Resurrection Lutheran Church - Sermon Update

2nd Sunday in Lent, 3/16/25 Luke 13:31-35 How Can You Make Any Sense of This? I. It accomplishes God’s saving plan. II. It reveals God’s saving love. What’s your definition of “senseless”? Here’s Miriam-Webster’s definition: “destitute of, deficient in, or contrary to sense, such as unconscious, foolish, meaningless.” We’ve become accustomed to hearing and using that word perhaps more in the last decade or so than ever before. You hear it used almost every day to describe senseless acts of violence. And they’re not just happening in the mega-urban centers of our country; they’re occurring right here in the Miami Valley, daily, without interruption. I’ll spare you the details of some local, recent, senseless acts of violence. They’re heinous. Our society is thoroughly afflicted with them. To counter this disturbing reality, you have likely encountered the term “senseless acts of kindness.” And these acts often receive almost as much attention as the senseless acts of violence do. And that’s intentional. The media would much rather end their 30-minutes of news with a positive report on a senseless act of kindness, than another senseless act of violence. And they warm our hearts. In a cruel world, here’s a glimmer of hope. There are people who make a concentrated effort to do what is good and helpful for others, for no reason at all other than this—to help others. Senseless. That word or one close to it might have entered your mind a few minutes ago as you listened to this morning’s Gospel Reading. Just what was going on here? It’s one weird event in the life of Jesus, to say the least. There’s Jesus. There’s the Pharisees. And there’s Herod. None of those three have anything in common from an outward standpoint. We aren’t accustomed to hearing these three working together on anything. But it certainly sounds like they are—at least some of them—in this account. In fact, in a sense, they view each other as opponents. They all have different agendas. So why would they spend any time and energy even talking to one another, let alone working with each other? How do you make any sense of this? And even if you could, what does it have to do with you? Let’s spend a few minutes sorting through the details and then finding some meaning for this event in your life. So, it’s apparent from the text that Jesus is not in Jerusalem. He’s likely in Galilee. It’s toward the end of his three-year ministry. His popularity among the people is down, not even close to what it was when his ministry started. He has upset some people with what he says, and he has disappointed others by not doing what they want him to do. In short, he’s not the Messiah they were looking for. But that unpopularity doesn’t deter Jesus. He knows who he is, why he came to this earth, and what he must do to accomplish his mission—the saving all sinners from the depths of hell. The second players in this event are the Pharisees, the sworn enemies of Jesus. Throughout his three-year ministry they verbally assaulted him, detested him, tried to trap him and discredit him, and literally hated him. The Pharisees were a sinfully proud group of Jewish religious elites, who denied committing any sins and were confident that they were saved by their good works. They had no use for Jesus as their Savior and they considered his claims to be the Son of God as vial blasphemy worthy of a painful death. But they were centered in Jerusalem. So why would they make the trip to Galilee, which is a part of the Jewish nation they avoided and abhorred? Good question. Their presence in Galilee makes no sense. There are two options to explain their approaching Jesus in Galilee, and both have to do with this seemingly helpful advice to Jesus, “Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.” Now, why would they share beneficial information with Jesus about Jesus when they hated him? Good question. It makes no sense. Well, what they told him might have been a bald-faced lie. It’s possible Herod never spoke these words. So why would the Pharisees go out of their way to share a lie with Jesus? Perhaps simply to harass him. But what they told Jesus might have been the truth. But why would they share the truth with Jesus, if Herod wanted to kill Jesus as much as they did? Because they knew Herod would have more difficulty killing Jesus than they would. The Pharisees as a whole were convinced that they could get rid of Jesus (i.e. kill him), if they could just get him to their headquarters, which was Jerusalem. Personally, I think Herod actually spoke these words. Herod ruled Galilee. Jesus was causing trouble for Herod in Galilee. So, Herod threatened him to get him to leave Galilee. And there’s another reason I think Herod spoke these words. It’s in the fact that Jesus, in his response to these words, addresses Herod, not the Pharisees. Jesus certainly knew who was responsible for speaking these words. But that’s just my opinion. On the other hand, we know from what Luke writes previously, that Herod actually expressed a desire to see Jesus. The same thing is said about Herod a few weeks after this event when Jesus appeared on trial before him. We also know that Herod regretted murdering John the Baptist. He surely didn’t want a repeat of that mistake by murdering Jesus. And even though Jesus was causing some trouble for Herod as the ruler of Galilee, there was still a considerable number of residents in Galilee who simply wanted Jesus around them to perform miracles for them. So, did Herod issue this threat or not? And, if he did, did he really mean it? I can’t be absolutely certain. No one can. It just doesn’t make any sense. None of this does. I. Unless you pay attention to what Jesus says. His word. His holy word. Listen again to these words of Jesus, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’ In any case, I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!” He called Herod a fox. And his opinion of Herod is divinely accurate and appropriate. Jesus immediately recognized what was going on here. It was a plan somehow in some way that was against the plan of his Father, and, thus, against his own plan. What do I mean? Well, Jesus perfectly understood why here was here on earth in the first place. He had known it already as a 12-year-old boy in the Temple. He was here to be the world’s Savior from sin. Right at that time, that plan determined that Jesus was to be in Galilee driving out demons and healing people. And that’s what Jesus was doing. Exactly. Without deviation. Perfectly. And with that divine power Jesus also revealed divine grace. His miracles were not an end in themselves. He wasn’t here merely to impress the people. He was here to save them. Every one of his miracles pointed to the fact that he was true God, and the world’s only Savior from sin. To carry that plan to fulfillment, Jesus was determined to go to Jerusalem, just as the Pharisees were suggesting he do. But on his own terms according to his Father’s plan. And only when his Father approved. How can you make any sense of this? Here’s your answer: it accomplishes God’s saving plans. II. And that answer leads us right into another one. Imagine being Jesus at this point. How would you respond to such a devious suggestion for your future? How would you react to people who want nothing more than to kill you, literally? I’ll let you form your own answer. Now, compare your answer with the reaction of Jesus. He didn’t speak curses upon these Pharisees or Herod, his government official. He didn’t even wish evil on them. Instead, we hear him say this, “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, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” Can you believe what you just heard?! He speaks words that are oozing with his own personal pain over their rejection of him. He speaks of his deepest desire to save his enemies, not damn them. He wants to spend eternity with them and the rest of the inhabitants of Jerusalem—indeed, every sinner who has ever lived and will ever live on this earth—in heaven. And to make it happen, he will head to Jerusalem to die. And then, on the third day he will rise again. And his overwhelming will and hope is that every single sinful human being looks at this death and his resurrection and believes the truth that saves them—that he is the Son of God and the world’s only Savior from sin. Whether they want him to be or not. He loves them. He wants them to belong to him by faith in him. How can you make any sense of this? It reveals God’s saving love. Four weeks from today, we will speak these words that Jesus spoke. On Palm Sunday, we will join Christians around the world in speaking these words of Jesus to Jesus as he enters the worst week of his life for himself but the best week of his life for us. That almost sounds senseless, unless you know the eternal love of God for you. That love drove Jesus to the cross for you. That was always his plan, a plan that revealed his saving love. So, you can spend time trying to make sense of the senselessness in our world and in your life, or you can spend time surrounded by the comforting love of God. I’d say that choice is a no-brainer. You don’t need a massive amount of sense to make it. Find peace in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Now that makes sense! Amen.