. Herod could break both body and spirit but Jesus could heal both the broken body and the broken spirit. Herod could kill but Jesus could bring new life both physical and spiritual. Herod's power reflected his fear. Jesus' power reflected his faith.
Herod's power was used to deceive. Jesus' power was used to enlighten and spread his light throughout the world.
II. PURPOSE:
A. Second, Jesus can say these things because he was single minded in purpose. What was Herod's purpose? To maintain his good relationship with Rome so he wouldn't lose his pompous position, his pint-sized power, his puny possessions and his perverted passion.
Herod Antipas was much like his father, mean spirited, overly indulgent and totally self-possessed. There wasn't an altruistic bone in his body. He thought only of himself. His answer to John's confrontation concerning his affair was not repentance but to get rid of the one who held him up for public ridicule.
B. Jesus had a higher, nobler purpose. His life and his ministry were driven by that purpose. His purpose was to glorify God and point the way to salvation even if it meant the cruelty of the cross. When Jesus came to be baptized, John the Baptizer told the crowds gathered, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." And in John 3:17 Jesus says: "Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him."
Herod lorded it over everyone. But Jesus, the Lord of all life, the one for whom and through whom everything was created, came as a servant in order to love us and save us. The one who was life, gave his life for our sake.
III. OUR PERSONAL POWER AND PURPOSE:
A. When we accept Christ and the forgiveness offered by God's grace through Christ, we are transformed and filled with both the power and the purpose of Jesus in our lives. That power and purpose gives us the strength to face the rigors and struggle of daily life. It removes the fear in our lives and replaces it with faith.
It's so easy to give into fear. Fear of the unknown. Fear of rejection. Fear of the known. Fear grips us. Events like the brutal, senseless murder of Amy Robinson sets our hearts and spirits quaking. And that fear causes us to question God.
We ask: where was God in this? God was right where God always is in the midst of human injustice. Right in the middle of it. God was right at Amy's side. God's heart was breaking, and tears were flowing as God whispered words of love and comfort to her. God was right there reaching out with open arms to accept Amy's spirit and enfold her in the arms of grace. But God was also there shouting God's love to those two young men. Shouting to their broken and twisted spirits, singing God's love song; trying to fill them with that love so they would stop and have that second chance at life. But their evil intentions had so polluted their spirits that they couldn't or wouldn't hear.
Why didn't God intervene and stop them? I don't know. The only explanation I can come up with is that it's because of the gift of free will that God gave to us at creation. God allows us to say "Yes!" or "No!" to God and God's ways. Unfortunately their "No!" to God was louder and stronger than Amy's "Yes."
What we can't do is allow their "No!" to God to pollute our "Yes!" to God. You see, that's the insidious part of this. The tempter is at work asking us to question God;asking us to question God's faithfulness. The evil in the world would like to deceive us into thinking that God can't be trusted.
B. Well we know that's malarky. God can be trusted. God's people can be trusted. God has never failed us. Even in the midst of struggle, even in the midst of the worst times of our lives, God was always there. We might not have recognized God. God may have come in the form of a friend who gave us a helping hand. God may have come in the form of a community outraged by injustice. God may have come in arm around the shoulder or a phone call of encouragement. But God was there.
That's God's promise. God doesn't always come like we expect but God is there. God never fails. And God's promises never fail. To think otherwise is to deceive ourselves. But God would never deceive us.
CONCLUSION:
I believe that all of us have a God given purpose. We're called to believe. We're called to have faith. We're called to trust God in the face of those things and those people who would fill our lives with fear. We're called to step out of the darkness of the deception of doubt and into the light of Christ, the one who is the light of the world. Jesus is the one who sees through all the tricks. Trust him.
His power and his purpose can be your purpose. Trust God.
This is the Word of the Lord for this day.
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1. William Barclay, The Gospel Of Luke: The Daily Study Bible Series, Westminster Press, (Philadelphia, PA. 1976) pg. 186.