Advent Lutheran Church

"Created Human - Divinely Blessed"

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 Jerusalem!

  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."

Created Human – Divinely Blessed

The Gospel of Luke is filled with all kinds of stories of healing and miracles performed by Jesus.  This particular passage, however, seems to gloss over that fact as Jesus has a singular focus now, to head towards Jerusalem and the Cross.
It would be an understatement to say the words spoken to the Pharisees are pointed and forceful.  Usually when Jesus says, “Listen,” He means it.  In the passage it is clear His resolve to fulfill what He has been called to do will not diminish.
Jesus tells the Pharisees to ‘go and tell’ Herod that today is not the day, and that ‘I must be on my way’.  ‘The Way’ Jesus describes offers a path that will lead the disciples, future generations and even us today on a blessed journey with Him.
My first reaction to this invitation to follow Jesus on this journey is to prepare myself to do great and wonderful things for God.  It isn’t long after that I come to the conclusion God doesn’t need me for that.  Unfortunately, that train of thought tends to lead me down the path of least resistance.  It lets me off the hook and gives me the opportunity to make excuses.  Another word for that is sin.
The bible is full of stories with excuses.  In just a few verses, we will hear another one, the parable of the great supper (Luke 14:15–24).  I think this one could also be called the parable of the great excuses.  Those stories are there for a reason, teaching me something about my human nature, and the realization that Jesus’ faith doesn’t allow for any excuses, and He doesn’t offer up any either.
So what then does God think when I stray off the path?  What does God think of my excuses?  When I am not willing, does Jesus’ lament for me the same way He did for Jerusalem?  When I’m not willing, does Jesus move on to someone who is?  Will I see him when the time comes?
These are tough questions to ponder, but good questions for me this Lenten season.
Dealing with these questions is complicated by the fact I’m distracted and sometimes paralyzed by the world I live in.  My human condition, with all its faults, gets in the way.  In the midst of all these distractions, I lose sight of the fact that as part of His creation, God, more than anyone else, understands my humanity.
In her latest book, “An Altar in the World,” pastor and author Barbara Brown Taylor writes about her spirituality from this human perspective.  She explores her human condition in a series of what she calls ‘practices’ or ordinary aspects of her life here on earth.  She discovers God is most certainly present within these practices or events in her life, and more importantly, that God wants to be present there.
During this Lenten season, my hope and my prayer is I will be more aware of the presence of God in the everyday events of my life, letting Him lead me beyond my excuses to faithful service.
Maybe I will learn the answers to my questions aren’t as important as allowing God’s presence to ascend from my mind to my heart or discovering I can still be amazed by God.  Maybe I will learn my life on earth is not so much about what I do, but was done for me by a savior whose passion allows me to be both human and divinely blessed, and more importantly, that my excuses are forgiven.
Amen