[Luke 13:31-35] At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to [Jesus], “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” 32And he said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course. 33Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.’ 34O 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! 35Behold, 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!’”
[Philippians 3:20] “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ…”
Uncertain Times and a Better Citizenship
The Pharisees and King Herod were not allies. They were natural enemies. Herod stood for licentious, self-indulgent living. Moral flexibility in his standards. Noted in Scripture for his adultery – and for beheading God’s prophet, John the Baptist, who spoke against it.
The Pharisees stood for moral strictness and high standards. The best for their nationality and nation. They stoned the adulterous! And were about to once, before Jesus stopped them [John 8:1-11].
Herod and the Pharisees were at odds in every way – except for a few. The power and prosperity of their nation, Israel, were of high importance. Jerusalem mattered a lot, though for different reasons. They were men of this world.
Neither Herod nor the Pharisees could’ve sung, honestly, “I’m but a stranger here, heaven is my home…” For the Pharisees it was religious – for Herod it was politics – for both, matters of this world were their hope, not God’s heaven.
This fact united them against one common enemy. When they met the God of heaven, they despised Him. God became Man in His Son Jesus Christ. God came. The Pharisees who professed to serve God in purity of life and doctrine – and Herod, who sat on the throne over God’s chosen Israel – when they met the Lord, were at odds with the Lord.
Throughout the Gospels, the Pharisees are clearly opposed to Jesus, plotting against Him in every interaction. So, we would assume in today’s reading as well that their motive isn’t friendly. They want Jesus gone, so they kindly warn Him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.”
Herod thinks Jesus might be John the Baptist raised from the dead [Matthew 14:2], and, so, probably really was seeking to kill him – again, kind of.
What is proven true – and is further seen to be true – is this: “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” [Luke 9:58]. Jesus, Son of God and Son of Man, is not at home in man’s world. Jesus has entirely different motives and interests.
Herod wants power, influence, and wealth in this world – and to pursue the desires of his flesh. Pharisees want purity in the traditions of their nation and elders – and to protect the established status of their religion and tradition in their country.
For Jesus, He is but a stranger here, heaven is His home. Earth is a desert drear, heaven is His home. Danger and sorrow stand ’round Him on every hand; Heaven is His fatherland, Heaven is His home. (If you remember the hymn…)
Heaven is Jesus’ home, and therefore His purposes on earth are heaven centered. “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course.’” Jesus is on His course to the cross. His face is set.
Jesus’ face is set toward Jerusalem – the city where He is headed – not to be honored, but to be crowned with a crown of thorns, to carry His cross, to be crucified and to die. For the purposes of heaven – to redeem sinners.
To redeem the adulterous woman. To redeem the greedy man. To bring the crucified thief with Him into Paradise. An to soften the heart of the hardhearted Pharisee and of the brutal centurion. To make repentance possible. To give new life.
“The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost”, said Paul, a former Pharisee [1 Timothy 1:15].
“I desire mercy, and not sacrifice. For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” [Matthew 9:13] – spoken for Matthew’s sake, a former defrauder and tax-collector.
“Your sins are forgiven”, Jesus said to a woman who had been forgiven much – and therefore loved the Lord much because of all He had forgiven [Luke 7:36-50]. Christ’s heaven-centered mission.
Regarding things on earth, “We live in uncertain times.” Something said so much that maybe it became cliché. But which, now, has become truer for more people – and which is always true at certain points in our life. Uncertain times.
How will the stock market affect your retirements? And how will it affect the many not-retired people among us who also depend on it? How will new tax and trade situations – new foreign relation situations – affect your ability to do what you need to do for your family?
Some pastors, in their congregations, have people suddenly out of work or potentially out of work because of changes outside of their control. Uncertainty.
Others have uncertainty about whether or not family members – or they themselves – will be able to come in and out of the country. Will paperwork actually get processed? Will fair, legal treatment and due process be the norm? What was an established and normal part of life for many is suddenly uncertain.
What if there is war? What if, in the next ten years, there is major war – and my nation is on the wrong side of it? How do we deal with that? For parents who have children who are not yet (but will be) of military age, these thoughts are more troubling.
And, what if something bad – completely unrelated to the troubles in the news – happens to you personally tomorrow, or next month? What if what you suffer is the fear, the anxiety, of uncertainty? Well, then, uncertain times certainly do not help.
I preached recently, in part, on the idea that, as Christians, we don’t always have a home in this world. The uncertainties of life create camps, tribes. Mere compassion for this person makes you an enemy of that group. Concerns over this or that issue makes you an enemy of another.
Even what you worry about can make you suspect to some. Herods and Pharisees and Lefts and Rights all form around the anxieties of this life.
What every political camp or ideological group will always have in common, in the end, is that they have no use for Jesus Christ and the Gospel of the forgiveness of sins. They belong to this world. But, for us, heaven is our home, and we walk with this different purpose.
At the very least, trouble in this world can remind us of our mission to the lost. To soften the hard hearts. To have compassion and bring the Gospel to those trapped by the desires of their flesh.
And to be a voice for God’s Word of truth – both the guiding light and convicting truth of His Commandments and the forgiving and renewing promise of His Gospel.
Jesus was beset by trouble on every side. But He was committed. His face was set toward the mission of His cross. In Jerusalem, He would become “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” [John 1:29]
He redeemed you by His death. He made new life for you by His resurrection. He created certainty. Certainty regarding you and God. Certainty regarding you and your truest citizenship, that of heaven.
“Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.” [Philippians 3:19-21]
Let’s remember that we have certainty about our truest treasure and our forever-future in our true home and nation, the kingdom of our Savior Jesus Christ. Certainty about the good will and intentions of Jesus, who will not turn us away [John 6:37; 2 Peter 3:9].
And let’s be committed to the mission given us – that our faces be set to raising our children, not as Herods or Pharisees, but as disciples of the Savior Jesus – to sharing with them and others the sure and certain hope we have in Jesus to give them the one thing that matters most and forever. Amen.
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