Easter Devotional - Day 18
"Jerusalem, Jerusalem! Your people have killed the prophets and have stoned the messengers who were sent to you. I have often wanted to gather your people, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. But you wouldn't let me." Luke 13:34
This is not the reaction we would expect, at least not of ourselves. Perhaps we have become numb to the words and picture of Jesus weeping over Jerusalem. Perhaps we have become jaded by the picture, such that we miss what Jesus actually said. This is a cry of unrequited love, mercy, forgiveness, grace, and condemnation all rolled into one. It is the cry of a lover who has been rejected, not once, but over, and over, and over.
This was the city of God, the seat of Yahweh's presence on earth. It was the center of knowledge about the Creator God, the one who had redeemed an enslaved people from Egypt and led them into the land promised to Abraham. They were the people of God, taking for themselves the name of Yahweh for all to see. Even so, Jesus' words address a deep failure to accept God on God's own terms. Rather than honor and worship Yahweh in truth, they had taken the name of God in vain.
Even so, God cared for this people. They had run after Ba'al in the days of Ahab, sending Elijah running for his life. They had built the temple in the days of Solomon, while Solomon took pagan wives who brought their idols into Jerusalem. They had refused to heed God's warnings time and again, sending Jeremiah to prison for declaring the truth of impending exile. They had ignored the preaching of John the Baptist, allowing for Herod's taking him prisoner and decapitating him to silence God's word of critique and call to repentance.
Even at the moment Jesus spoke, the leaders of Jerusalem were plotting to take his life in order to silence the critique of their conflicted interests. They were concerned over position, power, status, prestige, tradition, and heritage. They were focused on their comfort and their claim on truth rather than the claim of God on their lives. Instead of heeding God's message through the prophets, they sought the message of those who kept them feeling comfortable and secure in their way of life, the pursuit of their own purposes and ambitions.
They had wreaked violence on God and God's messengers. Jesus' response was love. They had killed the prophets. Jesus' response was an offer to forgive. They had tried desperately to silence God's word of opposition to their excesses. Jesus extended grace, mercy, and a call for reconciliation. We would carry the wounds on our sleeves shout for revenge. Jesus weeps for love, forgiveness, and grace to unite even violent enemies of God under the reach of his love. Though God would be justified in wiping out those who stone his prophets, he offers grace and love, instead.
Are we up to the challenge of responding to violence according to Jesus' example? While he confronted those fighting God, he embraced them and gave his life that we all might live.
All too often, we are also guilty of attempting to silence God. Ask God to convict you of where you are still struggling against God's direction and will.
"Lord, help me respond to violence according to your mercy, grace, and forgiveness. Remind me of my own need of forgiving grace and grant me the courage to love like you."
—©Copyright 2009 Christopher B. Harbin
http://www.sermonsearch.com/contributors/104427/
This is not the reaction we would expect, at least not of ourselves. Perhaps we have become numb to the words and picture of Jesus weeping over Jerusalem. Perhaps we have become jaded by the picture, such that we miss what Jesus actually said. This is a cry of unrequited love, mercy, forgiveness, grace, and condemnation all rolled into one. It is the cry of a lover who has been rejected, not once, but over, and over, and over.
This was the city of God, the seat of Yahweh's presence on earth. It was the center of knowledge about the Creator God, the one who had redeemed an enslaved people from Egypt and led them into the land promised to Abraham. They were the people of God, taking for themselves the name of Yahweh for all to see. Even so, Jesus' words address a deep failure to accept God on God's own terms. Rather than honor and worship Yahweh in truth, they had taken the name of God in vain.
Even so, God cared for this people. They had run after Ba'al in the days of Ahab, sending Elijah running for his life. They had built the temple in the days of Solomon, while Solomon took pagan wives who brought their idols into Jerusalem. They had refused to heed God's warnings time and again, sending Jeremiah to prison for declaring the truth of impending exile. They had ignored the preaching of John the Baptist, allowing for Herod's taking him prisoner and decapitating him to silence God's word of critique and call to repentance.
Even at the moment Jesus spoke, the leaders of Jerusalem were plotting to take his life in order to silence the critique of their conflicted interests. They were concerned over position, power, status, prestige, tradition, and heritage. They were focused on their comfort and their claim on truth rather than the claim of God on their lives. Instead of heeding God's message through the prophets, they sought the message of those who kept them feeling comfortable and secure in their way of life, the pursuit of their own purposes and ambitions.
They had wreaked violence on God and God's messengers. Jesus' response was love. They had killed the prophets. Jesus' response was an offer to forgive. They had tried desperately to silence God's word of opposition to their excesses. Jesus extended grace, mercy, and a call for reconciliation. We would carry the wounds on our sleeves shout for revenge. Jesus weeps for love, forgiveness, and grace to unite even violent enemies of God under the reach of his love. Though God would be justified in wiping out those who stone his prophets, he offers grace and love, instead.
Are we up to the challenge of responding to violence according to Jesus' example? While he confronted those fighting God, he embraced them and gave his life that we all might live.
All too often, we are also guilty of attempting to silence God. Ask God to convict you of where you are still struggling against God's direction and will.
"Lord, help me respond to violence according to your mercy, grace, and forgiveness. Remind me of my own need of forgiving grace and grant me the courage to love like you."
—©Copyright 2009 Christopher B. Harbin
http://www.sermonsearch.com/contributors/104427/
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