Friday, May 07, 2010

Luke 13:31-35 Commentary

Jesus' Sorrow for Jerusalem
31 At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, "Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you."
32 He replied, "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.' 33 In any case, I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!

34 "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. 35 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.' [c]"


Dig Deeper
One of the better “guy” movies of all time is the epic action movie, “Troy.” In the beginning of that movie we meet one of the main characters, a noble figure named Hector. Hector quickly finds himself in an extremely difficult situation as he is on his way home from Greece to Troy. He discovers that his younger brother has begun an affair with the wife of the brother of the powerful Greek King Agamemnon and has tried to stow her away on the ship to bring her back to Troy. Agamemnon quickly uses that as an excuse to descend upon Troy with all of his mighty armies. Later on in the film, the brave and noble Hector finds himself in a battle against Achilles, the greatest Greek warrior of them all. After a grueling battle, Hector is killed. The tragedy is that Hector never did anything that was less than noble. He died, in effect, for the sin of his brother. There is nothing more exemplary and inspiring than someone who is willing to take the punishment of someone else who actually deserves the punishment.

Yet, as noble as this was, there is a limit to how much we can admire Hector. He was willing to fight for and defend his brother, and even possibly die, but he, no doubt, held out a great hope that he would not die. He wanted to live and made every attempt to do so in his effort to save his brother. That is a stark contrast to a video that I watched a couple of years ago.

In this video there was an artistic presentation of a young lady, created by God to enjoy his creation. There is an ongoing song and dance which depict this young lady as eventually drifting from God, swayed and persuaded away by all different kinds of temptation. These evils present themselves as attractive but the reality is that they are there to destroy her. Just at the moment when they are about to have their way and bring her to her final destruction, a figure representing Jesus steps in to try to rescue her and pull her away from those with evil intent. Eventually it becomes obvious that he will not be able to pull her to safety unless he steps in between them and her. So, he resolutely jumps in between the young lady and her captors and precedes to protect her under his arms while they beat on his head and back. The point of the drama was that Jesus knew that he was going to die for his people and he willingly did so to protect them from the punishment that they so richly deserved.

This is precisely what is at stake here in this passage. It has everything to do with Jesus continuing his journey towards Jerusalem. He set his face towards the site of his own death in Luke 9:51 and nothing has deterred him from that destination. The question is not whether Jesus will complete his mission. The question here becomes will Israel take advantage of it. He is not gong to die just for the sake of dying. He is going to come between God’s people and their rightly deserved punishment. But will they they realize it in time? Will they embrace it and allow him to protect them from the disaster that is looming over them?

But not everyone in Israel has made their choice against Jesus. At least some Pharisees, it appears, were sympathetic towards Jesus’ plight, or at least undecided. Many commentators over the years have taken the position that it just isn’t possible to view any Pharisees in a positive light so they argue that what seems like a helpful tip from some Pharisees should really be seen as a plot to force Jesus’ hand and cause him to flee right into the danger that they were warning him of. This seems like a forced interpretation, though, and one without any justification in the text itself. It seems most obvious to interpret the Pharisees’ warning as an indication that not all of them were violently opposed to Jesus. They may, like Nicodemus, been considering the implications of Jesus’ teaching of truth or they may simply have disagreed with the violent tactics of Herod and some of their fellow Pharisees. Or they might have even been of the same school of thought as Gamaliel in Acts 5, content to wait and see if Jesus really did speak for God.

Whatever the motivation, the warning had some real teeth to it. Herod had already had John the Baptist beheaded (Lk. 9:9), so this was far more than an empty threat. Herod was plotting to kill Jesus so the question is, will Jesus continue to head towards Jerusalem, as Luke has reminded that he was doing just that in verse 22. Will he he continue on or will he flee? In another indication of just how resolved Jesus was to make war with death in the city of Jerusalem (cf. Lk. 9:51), Luke makes it clear that Jesus will continue on his journey. The threat of death doesn’t cause Jesus to rethink his journey. What no one had yet grasped was the fact that his own death was the very reason that he was going. Death itself was his destination.

