Outta our way, we're on a mission from God

What would it take, to scare you off doing what God has called you to do? What would it take for you to run in the other direction from what you know is God’s will for you? This week’s Gospel begs such a question (Luke 13.31-35). Pharisees come to Jesus and till him that Herod is plotting to kill him. Therefore the Pharisees urge Jesus to “Stop this noise and find a safe place to hide until things blow over.”

If you’ll bear with me for a moment, there are a couple of things that I think we can learn from here, using the barnyard analogies that Jesus used to shed some light on things. First, one needs to remember that Herod Antipas and the Pharisees have no love for each other. The Pharisees perceive Antipas as an extension of the hated occupying Roman Empire and as an outsider because Antipas is the son of an Idumean. Herod has no use for the Pharisees and thinks of them as religious zealots. So when the Pharisees come to Jesus, we can perceive the threat against his life is real. Like his father (Herod the Great) he has no use and gives no truck to those who might try to claim his throne.

Jesus’ response to the announcement that Herod wants and is trying to kill him gives rise to an interesting response: “Go tell that fox ... That sly and crafty man that I will finish what I have started. He cannot touch this!” If you know the Gospel of Luke, you know that Jesus and Herod will eventually meet and that even Herod will find Jesus “not guilty”. Jesus will be proclaimed in Luke’s Gospel as the “Innocent” and the “Rejected” Prophet. But if we go deeper, we see how Jesus has confidence in His Father to help him get to the goals that are set for the kingdom, and his commitment to making that happen. There is a fox, and that fox is apparently in the hen house. But this is not the time to pay attention to him – not yet. It is time work at protecting the children of the City and to focus on what is ahead rather than trying to be crafty and political to get what we want. It reminds me of that great one liner from the Blues Brothers’ movie, “Outta our way, we are on a mission from God!”

Second there is the issue of rejecting the message and the messenger – doing so has consequences. It would seem logical, that the purpose of any journey is to reach the destination of the journey. A journey has a purpose and s destination that one must reach. Anything else would seem to be wandering aimlessly. So if I leave my house to go to the grocery store and the post office and then come home but never do, is that not a wasted trip? Remember that Jesus has set his face like flint (stone) towards the goal of reaching Jerusalem (Luke 9.51), the Cross and the Day of the Resurrection. If Jesus does not get there; if he does not rise from the grave then there is no rising and we are all dead people. Jesus makes this journey so that we can have healing and deliverance from sin and death. He also was raised from the dead so that we can draw others into that same life, to know that same forgiveness and mercy and learn to really, truly live this risen life that has been given to us.

And we must countenance that there is going to be struggles and pain. There will be afflictions and suffering for delivering such a message to our city and our culture. Such a message that calls this culture, this people to repentance (starting with this congregation and this priest) is not going to be popular or welcomed. And because people have forsaken the mercy of God, their house (temple) has been devoid of God’s presence. It will eventually be razed and removed from the earth. This is why it is important to consider carefully the message that God is sending to us through his prophet. God will have mercy on those whom he will have mercy. We are called to strive to make it through the narrow door and into the banquet before the door is shut and none will be able to open. Live life n such a way that you will enter through the narrow door and so that your life is not just an offering, but an act of worship.

Jason+