March 17, 2019 Text: Luke 13:31-35
Dear Friends in Christ,
Have you ever had someone tell you “where to go?” I don’t mean the directions you get from the local gas station or the GPS that keeps telling you to turn around so it can recompute your route. I mean someone telling you “where to go” as in a not so friendly manner. Maybe it was a co-worker telling you “where to go” when you felt they weren’t doing their part of a project. Could it be a son or daughter who didn’t appreciate your advice and they told you “where to go.” How about a spouse who didn’t like your tone of voice and they suggested “where to go” which ended up being the couch or the basement for the night.
Don’t take this the wrong way but I am going to tell you “where to go” this morning. I pray I do it in a Law/Gospel way and if this makes you feel any better, I am using the words of Jesus in our text to get the point across. Lord and Savior please tell us this morning . . .
“WHERE TO GO”
Our text seems to begin with some care and concern. Can it be? Pharisees? “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” (v. 1) They are telling Jesus “where to go” and it is not Jerusalem. Let’s not be duped this morning. The Pharisees weren’t concerned about Jesus’ welfare as much as they were tired of Jesus’ being there. Jesus was gathering a large following on their turf…and they didn’t like it, so they are going to tell Him where to go.
It is just like the world to not want Jesus around. Herod even wants to end His life. Amazing how someone so perfect can stir such hatred. But we see it around us. Jesus please leave the school and the marketplace and the courts and the government and we, the worldly wise will tell you and your followers “where to go.” Where do they want us? In our homes, with our mouths shut. Or gathered in our churches with a social gospel. They don’t want God’s Word or to hear what Jesus the Savior has to say.
Jesus is going to speak in spite of this as He does in our text. “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course.” (v. 2) Let’s not degrade the Savior into some wimp who is just all about acceptance. He calls out Herod for who he is – deceitful, sly, tricky, a psychopath. Herod will be one of the engineers telling Jesus where to go.
The thing is Jesus knows where He is going. In our text He must be on His way because He still has miraculous work to do. But He will return. He must die in Jerusalem. Jesus knows where He has to go to get us to where we need to go. The Pharisees took Jesus’ talk of a “third day” seriously because you may remember they posted a guard at Jesus’ tomb until the 3rd day.
Where to go? Where to go? Everyone is always looking where to go for answers. They are right here. In our sin, the devil would like to escort us down the path of “where to go.” That is someone we don’t want to follow…it might get a little hot. Jesus instead would like to have us go to quiet waters and golden streets. He made it possible when He returned to Jerusalem. He knew He was in a long line of prophets that had been killed and would be killed in Jerusalem. His death and resurrection would open up for us the “New Jerusalem.”
Out of the billions of people on this planet Jesus gathered you and me together as a hen gathers her brood. We are His. And somehow, regardless of what’s going on in your life this morning – somehow, if you’re really thinking about it – His gathering you under His wings has to make a difference as you live in world that doesn’t want Jesus.
As those saved by the cross do we just stand there admiring it as a work of art? No. We depart because the Lord wants to tell us “where to go.” “Go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” (Mt. 28:19) “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” (Mark 16:15) Christianity is not a stagnant faith. It is a moving faith. A faith on the move in our actions and words. The next time you want to tell someone “where to go” point him or her to the cross or to the Bible or to Good Shepherd Lutheran Church.
See, I told you it would not be so bad. Where to go? You know and I know now let’s tell the unbelieving world “where to go”. Then when we get there let’s look for them on the path laid down by Jesus our Savior.
Amen.