Jesus’ answer concerning the Herod threat can seem a bit confusing at first glance. It appears at first blush that verses 32 and 33 contradict each other in the sense that verse 32 speaks of Jesus completing his mission on the third day, while verse 33 seems to indicate that Jesus will still be pressing on when the third day arrives. So how can we reconcile this? The solution is not that difficult. The fox may want to kill him, but he will certainly not deter Jesus’ mission and purpose. Try as he might, Herod will only be a minor player in Jesus’ death and it will not happen in Galilee. Prophets, says Jesus, meet their fate in Jerusalem. That is where he will meet his death. Death will not be avoided, but death in Jerusalem will be stalked and attacked.

Hosea 6:1-2 says “Come, let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence.” This was a passage that at least some Jews of Jesus’ day saw as a Messianic prophecy. For two symbolic days God’s people would be battered but on the third day, the Messiah would come and resurrect the righteous, defeating the enemies of God’s people and ushering in the age to come. It appears, then, that the third day had become a symbol for the resurrection age. The third day with all of it’s resurrection connections and symbolism would be the day when Jesus would be vindicated. That is when he would reach his goal and Herod would not rush that, he would, as verse 33 says, continue on today, tomorrow, and the next day until he reached Jerusalem. He would die, yes, but it would be in Jerusalem on his terms. So in a literal sense, he would not be rushed but in the symbolic sense, he would reach his goal on the glorious third day.

In verse 34 we find perhaps the clearest description in the Gospels as to how Jesus viewed his impending death and how it related to Israel. He did not relish what was coming. These were God’s special people. His affection is clear as he uses the double call of their name, a pattern in the Hebrew culture to show closeness or affection. He had longed to gather them up under his wings and protect them just as a mother hen gathers up her chicks to protect them from a raging fire (see Deut. 32:11; Ruth 2:12; Ps. 17:8; Isa. 31:5 for similar language and thoughts). The blazing fire of God’s wrath and judgment was coming but Jesus wanted to bring protection for those who would put their faith in him. The sins of the people that had rebelled against God were coming home to roost but protection could be found in Jesus. But sadly Israel was not willing. They were not like the little chicks who sought refuge under their mother’s wings. In fact there have been accounts of hens doing just that during a fire and dying in the fire but keeping their chicks safe and alive under their wings. Instead they were scurrying around the yard and actually running towards the fire as though it were God’s will. They wanted confrontation with Rome because they were convinced that it was God’s will. They were convinced that God’s rescue would come through war with Rome but the reality was that God’s judgment would come through Rome not their freedom. Heading the way of violence was a rejection of God’s kingdom plan that would lead them away from any hope of having their real enemy, sin, defeated, and would end in a national disaster in the present age.

It would mean that Israel’s house would be left desolate, said Jesus, using language from Jeremiah in which God told Israel that he would leave them desolate during the painful exile. During the conquest of Israel and subsequent exile, God’s presence had left Israel. Now, if they continued to reject Jesus, the exile from God would be permanent.

Jesus then turns to the language of Psalm 118:26 where the Psalmist celebrates the coming of the Messiah and recognizes him as the light that had been sent by God. Until Israel did the same, they would suffer the way of the desolate house. The choice was clear and it was theirs to make. They could celebrate the coming of Jesus to Jerusalem as the fulfillment of the Psalms, the fulfillment of God’s promises to Israel or they could suffer the terrible fate of judgment falling on the house of Israel as God would leave Israel once and for all and lave her to their own devices.

But this was much more than just a warning. It was a plea. Jesus would not just pronounce the ultimate prophetic judgment on Israel and leave them to their own devices. He would first rush into the fire himself and spread his wings. Those who would just repent and enter into his kingdom would be forgiven of their sin and would escape the coming judgment and eternal separation from the family of God. What we see here, then, is much less a fiery prophet warning people of a coming destruction and much more of a loving God who desperately wishes to save those who would come to him and trust him. That remains every bit as true today as the day that Jesus first uttered these words.


Devotional Thought
If you were trapped in a fire and there was but one spot of protection and safety, would you not do everything in your power to get everyone around you to that spot? Think of your zeal and passion in trying to convince people to come to the place of safety? Now take a moment to ask yourself one question. Are you any less zealous when it comes to telling people about the kingdom of God and the safety from God’s judgment that comes for those that are in Christ? If you do have less zeal with that message then don’t you wonder why? Why should that message be any less full of zeal and passion than the one about the coming fire?

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