Finding Faith ... in contemplating why Jesus is more afraid of us than Herod

EDITOR'S NOTE: On Oct. 23, 2021, I was ordained as a minister of word and sacrament in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and installed as pastor at Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. I also served the same church for four years from October 2017 to October 2021 a synodical authorized minister. The journey together these past seven years has been an amazing one, full of learning, growing and a deepening of my theological mind. This sermon took place on March 16, 2025.

This weeks's gospel text: Luke 13:31-35

The Lament over Jerusalem

31 At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” 32 He said to them, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. 33 Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’ 34 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! 35 See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

The message:

What is it that makes us humans so stubborn, do you think?

Have you ever wondered that? … I mean, pastorally speaking, so stubborn in terms of following Jesus?

I mean most faithful people are acutely aware of Jesus’ teachings and the salvation he offers us as his followers, right?

And yet we so easily turn our backs on him … as painful as that might be for us to hear.

In today’s gospel, we are given this tremendously beautiful image of Christ being like a hen gathering her brood under the safety of her wings.

I know many of you have been around chickens in your life, and you can attest to how ferocious a mother hen can be when protecting her little ones. Right?

And that is what Jesus offers us if only we’re willing to accept it. … But we don’t always make sense do we? … We humans.

Sometimes we’d rather choose a path of self-destruction and selfishness and meanness and cold-heartedness … rather than to accept the alternative life that Jesus offers.

To help us get an understanding of what Jesus is trying to tell us today in the gospel text, we need to unpack what the writer of Luke is trying to accomplish in this fairly dense and small piece of scripture.

And foremost we need to understand that when Jesus is referring to Jerusalem in this text … he’s actually making a reference to us, Faith Family … or more inclusively to the larger body of faithful people all together … all the faithful since the first century and even before.

And once we understand that, we realize it’s not a very favorable comparison … is it?

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!”

It’s pretty apparent that Jesus has some condemnation for the city? … Especially when you consider that this passage begins with the Pharisees coming to warn Jesus to get out of town because of Herod. … That’s where they think the danger looms.

“At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to Jesus, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.”

And Jesus’ very nonchalant answer is … Well, go tell Herod to lay an egg. Right?

Hey, you can just go tell Herod that today, tomorrow and the next day I’m going to be here going about my work … casting out demons and healing people.

Take that news back to Herod, you religious leaders. He doesn’t scare me.

Now those are some pretty defiant words to send back to a king who doesn’t want you around, aren’t they?

 And they should demonstrate to us that Jesus wasn’t afraid of earthly power. … Not even kings.

But here it comes: You want to know what Jesus really is afraid of, Faith Family?

Us … His followers as we are symbolized in today’s gospel as the city of Jerusalem.

“Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day, I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.”

Faith Family … let’s let that sink in for a moment … because this is one of those Lenten texts that should hang heavy on us.

Jesus … who already knows his destiny in this passage.

After all he makes reference to the three days -- Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter -- twice in this short piece of scripture. … So Jesus knows what’s coming.

He knows he’s already on his march to die here.

And yet he very clearly states that it is not the earthly born king, with unlimited power and who wants Jesus dead … well, that’s not who Jesus is afraid of.

Jesus actually is afraid of us. … Us … his people … his followers … as represented in this text as the city of Jerusalem.

Faith Family … Jesus plainly states to the Pharisees … “it’s not the king I’m worried about. … I know what he’s capable of.”

But what I’m really scared of … is the people whom I came to save.”

The people that I’ve desperately been trying to huddle under my wings like a hen does with its chicks … and they … are … not … willing!”

That should strike us all as chilling, Faith Family.

Because Jesus is already foreshadowing here that come his day of judgement … that it will be us that let him down. … Not an earthly king.

All through his arrest and his jailing and his trial in front of Pontius Pilot … not once do his followers step forward to save his life.

That’s us that Jesus is afraid of, Faith Family. … That’s us that Jesus is referring to when he says that a prophet is only safe outside of the city. … That he is only safe away from his followers.

That condemnation should hang heavy on us. … At least, I hope it does.

And Jesus finishes this text with one last rebuke for us to contemplate: “And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

In other words … Jerusalem you can’t see me now for who I am. You don’t see me as God’s son. … You only see me as a prophet whose words you don’t want to hear. … And you’d just as soon see me go away rather than embrace what it is I offer you.

Faith Family … I hope that since we are in this Lenten journey right now … that we have the capacity and the willingness to sincerely ruminate on what today’s text is telling us.

When we leave today, after we've enjoyed worship together, and we’ve been fulfilled by the meal at the rail and we’ve experienced good fellowship.

After all of that, and when we’ve left church and we’re alone with the privacy of our own thoughts this week, I sincerely hope that you will give some thought to why it is that Jesus is more afraid of us … then he is a king who wants him dead.

Today’s text comes in the 13th chapter of Luke, which should tell us something.

By this point in the gospel Jesus already has been heavy into his ministry.

He’s performed miracle after miracle; he’s pranced around the countryside with his apostles; preached in synagogues; taught us to love our enemies; and to love our neighbor as ourself; not to judge others.

He’s hung out with all of the people on the margins of society that he shouldn’t have considering the strict laws of society in the first century.

He’s forgiven people; he’s taught us all the parables; he’s healed even more people; certain disciples have witnessed the transfiguration.

Faith Family … we’ve gotten through the first 12 chapters of Luke, almost three years of Jesus’ ministry … and yet Jesus is saying here in today’s gospel … none of that is enough to convince the people of Jerusalem that he is the actual son of God. … The messiah they’ve all been waiting for.

And they will all watch him die.

That we, as represented by the city of Jerusalem will allow the earthly powers to arrest, persecute and try the son of God. … And we’ll stand by and watch it happen. … Despite what Jesus offers us as God’s beloved.

I started today’s message with a question: Why do we so easily turn our backs on Jesus? … As painful as that might be for us to hear.

Jesus teaches us what it is to be his follower. … How we are to live our lives as faithful people. … And yet for some reason we’d rather follow the ways of this world. We’d rather buy into the greed, and the selfishness and the fear.

And when it comes right down to it: We’d turn our backs on Jesus … rather than to stand up to earthly powers who want to see him dead.

Faith Family … this Lent. … This is the march to the cross. … And this is an appropriate time for each and every one of us to do some soul searching.

I pray that we each leave here today thinking about how we turn away from Jesus. … I hope we each spend some time thinking about why it is he’s more afraid of us than a powerful king who wants him dead … and why it is that we reject the kingdom of God here on earth.

We are Jerusalem, Faith Family, and Jesus is more scared of us than he of Herod, a king with unlimited power. … Now that’s something to chew on this Lent.

And that is the Good News for this Second Sunday in Lent, March 16, 2025. Amen.