Lent #2
“Getting What We
Want”
Luke 13:31-35
31At that time some
Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, "Leave this place and go
somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you."
32He 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.' 33In any case, I must keep going today and
tomorrow and the next day—
for surely no prophet can die outside
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! 35Look, 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.'
The very popular
documentary movie The March of the Penguins follows the Emperor Penguins
of Antarctica on an incredible journey through ice and snow to mating grounds
up to 70 miles inland. Once the penguins have made the trek and the females
have produced their single eggs, a remarkable exchange occurs as each mother
swaps her egg into the father's care. At this point the father becomes
responsible for the egg.
At one point in the film, narrator Morgan
Freeman says:
“While the mother feeds and gathers food to
bring back for the newborn, it is the father who will shield the egg from the
violent winds and cold (80 below!). He will make a nest for the egg atop his
own claws, keeping it safe and warm beneath a flap of skin on his belly. ....By
the time their vigil on top of the egg is over, the penguin fathers will have
gone without food of any kind for 125 days, and they will have endured one the
most violent and deadly winters on earth, all for the chick.”
March of the Penguins (Warner Brothers, 2005), written by Jordan
Roberts, directed by Luc Jacquet
In the Apostle’s Paul’s Letter to the
Romans we are reminded that God’s creation reflects His glory. In other words, that
which was created reflects the nature of the One who created it.
Romans 1:20
For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal
power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has
been made, so that men are without excuse.
So here among
penguins, as well in stories about hippos, and images of hen’s gathering their
chicks under their wings.... we see reflected the providing & protective
love that our Heavenly Father has for His children.
In
some respects, penguins, hippos, chickens, and just about any other animal
you'd care to mention seem to have more sense than people. The young animals at least have intelligence
enough to stay close to mom (and sometimes dad); close to food, protection,
warmth, and nurture.
You won't find kittens turning away
from the warm fur they know so well.
Chicks don't stray far from the protection of the hen's wings. Such behavior would be counter to their nature--counter
to the natural order God created. Even
the least intelligent offspring stay close to the one who gave them life; they
cry out to the one who nurtures and protects them.
But people? That’s another story. Human beings stray; only the children of God
exhibit the unnatural behavior of turning away from the love and protection of
the God who made them, in order pursue other wants. For being created in the
image of God we have free will and the ability to think about what we want. And
sometimes what we want is not what God wants for us.
Today’s reading from Luke 13:(31-35)
is our second lesson in the Season of Lent, a season which highlights the
suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ. And today we get a sense of the sorrow He
experiences; the sorrow God experiences when we fail to want all that He offers
to us. It seems so obvious to us that we should want all which God would give
to us, but human nature is broken isn’t it? Sin has warped our perspective, and
has caused many to refuse even that which they need the most.
Helicopter pilot Iain
McConnell, along with the rest of his air station crew, was summoned at 4 in
the morning on August 30, 2005, to the
The first airborne
relief teams arrived in the affected areas before any news crews, and were
completely unprepared for the devastation they saw. ....The entire city of
McConnell's crew
got right to work, airlifting stranded people from their rooftops and out of
windows, and delivering them to the Superdome’s helipad. To their chagrin,
however, they were only able to help a relatively few amount of survivors. In
an interview, McConnell shared why:
On our first three missions, we saved the lives of 89
people, three dogs, and a cat. On the fourth mission, to our great frustration,
we saved no one—but not for lack of trying. The dozens we attempted to rescue
refused pickup!
Some people told us to simply bring them food and water.
We warned them) "You are trying to live in
unhealthy conditions, and the water will stay high for a long time.”
Still, they refused. I felt frustrated and angry, since
we had used up precious time and fuel, and had put ourselves at risk during
each rescue attempt. I felt like they were ungrateful. But, in truth, they did
not know how desperate their situation was.
Lieutenant Iain McConnell, as told to Jocelyn C. Green,
"A Rescuer's Journal" Today's Christian (January/February
2006) mod.
I think we can understand the
frustration of Iain McConnell. He wanted to rescue more people, but they didn’t
want to be rescued, for they failed to understand their danger. But today, do
you also feel the pain of our Lord?
Luke 13:34
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!
Some time later, when Jesus was
entering Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, Luke records in chapter 19 that Jesus wept
over Jerusalem, because they were blind to the peace God was offering to them
through Jesus, and Jesus knew that their rejection of what He brought would
bring great suffering upon them; upon the very children of God.
As I mentioned to last week’s Bible
Study class..... we don’t want to miss the extraordinary compassion of our God,
by failing to notice that Jesus not only died for the sin of all people, but
even weeps over those who will reject God’s salvation in his blood. How many of
us have such compassion when people reject our rescue attempts? Did the
helicopter pilots weep for those who rejected their courageous attempts? Do we
too weep, knowing the consequence of those who do not want to be saved?
So, what do you
want in life? Is it what God wants to give you?
Today, as those
gathered in Jesus’ name, let us examine our wants in light of what Jesus wants.
1. Jesus wanted to bring God’s salvation, though it
meant his death.
