Firm and Loving

This sermon was preached by Pastor Ted Carnahan for the Second Sunday in Lent, March 15, 2025.

Grace, mercy, and peace be with all of you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

I don't know where people got the idea that Jesus was nice. Because Jesus is not always nice. He's always loving. He's usually kind. Maybe even always. But not always nice. Because sometimes Jesus says the things that we don't want to hear, that we don't exactly enjoy hearing, but that we definitely need to hear.

Jesus' Message in Luke 13

In the context of Luke chapter 13, Jesus has been going after everybody. He starts off in the beginning of that chapter, his message is repent or perish. And he's addressing it to everybody, but especially his own disciples. And then he talks about the fig tree. And he tells the parable of the fig tree where the landowner has a fig tree and it's not producing any fruit. And the landowner says, "Cut it down. It's taking up room. It's stealing the soil and the moisture." And the vine dresser says, "Just give it another year and let me see what I can do."

The time is near. Repent. Repent or perish. The fig tree has just one year left to produce fruit or be cut down.

Right after that, the leader of the synagogue rebukes Jesus because he shows up on the Sabbath and he cures a woman who's been possessed by demons for years. And this man is upset because he's violating the Sabbath rules.

And then after that, he says the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, which if you know anything about mustard is not the most complimentary thing in the world. You'd think it'd be like a beautiful big tall tree with big strong limbs, but instead it's kind of this bush that once you get it in your garden, it kind of spreads everywhere and it goes places that you weren't expecting and didn't exactly want.

And then he says the kingdom of God is like yeast. And that really gets him confused and a little upset because usually in the Old Testament, yeast is a symbol of sin. The kingdom of God is like sin? And that really gets their heads scratching.

And then finally, hardest of all, he tells a parable where the man who represents Jesus there, you know, after telling the people, "Enter through the narrow door," he says to some, he's going to say, "I don't know where you came from." You want to get into the kingdom of God? He says that door is narrow. The path is narrow and only a few will make it in there. And then some are going to get to the door and they're going to knock on that door and Jesus is going to look out and say, "I don't know who you are." And that's serious.

Jesus' Confrontation with Herod

Now, with all of that in mind, we come to our reading from Luke 13, tonight. And some Pharisees of all people, you know, Pharisees and he didn't exactly get along very well, but some Pharisees come to warn Jesus that Herod wants to kill him. I think this might be one of those, the enemy of my enemy is my friend kind of thing, because the Pharisees are no fan of Herod because Pharisees are people who like to keep the law in its strictness as carefully as they can. These are the quote unquote good people in the world. And Herod is renowned for not giving a rip what the law says. You know, he married his brother's wife, for example, which is one of the things that gets him in trouble, gets John the Baptist in trouble because John the Baptist keeps telling him this is wrong and he really doesn't like that.

Jesus, however, is not afraid. He isn't going to change his message because the people don't like it. Even a powerful man like King Herod, that fox for me. And the word fox there, the comparison is not a good one. You know, the word fox can mean different things to different people. If I tell everybody that my wife is a fox, you understand what I mean by the way she is. But if I say you are being like a fox, that's a little more ambiguous. Maybe you're being sly and manipulative. Maybe you're being crafty or insincere. And I think all of those things apply to Herod. Herod is a manipulative mastermind. He's no fool and he knows exactly what he wants and he's willing to do anything to get it. Herod has become corrupted by power.

Jesus, on the other hand, doesn't ally with any politician, any worldly leader. Jesus doesn't need their power or their permission. In fact, Jesus rejects that whole idea when he's talking about the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is not something grandiose and powerful that you see in this world and you go, "Wow, that's really powerful and great. I want to be a part of that." It's like the mustard bush. Kind of spindly and it's everywhere. It's big, but it's not exactly what you look and say, "Wow, that's pretty impressive." It's like yeast. It gets its way into the dough and it spreads throughout, but it's not something that we say, "Man, I hope I can grow up and be like yeast and I grow up."

Jesus is confronting Herod and he is saying things that conflict with the power of Herod and people like him in the world. And in doing so, Jesus is calling us to be and confronting us with a question. What do you actually trust? What do you actually believe?

The Faith of Abraham

Because the faith that God is looking for is like that of Abraham. Abraham, who is beginning to get quite old. He has picked up everything and he has moved into Canaan, this land that God has told him is flowing with milk and honey that will be given to him. And yet now he's come, in our reading today, he's 75 years old and he says, "I have no heir except this slave that was born in my house, Eleazar of Damascus. I don't want a slave to inherit all of this. You told me I'd be the father of many nations and I'm not a father. How is this going to work?"

