Word of Salvation – Vol.34 No.09 – March 1989
Steadfast Towards The Cross
Sermon by Rev. S. Bajema on Luke 13:31-33
Reading: Matthew 21:33-46
Singing: Ps/H. 307:1,2; 45:1,6,7; 449:1,3; 431:4; 348; 231
Brothers and Sisters,
As the Church of the Lord, we are now celebrating a special period of time leading up to Easter. Traditionally this time has been called Lent. This is a period of some five weeks in which we consider our Lord’s final steps towards Jerusalem and towards the suffering and death that waited for Him there.
What we remember, especially though, is that this great suffering was done on our behalf by our Lord Jesus Christ. As the Heidelberg Catechism puts it:
“…during His whole life on earth, but especially at the end Christ sustained in body and soul the anger of God against the sin of the whole human race.”
Our text is very relevant for this theme. It speaks to us of our Lord Jesus setting His mind upon that final trip to Jerusalem. And as we look at these verses there are three points that stand out.
– The first of these is the temptation from Satan to try to change God’s plan.
– Secondly, there is Satan exposed and condemned.
– And in the third place we see how Jesus, again in this instance,
affirms that He will carry out His Father’s will.
Firstly – there is that temptation from Satan to try to change God’s plan.
The name of Satan, or the devil, or the evil, isn’t used here. So it’s not immediately obvious that what is being suggested comes straight from the mouth of Satan. Let’s look at verse 31. There we read:
“At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to Him, “Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.”
It seems that these Pharisees are trying to be helpful. Perhaps they didn’t want to see Jesus suffer the same fate as John the Baptist had at the hands of Herod. And although the Pharisees often stood opposed to much of what Jesus said and did, yet they were much closer to Him than they were to Herod. These Pharisees are advising Jesus to leave this area of which Herod was ruler, and go elsewhere – probably to Judea.
Isn’t it kind of them to try to help Jesus in this way? But, in fact, it’s far from helpful. Going to Judea might keep Jesus away from Herod. But it would also place Him in the hands of the Jewish Council – the Sanhedrin. This Council was very keen to get hold of Him. And after the incident with John the Baptist Herod wasn’t too keen to risk a people’s revolution.
Instead, he wanted Jesus to take His movement, and His followers, somewhere else. And Judea was as good a place as any.
So these Pharisees speaking to Jesus are trying to be very sneaky. They are working for two masters – for their Pharisee leaders on the Sanhedrin, and for Herod. Yet neither of these is the right master! Rather, these two masters served the wrong master. They were in the employment of the evil one himself. And the purpose of Satan – the evil one – as it has been since man’s fall, has been to try to stop God’s plan of salvation for His people.
Christ Jesus, though, can see clearly through all this. The mighty King, under whom all this vast creation has been placed, can also see what is upon a man’s heart. And thus we come to our second point.
Satan is exposed and condemned!
This is seen at the beginning of verse 32, where we read: He replied, “Go tell that fox…!”
Jesus tells these disciples to go to their master, Herod. He knows who they’re working for. And as He tells them to return to Herod He also exposes and condemns Herod with very strong language. The name, the fox, to the Jews, and also to us today points to a very cunning and crafty man. The fox is an animal that judges his moment of attack with much precision. At the weakest possible point he will strike to try to get his way.
But this craftiness also shows us that the fox has to wait for that weak moment. Of himself he isn’t all that strong. So he makes use of his limited strength in the best possible way. Isn’t this such a clear picture of the devil at work? He’s the crafty, subtle one, who although he has a certain power, yet is limited in what he can do. But, when he strikes, doesn’t he leave a mess?! And we don’t need to go beyond ourselves to know how true this is.
We know, for ourselves, the times we have been tripped up, and even held up, by that evil one.
As Martin Luther wrote in one of his hymns:
For still our ancient foe
Doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great,
And armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.
Yet we don’t talk now of one upon earth who is able to fight him. The One we have before us is from heaven. Yes, we speak of the God-man – Christ Jesus Himself! And Jesus shows His power as He treats Satan’s representative, Herod, with the contempt he deserves. Nowhere else in the Gospels does Jesus treat a man with so much contempt!
Later in Luke’s Gospel we see Jesus showing Herod face-to-face His contempt for Him. As it says in chapter 23:7-9
“When Pontius Pilate learned that Jesus was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that .time. When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased, because for a long time he had been wanting to see him. From what he had heard about him, he hoped to see him perform some miracle. He plied him with many questions, but Jesus gave him no answer.”
Jesus gave Herod no answer! And when Jesus has nothing to say to a man – that man’s position is hopeless! So in Jesus telling the Pharisees to return to Herod, He’s not just pointing out their connection with that evil ruler. Jesus is also saying that He’s not afraid of Herod.
And so we come to our third point. This point is that…
Jesus affirms that He will fulfil His Father’s plan.
Our Lord strongly asserts that there’s no way He’s going to be taken off that divinely- appointed path. We read in the rest of verse 32, and in verse 33:
“…I will drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal’. In any case, I must keep going today and tomorrow and the next day – for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!”
What a contrast to that which we saw earlier about ourselves! We so easily stumble and fall! And yet here is One who can, and who will, fulfil His Heavenly Father’s will. Nothing is about to stop our Lord! And because nothing can stop our Lord and Saviour we have a tremendous strength as we consider this period leading up to Easter. Because God has willed it – it will come to pass.
This is what the casting out of demons, and the healing of people shows us. God’s Kingdom has come – because Christ has come. And because Christ has come, we know that whatever the devil may tempt us with; whatever he may try to make us stumble against, yet, we are redeemed! Saved – by the blood of the Lamb! This blood is clearly pointed to in our text. As Jesus mentions:
“…on the third day I will reach my goal.”
The phrase, “third day”, doesn’t refer to a specific space of three days. We might be tempted to tie this in with the rising from the dead of our Lord, after three days. Instead, this phrase points us to the end of a definite time. The number three, in this in this case, indicates the coming to a close of a particular time period. That time period was the ministry of Jesus upon this earth. And the goal of this ministry was the suffering and death upon the Cross.
In our first Scripture reading we read of those tenants who killed the servants of their Master. In the end they even killed the Son of their Master, because they thought they could benefit. But this totally depraved selfishness only leads them into everlasting punishment. Yet that theme of this parable of the Tenants, and of our text, is clear. God’s one and only Son has been sent to call the people of the Lord back to His ways. Yet, even He would die also in Jerusalem.
Jerusalem, as the capital, was the heart of the nation. It was from the nation’s rulers, who met together there, that Israel’s future direction was mapped out. It was there, before the Council, that the prophets were placed on trial. And it was going to be at Jerusalem that Israel would put to death Jesus Christ – a death that would accomplish God’s purpose for His anointed one. No wonder our Lord cries out in verse 34:
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent out 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!”
Was this Jerusalem the holy city? Was this the Bride of the Covenant God? No – this is the reality of the fallen world – a world that thinks it can manage well enough on its own, without any reference to God whatsoever. Oh, they have their rules and regulations alright! But only as far as it suits them. And don’t mention the truth of the Gospel. There’s no room for that kind of a message. It’s old-fashioned, it’s reactionary; it’s restrictive; it’s irrelevant! But, let the world say what it likes! The Gospel is not dead, as they are. There’s life in the message. There’s life in the good news of what God’s Son did nearly two thousand years ago. Jesus didn’t give up. He kept on going and going until our salvation was secure. It won’t be the territory of Herod where Jesus will die. And there won’t be a disruption of God’s plan by Satan. Instead – there will be complete and perfect fulfilment.
AMEN.