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Luke 13:31-35
INTRODUCTION: We are continuing our series of messages following Jesus and his disciples on the road to Jerusalem. As the time approached for Jesus to be taken up to heaven, Jesus set his face toward Jerusalem and began his long walk toward the cross. For six months he traveled with his disciples teaching and preaching in the surrounding villages before finally entering Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. We have already looked at some of the obstacles they encountered on the way, as well as their rest stop at the home of Martha and Mary. Now in today’s passage we encounter some Pharisees who came to Jesus and tried to convince him to go back.
Luke 13:31-35 - 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 drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’ 33 In any case, I must keep going today and tomorrow and the next day — for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!
34 “O 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, but 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.’” (NIV)
One thing we all hate to deal with is traffic. Anybody here enjoy traffic? Traffic can slow you down. Traffic can make you late for appointments. Traffic can send you off on long or unfamiliar routes. Sometimes it can make you turn back altogether. I am glad I live near the church office. I don’t have to deal with much traffic on a day-to-day basis. But I haven’t always been so fortunate. For those of you who have to deal with traffic every day of the week, God bless you! I know it’s not easy.
Here in Luke 13 Jesus hits some traffic on his way to Jerusalem. And this traffic comes in the form of the Pharisees. We have been comparing the road to Jerusalem to the road of discipleship in our lives today. Just as Jesus’ disciples followed him to Jerusalem, so Jesus calls us to follow him to the cross. And just like Jesus and the disciples on the road to Jerusalem, we can hit traffic in our spiritual lives. Anything that slows you down in your walk with Christ or diverts you from your course or even tempts you to turn around and go back is traffic on the road of discipleship.
I. Walk strong in the path of discipleship (verses 31-33)
We will be looking at both traffic and tears on the road to Jerusalem this morning, but we begin with the traffic. So, how do you walk strong in the path of discipleship when you encounter traffic along the way?
A. Don’t let others set your agenda.
First of all, don’t let others set your agenda. Look at verse 31 with me. “At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, ‘Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.’” (Luke 13:31) So what do you think about the Pharisees here? Is this just some friendly advice? Are they looking out for Jesus’ best interests? Most likely not. We find the Pharisees in conflict with Jesus all throughout the gospel of Luke. They tangled over a variety of issues: Jesus forgiving the paralytic, Jesus eating with tax collectors and “sinners,” fasting, Sabbath day issues and ceremonial cleansing. The Pharisees were not favorable towards Jesus, and Jesus had said some pretty harsh things about the Pharisees and their hypocrisy. The Pharisees were jealous of Jesus’ popularity among the people. They were envious of his power. They were offended by his teachings. They just wanted to get him out of there.
And so they tell him, “Leave this place and go somewhere else.” Basically, the Pharisees try to give Jesus his walking papers. “Leave this place and keep going, just keep on walking.” Where? “We don’t care. Anywhere but here.” They did not want him around. In effect, they were saying, “This place ain’t big enough for the both of us . . .” Now, they don’t come right out and tell him that. They give him a different reason for leaving. They say, “Leave this place and go somewhere else because Herod wants to kill you.”
There are several Herods mentioned in Scripture. This was not the same Herod who tried to kill Jesus at the time of his birth. That was Herod the Great. As you may recall, Joseph and Mary fled to Egypt when Herod ordered the killing of all the baby boys in Bethlehem under the age of two, but they came back to Israel after Herod the Great died. At the time of his death, Herod the Great divided his kingdom among four of his sons. One of these sons was named Herod Antipas. This is the Herod that the Pharisees speak of here in Luke 13. This is the Herod who beheaded John the Baptist. He ruled over Galilee, and because Jesus came from Galilee, he was technically under Herod’s jurisdiction. So the Pharisees come to Jesus and warn him about Herod’s intentions.
