Claimed, gathered and sent

This is the sermon I preached at St. Mark Lutheran Church . The text was Luke 18:31-35. At St. Timothy, we had a wonderful cantata entitled "Once Upon a Tree."  The music is beautiful and the theology is rich.  We often think of the Pharisees in negative terms. They are mostly portrayed as enemies of Jesus and his mission. However, that was not true of all Pharisees.   In Luke's gospel, there are many Pharisees that seem open to Jesus (7:36; 11:37; 14:1). It was some Pharisees that brought the warning to Jesus that Herod wanted to kill him. How does Jesus react? He does not seem bothered at all. Now, don't take Jesus as being naive. Jesus was simply working from a different timetable--God's. I love the way Jesus talks about his plans and how this news regarding Herod is going to change them. He acts like he didn't even hear what the Pharisees had told him. Jesus would be following God's mission for him, in God's time...

These were the thoughts that came to me as I pondered Luke 13:31-35. Jesus does not seem bothered by the news that Herod is after him. Don't take Jesus as naive. He is simply working from a different timetable--God's. I love the way Jesus talks about what he's doing the next few days--like he didn't even hear what the Pharisees told him. He had a plan and that's what he was following until the third day. Jesus did not give into fear that Herod was plotting Jesus' death. Following that exchange, Jesus goes into a lament for Jerusalem and how they have missed the opportunity to let God protect them and hold them. Sundays and Seasons explains the imagery in this way: "Jesus’ desire to gather God’s people together in safety, love, and protection is reflected in the feminine image of a hen gathering her chicks under her wing. This motherly, passionate desire—rather than the resistance we or others may show toward it—lies at the heart of the gospel message i...