For the Sake of the Joy
Luke 13:31-35[1]
One of the difficult
aspects of following the schedule of Scripture readings for our worship is that
they demand a great deal from us. That’s particularly the case for our readings
from the Gospel of Luke this year. As I’ve mentioned, the “good news” in Luke’s
Gospel has an “edge” to it. Part of that “edge” is that Jesus emphasizes
repeatedly the “cost” of following him. Hearing week after week that
discipleship is going to cost us can wear on us, and perhaps even feel
discouraging. The more we hear the demand to take up our cross and follow
Jesus, the more discouraged we may get about how well we follow him.
One of the reasons for
this is because Jesus focuses his attention so consistently on the fact that
his faithfulness to God was leading him to die on a cross. And Jesus used his
journey to the cross as a model for us to follow. We hear in many ways that
following him will require us to give up our lives. But we have to remember
that the cross was not the end of Jesus’ journey. His path would lead him through
death to resurrection, to his exaltation to the right hand of God, and to his
return with power to complete God’s final victory. The author of Hebrews puts
it this way: “for the sake of the joy that was set before him he endured the
cross” (Heb 12:2). I think we can take a similar approach to the cost of
following Jesus.
Our lesson for today
may not seem like a good fit for finding this kind of encouragement. One factor
in trying to understand this passage is placing it in the context of Luke’s
Gospel. In this section of Luke, Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem, where he
knows he is going to complete his mission by giving up his life. As Luke tells
the story of Jesus’ journey, he takes the opportunity to report Jesus’
teachings about what it means to follow him. And he does so over the course of
half of his Gospel—ten chapters! While Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem to
fulfill his calling, Luke tells us that he was preparing his disciples for what
it would mean for them to follow him.
I think we do well to
pay special attention to the final verses in our lesson for today. This strange
passage starts off with an even stranger event: Luke tells us that some
Pharisees came to warn Jesus that Herod was trying to kill him! We might be
thinking that if they were Pharisees, they were probably trying to kill Jesus
as well. But it’s important for us to recognize that not all the “Pharisees”
were against Jesus. The reason there was so much friction between Jesus and the
Pharisees is because they had the most in common among the Jewish groups in
that day. And the Gospels name two Pharisees who actually supported Jesus:
Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus (Lk 23:50-53; Jn 19:38-42).
But our lesson gets
“curiouser and curiouser,” to quote Alice in Wonderland. Jesus responds to the
warning by saying, “Go and tell that jackal for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out
demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish
my work” (Lk 13:32). To say the least, it’s a confusing way to reply to a
warning about a death threat! I think, however, that what we’re meant to hear
is the phrase “today and tomorrow, and on the third day.” This reminds us of
the way in which Jesus predicted his own death. I would say that Jesus knew he
was going to die, and it wouldn’t be at the hands of Herod!
And so in the next
verse, Jesus continues, “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” (Lk
13:33). It’s clear in this verse that Jesus knows he “must” go to Jerusalem to
die. But again, we have this phrase, “today, tomorrow, and the next day.” I
would say that this repeated emphasis of what Jesus would do over the course of
three days points us to the fact that he would “finish” his work not only on
the cross, but also on the “third day” when God raised him from the dead.
Although he knew that he faced a brutal trial, he also knew that would not be
the end for him, but that God’s power would prevail through him.
I think we see
something similar at the end of our lesson, where Jesus says, “you will not see
me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the
name of the Lord’” (Lk 13:35). Although those very words were the ones the
crowds used to welcome him to Jerusalem, Jesus was looking past that. I think
he was looking beyond his death and resurrection to his return with power to
complete God’s final victory. It’s hard to imagine the faith and courage it
took for Jesus to face his death with so much resolve. But I believe, as
Hebrews tells us, that he did it “for the sake of the joy that was set before
him.” In other words, he faced the ultimate test of his faithfulness to God by
his faith in the victory God would win for all people through him.
I think we can
approach our commitment to following Jesus in a similar way. We may have to
face hardships. We may have to make sacrifices. As Jesus said we may have to
give up our lives in order to truly find life. None of that’s easy. And the
road can get long and weary as we continue to follow Jesus. But like Jesus, we
can remain faithful by remembering that all the hardships we may face, all the
sacrifices we may make, all that we may have to give up serves to bring God’s
love to hurting people in our world. And so we can follow Jesus “for the sake
of the joy” that is set before us, because we trust that God is working through
us as well!
[1] © 2022
Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm Ph. D. on 3/13/2022 for
Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
No comments:
Post a Comment