Sad Savior

Series on Luke

IV The Imperatives of the Kingdom

B Instruction in Rejection

11 Sorrow of Jesus

Text: 13:31-35

Introduction

What makes Jesus sad? There are probably many answers. Sin makes Him sad. The consequences of sin like suffering and death make Him sad. He wept at Lazarus’ tomb. But most of all, since He is a loving and forgiving Savior, rejection makes him sad. This is what Luke is showing us here. None of us likes to be rejected, but, if we are, the effect on those who reject us is minimal. When Jesus is rejected the end is disastrous. This He knows and He is saddened by it. To different people he responds in different ways, and so we get a look into the mind of Christ as He deals with being shut out and excluded. He speaks to the worldly, the wicked, the weary, and the wise.

I The Worldly

Jesus is told in verse 31 that Herod wants to kill him, At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, “Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.” This is the same man that has already murdered John the Baptist and fears that Jesus is John risen from the dead. In verse 32 Jesus replies, Go tell that fox, implying both that he is crafty and also inconsequential, i will drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow and the third day I will be perfected. You see, Herod has an agenda and all he wants is for the problem to go away. Jesus says don’t worry, I’ll soon be finished, then you won’t have to worry about me anymore. The worldly want Jesus to go away, in order to pursue their own plans, to attend to their own affairs, to do their own business. Of course, implicit in Jesus response is a reference to his death which will change the history of the world but what is that to Herod? He is preoccupied. Jesus says OK, you can soon forget me, and Herod did. Unfortunately that’s what a lot of people do.

II The Wicked

Now the people that brought this message were plotting against Jesus. In Mark 3:6 we read, Then the pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus, and in Mark 12:13, Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words. And so Jesus answers them in verse 33, In any case I must keep going today and tomorrow and the next day for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem. Withering sarcasm! The holy city of God was the last place one should have expected the prophets to be martyred, and yet that was the tradition. Jesus says you may kill me as you wish but not here, not now. When I say it is time. Men are still trying to kill Jesus, to stamp out his memory, to discredit his ministry, to devalue his death. “Kill me if you wish” but He says that His glory is in dying, and He dies on purpose. His greatest work is sacrifice, and rejection is His royal robe because He lays lay down His life for His sheep. Sadly some people keep trying to kill Jesus but he won’t stay dead.

III The Weary

He came to save. He came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. Through the centuries, as he sent his prophets and one after another they were martyred but still he persisted, and finally the owner of the vineyard said, they have killed all my servants the prophets I will send my son, but they killed him as well. And so we read Jesus words in verse 34, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often i have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. The prophet Isaiah wrote, As a mother comforts her children so will I comfort you, and in the place where he also writes of the Servant of the Lord, he said, He is despised and rejected of men. Peter writes in I Peter 2:6 and 7, For in Scripture it says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone,” It makes sense that sinful men would spurn most what they needed most. But the compassionate call in Matthew 11 says, Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest, take my yoke upon you and learn of me, my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Some people just want their own agenda, and others are not content unless they remove God from your life as well as their own, but to the weary, sin-laden, fearful and guilty Jesus says i come to gather not scatter, love not hate, save not condemn.

IV The Wise

The last words are words of judgment in verse 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.’” Have you noticed how often this theme recurs in Jesus’ teaching? Again the bitter irony surfaces. The house is empty. The place of God’s dwelling is forsaken, broken down, and in ruins. It stands as a mute symbol of rejection. One of the most architecturally complex and beautiful buildings in the world sits outside of Agra, India. You have probably seen many pictures of this huge wonder of the world. It is called the Taj Mahal. It looks like a palace with rooms and gardens and stables and servants quarters, but nobody lives there. It’s a tomb. It’s empty. Magnificent in its desolation, it is a memorial to sadness like the temple mount. What will happen to those who reject Him, of Israel in particular, and of all who pursue their folly? Jesus says they shall be without God and without hope, without meaning and without significance. What a fearful thing to reject Jesus. But there is a postscript, a conclusion, “I tell you you will not see me again until you say blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” Here Jesus holds forth hope. The temple, the city, the theocracy, everything connected with Israel’s special place in God’s plan is being set aside, but yet they may acknowledge him as their Messiah. So Paul reminds us in Romans 11:25-27, I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.” The wise will always understand that in the end no amount of religion, or going through the motions of worship or service will avail, all that will matter is accepting him as our Savior.