You might wonder, are the Pharisees telling the truth here? Did Herod really want to kill Jesus? Well, we know from Luke 9:7-9 that Herod was perplexed about Jesus’ identity. He wondered if this was John the Baptist, raised from the dead. He apparently wanted to see him, but he never got his chance until after Jesus’ arrest. When Jesus was arrested, Pilate sent Jesus before Herod who happened to be in Jerusalem at that time. Luke tells us that Herod was actually pleased to see Jesus and was hoping to see some sort of miracle. When Jesus refused to perform for him, Herod along with his soldiers ridiculed him and mocked him, but he did not kill him. Instead, he sent him back to Pilate.
So, we know at least at the time of Jesus’ arrest, Herod had an opportunity to kill Jesus but chose not to. It sounds to me like the Pharisees were just making up a story to push Jesus out of the area. Either way, it would be hard to trust the Pharisees’ motives here. They were either taking advantage of a situation, or they were making up empty threats, anything to get Christ out of their territory.
So what’s happening here? Basically, Jesus and his disciples have hit some traffic on the road to Jerusalem. The Pharisees were trying to set Jesus’ agenda for him. They were trying to manipulate Jesus by fear and to direct his movements as they saw fit. They were trying to get Jesus to fit into their program instead of God’s.
Have you ever had someone try to set your agenda? Has the enemy ever tried to bully you out of God’s will through fear or manipulation? It happens all the time. Death threats have been made on Christian leaders who have taken public stands on such issues as abortion or homosexuality. Missionaries are threatened by governments or revolutionary groups to leave or else. But it happens in more subtle ways also. School Bible Clubs receive pressure from administrations even though they have a constitutional right to meet. The workplace clamps down on lunch break Bible studies or casual witnessing on the employees’ own time. A worker is told not to put a Bible on his desk. And so on. Through a process of fear and intimidation, the enemy tries to set our course for us instead of God.
I hate to say it, but this can also happen through well-meaning, good-intentioned, sincere believers as well. Sometimes even those who love the Lord can try to set your agenda for you. I saw a poster once: “God loves you, and everyone else has a wonderful plan for your life!”
That’s what happened with Jesus and Peter. When Jesus told his disciples he was heading to Jerusalem to suffer and die, Peter pulled him aside and said “May this never happen to you!” (Matthew 16:22) Jesus turned and said to him, “Get thee behind me, Satan!” (Matthew 16:23) Peter was interfering with God’s will for Jesus’ life. It is an example of some well-meaning traffic along the road.
I always feel a strong caution when someone comes up to me and proclaims, “This is God’s will for your life!” Really! Well, let me pray about it. Let God tell me. Let God confirm it in my heart through prayer and through his word.
Beware of letting anyone other than God set the agenda for your life. This is what we talked about last week with Mary and Martha. Spend time in Christ’s presence hearing from him. Learn to hear his voice, so you don’t get confused by the traffic of other voices telling you what to do. And then don’t let anything get in the way of following God’s will for you. Whatever the obstacles, whatever the cost, keep your eyes on the goal and keep plugging. Don’t let others set your agenda.
B. Don’t be afraid to confront evil.
Secondly, don’t be afraid to confront evil. How did Jesus respond to the Pharisees? Look at verse 32: He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal . . .’” (Luke 13:32) Jesus knew God’s will for his life. He had set his face toward Jerusalem. He was going to reach his goal, and he was not going to let the traffic steer him away.
Jesus calling Herod a fox catches us a little off guard here. Did Jesus really call people names? Yes, when appropriate. He did not do it to hurt people’s feelings or out of childish anger or to be unkind. But Jesus called a spade a spade.
Jesus is scoffing at Herod here. Can God do that? Look at Psalm 2:1-6 which says, “Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the LORD and against his Anointed One. ‘Let us break their chains,’ they say, ‘and throw off their fetters.’ The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, ‘I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill.’” Yes, God in heaven can scoff at the puny plans of men who try to overthrow his sovereign will.
So what did Jesus mean by calling Herod a fox? A fox is a small, weak, wily animal that lives by cunning rather than strength. In calling Herod a fox Jesus was first of all drawing attention to Herod’s crafty, treacherous side. Herod was not a man worthy of trust or respect. He divorced his wife to marry his own niece, who happened to be his own brother’s wife. He beheaded John the Baptist because of a foolish promise made at a birthday party. He was a man of weak character who used his political power for selfish ends.