And God makes a covenant with him through ritual. That's with all that stuff about the smoke pots and the torches and everything is all about. Animals are killed and torches are brought through. And the idea is that God is saying, "May it be done to me like this if I do not keep my word." And Abram believes God and it is reckoned to him as righteousness. He believes God and trusts him in the face of the evidence to the contrary. He's old and things are not going along the ways that he thinks that they should.

What do you trust? What do you really trust when the chips are down? Do you trust in power and wealth and your circumstances and what you can control? Or do you trust in God?

Jesus' Resolve and Mission

Jesus' message to Herod is, "O God, tell that fox that I'm going to do what I'm doing. I'm going to be curing and casting out demons today and tomorrow and on the third day I will finish my tasks." What he's saying is not just about his plans for travel in the next couple of days, but he's talking about how he is absolutely convinced that he must do his father's will and absolutely willing to go to the cross. He knows what's coming for him. He knows that in Jerusalem is his end. This is not a surprise to him. He is simply confronting the reality.

And so this is why he says, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who stone the prophets and kill the ones who are sent to you, how I have longed to gather you beneath her wings." Jesus cares about Jerusalem, but he knows that that is going to be his end. And yet Jesus' answer to the hardship of his life is not to avoid it like we so often do, but instead saying, "God, your will be done."

We pray that every worship service here, don't we? And when we do, we're saying something that if we take it seriously is dangerous. God, not my will be done, not my wants, but what you want. Not my will, but thy will be done. And don't get that crossed up. We're not giving God permission to have his will be done. Oh, you didn't give me permission. Well, I guess my will is not going to be done. What kind of puny God is that? No, he's saying, when we pray thy will be done, we are saying God's will is going to be done whether we like it or not, where we say that we want God's will to be done in and through us.

In other words, God, I know that your kingdom is coming and your will is being done and it is subverting this world. It is spreading like a mustard plant in every corner of the garden. It is spreading like yeast through the bread, through the, you know, leavening the bread dough in ways that I don't even understand. God, let it be done in and through me as well.

And he's also, Jesus is saying here, when he says that today and tomorrow I'm going to do my work and it will be completed on the third day, he's referring also to when he gets to Jerusalem, the full completion of his work. Because he will be curing us by his death on the cross on Friday. He will be dying for us and dead for us in the tomb. On Saturday. And then on the third day, his work will be completed because he will defeat death and rise from the dead.

Jesus' Love for Jerusalem

This is Jesus' heart. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you, I love you even though you have been wayward. I want to gather you even though you resist me. Your house is left to you, he says. You've made your choices. Now I will make mine. You have rejected me and those I have sent for thousands of years. And now Jesus says, "I will make my choice in spite of you."

And this is the love of God. This is Christian love. That even though they kill and they hate in Jerusalem and here today, that Jesus will still go to them and give himself up willingly to them and they will kill him and he will rise in victory. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, I've made my choice for you and I go willingly. This is Christian love. Not that we love those who love us, but that we love even though they hate.

Application to Our Lives

Recently, our confirmation students were kind of surprised to hear that the commandment against murder, the fifth commandment, is also excludes all forms of hatred, of desiring evil things for those even that we don't like. Hatred is excluded. Cursing is excluded. Insults are excluded by the commandment against murder. And that there is never an excuse for mistreating people. No matter how you feel about them or what they've done to you.

This is good boundaries. You can be upset, but I will choose calm. You can reject me, but I will still choose you. You can choose to be ugly towards me, but I won't let it drag me down to that. You can be obsessed with power, Herod, but I will still be about my work. Jerusalem, resist the loving correction of God. Jesus says, "I will still stand firm. I'm not scared of Herod or even of death itself."

And this is something that you and I can learn from because do you have people in your life that you have a difficult relationship with? I do. Do you have people that maybe you have a disagreement with? I don't know, politics or some sort of family history thing? I do. You can be loving still. You can be honest with them and strong and loving and at the same time not motivated by anger or hatred and even willing to do what you think is best for them even if they don't deserve it.

That's what Jesus is doing here for us, not just for Jerusalem, for everybody who calls on his name, who are united like Abraham in this faith in God's word. And if Jesus can do that, we can mirror that love and do that for others.

Conclusion

As Christians, then, we are called not to be nice, but to stand firm in the faith, to tell the truth to the world even if the world doesn't want to hear it, to be kind, but not always nice, to have good boundaries about the bad behavior we see around us and not be so triggered by it that we fall into the same kinds of sins that others do. To love the sinners among us while rejecting the sin and to deny ourselves, especially the base and dark parts of ourselves that feel justified, that feel like righteous anger and indignation and offense, and take up our cross and be willing to suffer for other people as Christ suffered in love for you.

In that peace, there is good for you and for me, something worth living for and something worth dying for. May you know that peace, and may the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds strong in Christ Jesus our Lord, to life everlasting. Amen.