What frightens you? Everyone has fears of some sort. Many people won’t admit it, but they are
afraid of the dark. Perhaps that’s not a
well-founded fear, but it is real nonetheless.
Many people fear pain, and for good reason. The fear of rejection runs deep and it makes
people of all ages susceptible to peer pressure.
Of course there is the fear of dying. That’s a good one – it is something we all
must face sooner or later, but it is the ultimate unknown. I like the way the Rev. John Walker, pastor
of Willowbrook Christian Church says that studies show that people are more
afraid of public speaking than they are of dying; which means that at a funeral
they’d rather be the corpse than the pastor!
In today’s gospel Jesus is confronted with
something that should give him fear.
Some Pharisees came to him and said, “Get away from here, for Herod
wants to kill you.” I don’t think
they’re trying to scare him. They’re
just giving him some good advice. The
situation is dangerous. The powers that
be want to do away with him. And there’s
good reason to be afraid. You’ll
remember what Herod did to Jesus’ cousin John the Baptist!
Let me translate their warning from Greek a
bit more literally, and also Jesus’ response.
The English isn’t as smooth, but it’s closer to Greek to say, “Go, journey from here, for Herod wills to kill you.” He said to them, “Journey and tell that weasel,
‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and
on the third day I finish my work. Yet
today, tomorrow, and the next day I must journey
on my way…”
We’ll return to that again, but let’s
notice what happens here. Is Jesus
afraid of Herod? He should be! But he’s not, not at all. And I think it’s good to hear the bold
defiance in his voice, “Journey and tell that weasel…”
That’s not the kind of language you use
against a tyrant who’d just as soon kill you as look at you. But it goes on. What does Jesus really mean when he says, “I
am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third
day I finish my work”? He certainly
referring to his public earthly ministry, but he’s mixing in another dimension
– the three days in the tomb…
He’s casting out demons… three days dead…
Here’s the message he’s sending to back Herod: I’m not afraid of you! I’m gonna die and go to hell. And while I’m there I’m kicking the devil out;
out of his own home!
Indeed in the creeds when we talk about him
descending to the dead, or descending into hell, that’s exactly what he’s
doing. He’s taking God’s grace right to
the very stronghold of evil. He’s
crashing down the gates and letting everyone go free.
Talk about fearless! No earthly power frightens Jesus. Death doesn’t scare him. Hell doesn’t scare him!
The Bible has no concise definition of
evil. It’s a hodge-podge of images and
personifications. We get the point
though.
The Pharisees tell Jesus to journey away
from there. Jesus tells them to journey
to Herod. But as for Jesus he says, “I
must journey on my way…” Nothing is
going to deter him.
Look at the whole trajectory of the
gospel. Early on we have the devil
testing Jesus in the wilderness. There
the devil came to Jesus and on Jesus’ turf had a battle and lost. Throughout the gospel Jesus encounters evil
spirits and demons and he casts them out every time. Then we get to the end of the gospel and
Jesus dies. Now it’s his turn to go into
the devil’s territory. Though he’s just
died because of the will of humans he’s on the offensive taking the fight right
to the gates of hell. There too he is
victorious. In a way Jesus is the
ultimate tough guy. Not even evil is
safe when Jesus is around.
There’s a conflict of journeys in the
passage but there’s also a conflict of wills.
With a more literal translation from Greek we learn that Herod “wills”
to kill Jesus. The Greek word is qelw.
But that’s not the only time qelw
appears in this
passage. We see it again in verse 34
when we learn Jesus “will”. Of Jerusalem
Jesus says, “How often have I willed to gather your children together as a hen
gather her brood under her wings…”
Jesus might be the ultimate tough guy. Herod’s will doesn’t scare him. Hell doesn’t scare him. But Jesus’ will is not mean. His will is to gather a troubled city
together and keep it safe like a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. That’s an impressive image. I imagine a huge and totally ripped biker
dude heavily tattooed in a t-shirt. He
has hair cut short, scars various placed.
He’s got a hard chiseled jaw and fists like iron. There’s a scowl on his face. Everything about him says, “Don’t mess with
me!” And cradled in his arm, safely
protected there, is Jerusalem like a helpless little baby. Such was Jesus’ will.
But we’re not done with wills. Jesus may be triumphing over evil left right
and center, but how is he doing with humans, especially the will of
humans? Jesus says, “How often have I
willed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her
wings, and you did not will it.”
Interesting. The demons get it. Evil knows the battle is lost. Humans though, us creatures created in the
image of God and so capable of thought and creativity and beauty and amazing
things – we don’t get it. Our stubborn
wills just won’t bend.
Jesus says of Jerusalem, “See, your house
is forsaken. And I tell you, you will
not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in
the name of he Lord.’”
Jesus, unafraid of Herod, soon to be
kicking the devil out of his own home, the ultimate tough guy is not angry with
Jerusalem. He’s not angry with us humans
for our stubborn wills. The text does
not say, “I’m going to come with my fists of iron and bash you into
oblivion.” He has no desire to
punish. He just seems resigned. It is as if that baby safely cradled in his
arm is spitting and kicking and biting for all its worth against him. And so, reluctantly, he puts it down and lets
it go off to its own destruction.
There are lots of things in this world that
frighten us. Fear can be a good thing
because it keeps us safe in dangerous situations. To have no fear is to be stupid. But we have to remember that we can truly
live without fear.
God wins.
Period. Not even hell is a safe
place to hide from God’s power, because God won’t quit until it’s all his.
You may remember me saying before. The opposite of faith is not doubt. The Bible makes it abundantly clear that
faith and doubt go hand in hand. No, the
opposite of faith is fear.
So much of the stubbornness of the human
will is based in fear: fear that we’ll be embarrassed, fear that we’ll fail,
fear that we’ll lose our value; and maybe most of all – fear that our
self-worth does not reside within ourselves.
For our self-worth is rooted in who God created us to be. But we’ll fight kicking and screaming
demanding that our self-worth is something of our own creation.
Perhaps the deepest expression of faith
includes the awareness that your worth resides in God.
Our mighty Savior is afraid of
nothing. Nothing scares Jesus! Tough warrior that he is, he is gentle with
us. He won’t hurt us. His will is to protect us. He is sad when our wills demand that we do
things our own destructive ways. And he
is forgiving when we finally realize we’ve been wrong all along. Sometimes we have to fall flat on our faces
to realize it, but I guess at least we’ve learned.
May we trust in Jesus – not Jesus as a nice
sweet guy who’s too meek to be taken serious – but Jesus as a tough fighter who
will defend us. And may that trust free
us from our fear and bring us into ever closeness to our Savior.
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