Intro The Pharisees are at it again but, this time, they’re trying to do Jesus a favor. Jesus was likely on the eastern side of the Jordan River: Herod’s home ground. So, the Pharisees come to Jesus with an insider’s tip: “Herod wants to kill You! Go, get away from here!” Such irony, for the Pharisees also want to kill Jesus. They’d been plotting such a plan for about a year. They just couldn’t figure out how and when.
Main Body Religion and politics, such a twisted partnership. The Church begins to act as the state and the state as the Church. The result? All too often it’s sin and evil. Watch out when religion and politics get together! We’ll see plenty of that in this election season. The scheming politician, Herod, and the religious Pharisees. They hate each other with a passion, but they do have something in common. Both hate Jesus, and both want Him dead. Herod hates Him for being a threat to his throne; the Pharisees for being a threat to their religion. Both want Jesus dead, forever removed from their lives. Israel had a nasty reputation when it came to God’s prophets. For example, tradition tells us Prophet Isaiah died a martyr’s death, cut in half while shoved inside a hollow log in Jerusalem. Political and religious authorities arrested Prophet Jeremiah, threw him into a pit, and burned his books. He felt the burn of their wrath because they didn’t like what he preached. That was our Old-Testament reading for today. Man-made religion and politics seek to silence the Word, wanting to kill to Jesus. What good is a king who rides in humility or dies for His people, even His enemies? Who needs a king without a palace, royal robes, or a crown—except one made of thorns? Not the health-and-wealth, name-it-and-claim-it religions; not the my-way-or-the-highway posturing of politics. But Jesus remains undaunted. He’s the Lord, and will lay down His life and take up again. Our Lord will die—but it will be on His terms. Once, a crowd tried to throw Jesus off a cliff. He slipped through without a scratch. He runs the show. Last week, you heard how Jesus resisted the devil in the desert with nothing but the Word. So, the One, who resisted the Evil One with nothing but the Word, need not fear from someone such as Herod. “Tell that fox, ‘I am driving out demons and healing today and tomorrow; and on the third day, I will complete my work.’” The third day. Was Jesus thinking of His resurrection? You can’t help but think so. Jesus recognized that religion and politics would form an evil partnership to kill Him. He also knew He would rise on the third day, defeating Death, once for all. And it would happen on His timetable, not Herod’s. Through Jesus’ death, God would not only outfox old Herod, but even sin, death, the devil, and the Law. A murderous king doesn’t deter Jesus. He’s the Lord of lords and the King above all kings. A single word from His mouth is stronger than all the might and majesty of man—put together. On His terms, He chooses to go to Jerusalem, the ancient seat of Israel’s religious and political power. Jerusalem was the city of palace and Temple, of kings and clergy. Even before Israel existed, Melchizedek, that strange Christ-figure ruled as king and priest in Jerusalem when Abraham walked the earth. King David later built the king’s palace and declared Jerusalem as Israel’s capital city. Solomon built the Temple. King and priest, crown and altar: Politics and religion formed the dust and mortar of Jerusalem’s streets. Jesus also speaks a word for the Pharisees, for He grasped what was on their minds. He recognizes their plot to kill Him, as well. All this talk about His safety is just a smoke screen. But first, Jesus repeats something He wants no one to miss: “I must press on today, tomorrow, and the next day…” The next day? There it is again: that’s the third day! Jesus says much about the third day, doesn’t He? Then comes the word He saves for the Pharisees: “It’s impossible for a prophet to perish outside of Jerusalem.” Jesus lets them understand that He’s on to their game. He sees what’s going on in their minds. They were trying to push Him into Jerusalem where they could seize and kill Him. Jerusalem had a reputation for persecuting the prophets. So, if a prophet is going to die, it will be in Jerusalem. Jerusalem: The place where prophets die a martyr’s death. Recognizing that Jerusalem will live up to its reputation, there Jesus goes. Such love! Jesus chooses to go to Jerusalem, knowing it will cost Him His life. Our Lord loves His enemies to the end. He loves the Pharisees, Herod, and even us. Is that surprising? Religious and political power games also entrap us, not just them. Jesus looks at Jerusalem with eternal eyes, seeing what’s in store, and He laments. His people will reject the Word, the prophet, even the Messiah. His heart breaks and His eyes weep: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you! How often I wanted to gather your children as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling!” Jesus is the loving, merciful, and gracious heart of God in human flesh. Jesus opens His arms as a mother hen gathers her wayward and wandering chicks. He wants them all—the religious and the unreligious, the powerful and the powerless. He came to save them all, even though they don’t want His salvation. Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world—and if the world doesn’t want its sin taken away, He will still go forth to die. “God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Lent is a fitting time to admit the harsh reality that a Pharisee and a Herod is in each one of us. Like them, we are always trying to orchestrate life our way. We want to be little gods in place of God, exerting our wills to control others—and even, if it were possible, to control God. We seize the political hammer to manipulate and control others by power or force. Oh yes, the Pharisee and Herod are alive and well in each one of us. We call it our sinful flesh, the “old Adam,” the original sinner. Like Jerusalem, we were not willing. It’s Jesus’ warning to each of us. Don’t presume on the mercies of God. Don’t assume, “We can repent tomorrow or the next day.” Today is the time to repent; today is the day of your salvation. Those tears of Jesus, which He grieves for the Holy City, He also sheds for His Church, even for you. Whenever we reject the Word for human-centered programs, Jesus weeps. Whenever we rely on the political institutions within the Church to do what God wants to do through His Word, He weeps. Jesus grieves when we allow our worship preferences to push aside His preferences for us. Undaunted, Jesus still gathers us. Raised on the cross, He pulls all people to Himself, even those who want Him killed and gone. Jesus doesn’t just grieve over Jerusalem. He even weeps over our rejections and denials. Jerusalem was a city always awash in “innocent blood.” So, who better to go there to face His death than Jesus—sinless, innocent, and incarnate. Innocent blood soaked into Jerusalem’s streets. Pilate washed his hands and deflected his guilt: “I am innocent of this man’s blood” (Matthew 27:24). Judas threw the betrayer’s silver back at the priests who gave it to him. Blood-stained it was, for he had betrayed innocent blood. The priests took the silver and bought a Field of Blood with it. The mob wanted a crucified Jesus: “His blood be on us—and our children!” (Matthew 27:25). Jerusalem’s history is a bloody history—sacrificial blood, lambs of Passover, the blood of the prophets—and the blood of Jesus, which takes away the sin of the word. So, in that history, we also see the history of God dealing with a fallen and sinful humanity. Jerusalem shows us the history of sin and rebellion; of hard-heartedness, rejection of the Word, and the prophets who preached Him. It’s also the history of God’s mercy and grace for us sinful creatures. It’s the history of the Word made Flesh, who faced rejection so we could delight in God’s acceptance. Jesus’ blood honors the blood of the prophets, spilled into Jerusalem’s dust. For only He fulfills what they prophesied. And yet, Jerusalem’s future is a bright one. The next time the Holy City shows up in the Scriptures, she descends from heaven, a beautiful bride adorned for her wedding day. Jerusalem is the city God builds, not the city that we build. She is the redeemed and restored Jerusalem, raised from the dead. The blood of the Lamb atones for Jerusalem’s murders. Pure gold now paves her streets, once littered with stones, hurled in hatred. The prophets and apostles who died there are not her firm foundation. Christ is: He is her Light and her Life! You’re a citizen of that free city. Your Baptism is your citizenship papers. “Our citizenship is in heaven,” the Apostle wrote to the Philippians. You’re getting a foretaste of that, as the preached Word enters your ears; even more, when our Lord’s body and blood touches your sin-parched lips. For 25 years, here at Christ Our Savior Lutheran Church, God has blessed you with the preached Word and His Sacraments. Blessed by such, we rejoice: “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord.” Conclusion The Divine Service points us to a day, THE Day, which will end all man-made religion and politics. On that Day, Jesus will return and transform your lowly body to be like His glorious body. Redeemed and raised, His divinity will shine in and through you in both soul—and body! “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord!” For He comes to save even the likes of you and me. Amen. _______________________________________________ Sermons mailing list Sermons@cat41.org http://cat41.org/mailman/listinfo/sermons
