Title: DIVINE DESTINY VS. HUMAN CONSPIRACY

Focus: What God ordains cannot be thwarted. The destiny of the Son of God was, in part, to descend from heaven and offer his life as a sacrifice on the cross in Jerusalem.

Function: To point the people to God’s purposes in Christ and to exhort them to respond to God’s gathering activities today with faith rather than with opposition.

Text: Luke 13:31-35

Millions of people today believe and act that we have our destiny in our own hands. You hear it in the voices of those who say that we must “save the planet.” Some say: Unless we do something about global warming, we will perish within the next 100 years. Others clamor for technology to obliterate or send off course any possible meteorite that may be heading for planet earth.

Again others believe that we can create the good life by means of education and health care: “All we need is good will and enough money to spend on schools and hospitals,” they say. Some believe that money is the engine of happiness. “The more, the better,” is their motto. In numerous subtle ways people act as if we have our destiny in our own hands.

Until, of course, an earthquake comes along flattening a country or two, or a landslide wipes out a village, or a tsunami does its damage in coastal regions. Then we scratch our heads and we hear comments about “luck” or “fortune” to have escaped these natural disasters, or we hear questions about why God allows such things to happen.

We act as if we have our destiny in our own hands, until mass corruption in the financial world wipes out the retirement savings of thousands of people, or until a downturn in the world economy robs our jobs, destroys our careers and forces us to face possible personal bankruptcy. Then we feel life is out of control. And panic sets in and anxiety increases in our world. And some begin to wonder: Maybe we do not control our destiny after all.

On this third Sunday in Lent the Christian church walks with Christ toward his cross. We observe his descent from heaven all the way to the cross and the grave. And we notice from the Gospel of Luke that what God ordains cannot be thwarted. The destiny of the Son of God was, in part, to descend from heaven and to offer his life as a sacrifice on the cross in Jerusalem. So as we explore the gospel today, let’s ask ourselves the question: where do we stand with Jesus Christ and the purposes of God for us in Christ?

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The Scripture reading from Luke’s gospel today is very short. There are only five verses; yet, this short passage contains at least 3 major themes. There is the theme of opposition, of hope, and of lament. We shall explore each theme, beginning with opposition.

1) Opposition: We learn that the Lord Jesus is traveling throughout Galilee, which is part of the region over which King Herod has jurisdiction. Herod is the ruler who jailed John the Baptizer and eventually beheaded him at the wish of his wife, Herodias. Herod fears challenges to his rule, and does not want any political movement or rebel to threaten his throne. That’s why Herod does not like the Lord Jesus roaming around in his district talking about a “kingdom from heaven,” and thus possibly raising the hopes of the people for another king to assume the throne in Galilee.

Herod is also a sly politician; he is on speaking terms with the Pharisees in his region. And especially when the agenda of King Herod and the agenda of the Pharisees are similar in goal, the Pharisees gladly cooperate with the King.

So, we learn that the Pharisees approach Jesus and say to him: “Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.”

Now that may sound like a friendly gesture and warning toward Jesus. Is Jesus to believe actually that the Pharisees care about his safety and wellbeing?

No, the Lord Jesus sees through the plotting and scheming of his opponents. Jesus knows that the Pharisees fear his popularity in the region of Galilee; Jesus knows that the Pharisees do not control the people; Jesus knows that his popularity with the people threatens the Pharisees’ influence and power over the people. And Jesus knows that the Pharisees are in cahoots with Herod.

Jesus realizes that the Pharisees would like Jesus to go elsewhere, preferably to Judea, to Jerusalem, where the power and influence of the Pharisees is far greater than in Galilee. Jerusalem is the headquarters of the Pharisees. Surely, they will curtail Jesus’ movements and influence there.

Jesus, however, sees through the conniving of King Herod and the plotting of the Pharisees. That’s why he sends the Pharisees back to Herod, and that’s why he refers to Herod as a “fox,” saying: “Go tell that fox, ‘I will drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’”

You see? Jesus refuses to be scared away by the threat of death or the opposition of his enemies. Why? Because Jesus knows that what God ordains must come to pass. Jesus knows the question and answer posed by the Psalmist in Psalm two: “Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain?...The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, ‘I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill.’”

Jesus knows that his destiny as the eternal Son of God was, in part, to descend from heaven and to offer his life as a sacrifice on the cross in Jerusalem. What God has ordained cannot be thwarted. It will come to pass. Take note of that theme of opposition and learn from Jesus’ response. That response includes another theme: the one of hope.

