Dear Rehoboth,
For our first edition of Monday morning ramblings, we have a particularly puzzling passage. I am being drawn towards the Luke passage for this week (13:31-35). There are a few things that immediately stick out to me. The first is that Jerusalem is the center of this text. In fact, Jerusalem is often the enter of the gospel of Luke. Luke begins and ends in Jerusalem and in Acts Jerusalem is the point from which the gospel is dispersed to all nations. For us to fully understand this passage, I think we need to take a brief look at the significance of this city, not just because it is the place that Jesus dies, but because it plays a major role throughout the biblical story. I think when we take a brief dive into the significance of Jerusalem, we can begin to see why Jesus in verses 34-35 is lamenting the city.
The name Jerusalem can be translated to be “peace.” When the ark of the covenant was taken to Jerusalem, and the temple built it was said that the Jerusalem temple was the place in which heaven and earth met. Jerusalem was meant to be the holy city. But as we march through the Bible, we see that Jerusalem becomes the place in which the religious authorities become attached to the tyrants in charge, such as Herod. Jerusalem is the place that stones and kills its prophets. And it is the place that Jesus will go to die. I think a sermon on this has to wrestle with this tension between what Jerusalem was meant to be and what it had become. And in turn, we can begin to ask ourselves what did we wish for our communities? What did we hope this community would look like? And what does it look like now? And if they don’t look the same, which I would assume they don’t, why?
If that route does not work another route I see is looking at Jesus response to Herod. We know already that Jesus has described his mission as bringing sight to the blind, and release to the captive, and tearing down the rich and today we see that Jesus puts that work directly in connection with the work of the cross. All that work will be accomplished on the third day, Easter. What is interesting to me is that the threat of death by Herod doesn’t seem to phase Jesus. Jesus basically says I was coming to die anyway. Jesus has a mission in this world, and even a cunning fox can’t keep him from it. What foxes keep us from following the mission Jesus laid upon us? What earthly things keep us from following Jesus? Maybe the reason our cities don’t look the way we want them to, is we have lost sight of the cross? I don’t know but maybe just maybe we can find hope in the arms of a mothering hen. I don’t know, but this is what I’m wrestling with this week what about you? What is this text saying to you? Where do you want me to explore?
May your week be filled with the love and peace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thank you for listening to my ramblings.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Lee
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