Secondly, Jesus was also showing that he was not afraid of Herod. Herod could not bully Jesus into submission. Death plot or not, Herod was not about to stop Jesus from fulfilling God’s will. God had called Jesus to preach and to heal and to cast out demons. And God had called him to go to Jerusalem to suffer and die for the sins of the world. Herod or not, Jesus would go on with his work, and he would reach his goal. So Jesus told the Pharisees to go tell it to the fox.
Now, we need to be careful here. As Christians we are called to love, forgive, forbear and be courteous to others. We should not go around calling people names as a general rule. Jesus rarely did. But there are times when we also must call a spade a spade. Sometimes a thief needs to be called a thief; the unfaithful spouse must be called an adulterer; the pornographer needs to be called perverted. There are times when evil must be confronted and named. There are times when Herod must be called a fox.
C. Follow God’s calling wherever he leads.
Thirdly, follow God’s calling wherever he leads. Look at what Jesus said next 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!” This expression Jesus keeps using, “today, tomorrow and the next day,” does not mean that Jesus would literally arrive in Jerusalem in three days. This expression simply signified a short and definite period of time. In other words, Christ was on his way and nothing would deter him from reaching his goal. Jesus was motivated not by fear but rather by obedience. He had set his face towards Jerusalem where he knew he would die, and he must keep going. He was willing to follow God’s calling wherever that led, even to death on the cross.
There is a sad irony in Jesus’ statement: “for surely no prophet can die outside of Jerusalem.” Jerusalem was the holy city, the place of the temple, the place of worship for God’s people. But Jesus instead calls it the killing place of God’s prophets. Jesus will now also go there to his death. He will die soon enough without Herod’s help.
How do you handle traffic on the road to Jerusalem? Don’t let other set your agenda. Don’t be afraid to confront evil. Follow God’s calling wherever he leads.
II. Have compassion for the lost (verses 34-35)
Now let us look briefly at the tears on the road to Jerusalem. In verses 34-35 Luke records a heartbreaking lament of Jesus over Jerusalem. We cannot do justice to Christ’s lament in these verses, his depth of emotion, the haunting beauty of his words. Christ’s lament is the broken heart of God crying out for his beloved people who have rejected him. Think of the heartbreak of a loving parent over a rebellious child and multiply it a hundred times, a thousand times, an infinite amount — for God’s love is infinite and his compassion beyond our understanding. In two short verses Jesus reveals to us the heart of God.
A. God longs for lost people to come to him.
There are a couple things I see in that lament. First of all, God longs for lost people to come to him. Notice Jesus’ double address of the holy city: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem.” We saw this last week too when Jesus spoke compassionately to Martha: “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things.” Now Jesus does the same with Jerusalem. “Jerusalem, Jerusalem.” Jesus probably refers to the whole nation of Israel here with Jerusalem as representative of the whole. You can just feel the longing in his heart for his people.
“You who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you.” Israel’s history was full of examples of rejecting and killing the prophets of God. It was no secret. There were no skeletons in the closet here. The Jewish community in Jesus’ day had even built tombs as monuments for the prophets who had died.
“How often I have longed to gather your children together.” Notice that Jesus is full of love and compassion for Jerusalem, for she who had killed the prophets, for she who would soon crucify him. Jesus longs to gather her in. Earlier he had preached, “Love your enemies, bless those who persecute you.” Now he lives it out by example. Notice this is not a one shot deal. He has often longed to do this. Jesus probably refers to all of Israel’s history, even before Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem.
“I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings.” This is a familiar image from the Old Testament of God’s protective presence. The Psalms speak of “hiding in the shadow of God’s wings” (Psalm 17:8) or “taking refuge under God’s wings.” (Psalm 61:4) Jesus now applies this image to himself.
“I longed to gather you together, but you were not willing.” Notice that Jesus was willing, but Israel was not. God’s heart is always willing. God is willing to save. He is willing to bless. He longs to gather us under his wings. The sad truth of history is that we are not willing. We are not willing to humble ourselves before the Creator and worship Him as God. We are not willing to come to him and be saved. God does not reject us. Rather, we refuse him. The reason we do not go to heaven is because we refuse the only one who can take us there.