2) Hope: Jesus expresses that hope by pointing to his work: healing the sick and casting out demons. That kind of work brings joy and wholeness to the people, and that kind of work does not threaten the rule of King Herod. Jesus is not stirring up the masses against the rule of Herod; rather, Jesus is bringing hope and healing to those afflicted by diseases and to those in captivity to the devil. Jesus’ work is not a political threat to Herod. It’s a spiritual work against powers and authorities over which King Herod has no control or cares about.

The hope that Jesus expresses does not only concern the physical wellbeing of the people of his days. Jesus’ alludes or hints at something far greater: He suggests that our hope lies in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. Jesus alludes to his pending death in Jerusalem. There is a prophetic hint of his cross death in these words when Jesus says: “I will drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.”

To reach his goal, Jesus must face a sacrificial death, for he is the Lamb of God who atones for our sins. Jesus knows that his death on the cross in Jerusalem will mean that the wages of our sins have been paid. He knows that his death will lead to resurrection, whereby the powers of sin and death and Satan are broken. Death on a cross in Jerusalem is part of Jesus’ destiny, ordained by God the Father. What God has ordained will come to pass.

The Law of God foreshadows this very truth in the worship life of God’s people. Moses instructed the Israelites that God would call his people to worship him at a particular place. That place is Jerusalem. That’s the place where God’s Name dwells, where his house or temple is built, where the sacrifices of lambs and bulls are offered. It’s in Jerusalem where God’s people offer the symbols and shadows of atonement or reconciliation all these centuries before Jesus came. Jerusalem is the place where Jesus must offer himself as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. That’s why Jesus also says: “I must keep going today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem.”

You see? What God ordains cannot be stopped. These words from Jesus’ lips, then, bring hope to a dying, sinful world. Take note of this theme of hope, and do not lose sight of Jesus’ warning couched in his lament—which is another theme in this gospel account.

3) Lament: As Jesus looks down the cross road that leads to Jerusalem, he expresses a divine longing that drips with tears and agony. Listen: “O 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, but you were not willing! Look, your house is left to you desolate….” Christ expresses his love for his people and his frustration with their rejection or opposition to him.

Throughout the centuries, the sons and daughters of Abraham--whose covenant God dwells in Jerusalem, in the temple—have resisted God’s Word and will as proclaimed by the Law and the prophets. It happened in the days of the Elijah and Elisha and in the days of the kings of Israel. It was also happening in Jesus’ days. Soon, the people in Jerusalem would turn against Jesus: their hosanna’s will turn into “Crucify him! Crucify him!”

And as a result of their rejection of Jesus as the Lamb of God, the temple or house of God in Jerusalem would become desolate. For God would no longer temple in Jerusalem. All God’s fullness is found in Christ. And wherever Christ is, there we see God. What God ordains must come to pass. Human scheming and plotting and opposition to Christ are all in vain. Such is the message conveyed in these themes of opposition, hope, and lament.

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How then must we respond today to this Word of God? Jesus gives us the answer to that question in his lament: “…how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.”

Here is God’s will for you and me today: We are to turn to Jesus in faith and find protection under his wings. That is, we place our destiny in Jesus’ hand. Why? Because Jesus died for us; he arose from the dead for us; he gives us access to God the Father; he reconciles us to God and to one another; and Jesus will usher in his kingdom—restoring this creation, eliminating all sin and despair, wiping away our tears, and granting us eternal life, living in our midst forever more. It is through his descent and death on the cross, that we may have life.

I once read the story of a chicken farmer. He had a large chicken barn filled with roosters and hens and chicks. One day the barn caught fire and all the critters perished in the fire—so it was thought. But as the farmer counted his losses and removed the carcasses of thousands of chickens, he discovered a dead mother hen. In those final moments of her death, this mother hen spread her wings over her little chicks—and protected them from the raging fire, so much so that though she died, her chicks walked away the moment the farmer removed her carcass. By gathering her chicks and calling them in that moment of death, this mother hen saved her chicks.

God—in Christ—is gathering his people today. He calls you and me to come to Christ, in faith, trusting him to save us from the fires of judgment and hell. All those who turn to Christ in faith and find shelter in him will reach that destiny of a new heavens and new earth! Why? Because what God has ordained in Christ Jesus will come to pass.

Glory be to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.