Mother Hen
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...