From Luke 9:51 on, Jesus was heading for
As the time
approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for
Jesus was very much aware of his
future, and it was full-speed-ahead. Facing a threat to his very life, (Jesus)
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.’
Now
whether Jesus life was really threatened by Herod, as warned by some of the
Pharisees, or whether it was part of a plot to scare Jesus out of Galilee and toward
But the Gospel writer communicates
that Jesus knew His fate, and it would not be determined by Herod... it would
proceed out of the religious community, the very People of God.... for it was
the fate of many of the Prophets who spoke God’s Truth to people who didn’t
want to hear the Truth.
Jesus proclaims:”.. I must keep going
today and tomorrow and the next day —for surely no prophet can die outside
Jesus was aware of His difficult road
... and would have chosen a different path only if His Father had willed. But
more than anything else, Jesus wanted to do His Father’s will, no matter the
cost, because He knew it meant our salvation.
As Jesus would pray at the foot of the
Mount of Olives, in the
Luke 22:42
“Father, if you are
willing, take this cup from me; yet not my
will, but yours be done.”
Jesus wanted to
bring God’s salvation, though it meant his death. What do you want? Do you want
God’s gift of salvation, or do you want to stray from God’s embrace by
rejecting God’s Truth, His prophets... even His own Son.
In Luke 13 Jesus describes the
consequences of rejecting God’s Truth in these terms...
“ ....your house is left to you desolate”
The “house” refers to the
When people reject God, they should
not expect to find themselves under His protective wing..... they should not
cry out
“Why have you
allowed this to happen to me, O God?”
Their rejection of
God’s Truth has caused them to stray out into a field that is full of enemies
ready to attack; their “temple” is desolate.
In his beautiful letter to Christians
in Ephesis, Paul warns those he deeply loves about being like those who want
the things of this world rather than the things of God:
Ephesians 4:17-19
So I tell you this,
and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do,
in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and
separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to
the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given
themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with
a continual lust for more.
This morning I will
not even begin list the growing moral infections of this world which illustrate
life outside of God’s Word.. outside of God’s protection; outside His
protective wings. One needs only to open the newspaper, go online, scan a
magazine to see human want usurping what God’s wants, and the consequences of
those human wants.
When a society strays from God’s
protective care... the “house” becomes “desolate”, and we get what we want, and
what we want will destroy us.
What do you want? Do you want God’s
salvation in Christ? Do you want to be “gathered in” by God?
In Revelation 3 we
hear a message from Jesus to the church in
Revelation 3:17-21
17You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not
need a thing.' But you do not realize
that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18I
counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich;
and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve
to put on your eyes, so you can see. 19Those whom I love
I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. 20Here
I am! I stand at the door and
knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with
him, and he with me. 21To him who overcomes, I will give
the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my
Father on his throne.
Jesus died because he wanted to offer
you salvation.
What do you want? Jesus is ready to come into your life as Savior
and friend for life’s journey.
Do you want what Jesus wants to give you? Have
you opened the “door” to let Jesus into your life?
If you want what
Jesus wants to give you, talk with me after the service.
If you already call
yourself a “Christian”; a follower of Jesus, then I have one more word for you:
2. As Jesus wanted to do the will of the Father, Jesus
wants us to take up our cross as well.
Most people forget a basic reality
proclaimed in the Bible;
Romans 6:16
....that when you
offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you
obey—
whether you are
slaves to sin, which leads to death,
or to obedience,
which leads to righteousness?
Together with
Galatians 5:1 ( It is for freedom
that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be
burdened again by a yoke of slavery.) we are reminded that when we fail to
want what Jesus wanted (a glorious freedom in serving the righteous will of
God), we quickly become slaves to human want; want for
-
money,
-
lust,
-
power,
-
fame,
-
irresponsible living.
When we seek to fulfill our own wants, we fail
to see as Jesus saw, that we have purpose in life, a purpose which only gets
manifested when we die to ourselves and live solely for God. Do you know that
about yourself?
Do you know that God created you
special, and when you live for Him you will reveal His loving &
compassionate nature to others? As one of God’s greatest creations, you will
reflect your creator if you chose to.... if you want what Jesus wanted. If you
are willing to take up your cross... if you are willing to die to your “wants”
to that others will see God’s salvation in you, then you too will discover your
greatest purpose.... to glorify God.
But note, this is not an easy calling.
When Jesus “resolutely set out for
Luke 9:58-62
58Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air
have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."
59He said to another man, "Follow me."
But the man replied, "Lord, first let
me go and bury my father."
60Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead,
but you go and proclaim the
61 Still another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but
first let me go back and say good-by to my family."
62Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow
and looks back is fit for service in the
While generally
understood as hyperbole, Jesus teaching is clear. Following Jesus is not for
the faint-hearted, nor is it a part-time Sunday-only commitment, as our culture
has defined it.
To follow Jesus costs us everything,
but the benefits are priceless... eternal, abundant life.
What
do you want?
Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL
VERSION (r).
Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.
Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.
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