We read in 2 Peter 3: 9-10: “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.” God desires to save, but if we refuse him, then we will face judgment.
B. Those who reject Christ will face God’s judgment and wrath for sin.
And that’s the next thing we see in Jesus’ lament. Those who reject Christ will face God’s judgment and wrath for sin. Verse 35: “Look! Your house is left to you desolate!” Jesus looked into the future and saw the destruction of the Holy City only several decades away. He saw the cruelty and atrocities Jerusalem would suffer at the hands of others and even against themselves. He saw the horrors of coming war and famine, unspeakable things.
And as much as he loves his people, as much as he has longed to gather them under his wings, their refusal of him will bring judgment. Later on when he approaches Jerusalem during his triumphal entry he will weep over the city once again. Luke 19:41-44: “As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace — but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”
Christ sees the city and the temple destroyed, the people slaughtered and scattered abroad. “Look,” he cries. “Your house is left to you desolate!” The word translated “desolate” here carries the idea of abandonment. Israel will be abandoned by the God who longed to save them, but they were not willing. Now they will be left to themselves.
The application for today is clear. The person who rejects Christ today will also be left desolate. They will be completely and utterly abandoned by God, not because God was not willing to save, but because they were not willing to come to him. The person without Christ has no protector, no deliverer on the day of judgment. They will be left to themselves. They will have to face God’s judgment and wrath for sin desolate and alone, and they will not stand.
C. One day all will acknowledge Jesus as Lord.
And then the final thing we learn from Jesus’ lament is that one day all will acknowledge Jesus as Lord. Jesus says at the end of verse 35: “I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” Is Jesus speaking about Palm Sunday here? On Palm Sunday, the people will cry out this very blessing to Christ as he rides into the city, but they will not be sincere. By the end of the week they will call for his crucifixion.
Matthew records Jesus speaking the same words again after entering Jerusalem. (There are a number of places in the gospels where Christ repeats certain teachings or sayings.) Jesus is speaking here about his second coming, when every knee will bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord, when all nations will recognize that Jesus Christ is indeed the blessed one, the one truly sent from God. Jerusalem will not see her Messiah again until that day.
Perhaps Jesus is also speaking in symbolic fashion of those Jews who will turn to him for salvation throughout the church age. Whenever a Jewish person turns to Christ, recognizing him as Messiah and Savior, calling him blessed, there is a mini-fulfillment of this promise. There is a hint here of what Paul talks about in Romans 11, where he indicates a great turning of the Jewish people to Christ in the last days. Many will acknowledge the blessedness of Jesus, the Messiah who came in the name of the Lord before He comes again in power and great glory.
Have you learned like Christ to love your enemies, to bless those who persecute you? Are you filled with compassion for the lost? As Christ walked towards his death in Jerusalem, he shed no tears for himself. Rather, he lamented for those who would reject and kill him.
God takes no pleasure in punishing sinners. Ezekiel 33:11 says, “As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel?”
And he says the same to you. How often he has longed to take you under the shelter of his wings, to love and protect you. Are you willing? Will you come to him?
CONCLUSION: We have looked at traffic and tears on the road to Jerusalem today. Traffic is anything we encounter on the road of discipleship that would seek to change our direction, to shift our goal, to follow something other than God’s will for us. We must not let the traffic determine our direction, but follow God first and God only.
The tears we shed are not for ourselves nor even for the cross we carry. As disciples of Jesus Christ we shed tears for our persecutors and for any who remain outside of Christ, outside the shelter and protection of his wings. We long for them to come to Christ, to know his love and forgiveness, to know the joy and wonder of salvation
May we learn much today from Jesus’ example on the road to Jerusalem: his determination and strength to follow God’s will, his compassion and pity for the lost, his unswerving commitment to justice and righteousness even when that means judgment and punishment, the hope he holds out for all who will say of him, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”
© Ray Fowler
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