Luke 13:31-35 Sorting out the Desires

"At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, ‘Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.’ 32 He said to them, ‘Go and tell that fox for me, “Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. 33 Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed away from Jerusalem.” 34 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! 35 See, your house is left to you. 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 the Lord.”

Introduction

This passage foreshadows the end of Jesus' earthly life just as we are beginning our Lenten journey. It is good to know the end, when it is knowable, in order that we may determine if we really want to continue this journey with Jesus. After all, the tone of this passage, and the one preceding (13:22-30) is full of judgment and rejection; perhaps we might want to reconsider if the way of Jesus is the way we want to tread. But if we do, we soon discover that it is a way fraught with conflicting desires and one expression of necessity. The Greek text of this passage brings out the underlying structure of desires at work here. For example, Herod desires to kill Jesus (v. 31). We aren't told why he wants to do so, but Jesus must take this threat seriously, since John the Baptist had just been killed by Herod. Then, there is Jesus' desire. In v. 34 he says that he had desired so many times to take Jerusalem under his wings. Jesus' desire is to protect, heal, save. Then, there is Jerusalem's desire, also in v. 34. Actually, Jerusalem didn't desire to welcome Jesus. Why not? Well, because they kill prophets, according to Jesus. Nevertheless, in the midst of all these desires is a necessity. The Greek word, dei, expresses this necessity. Jesus says, in v. 33, that it is nevertheless necessary for him to go to Jerusalem. People have desires, but Jesus has a necessity. Thus, by emphasizing the passion of Jesus as a complex web of desire and necessity, we see it as a growing and potent human drama.

These five verses can be broken up into two sections (31-33 and 34-35) with the word "Jerusalem" as the link. In fact, for you Bible trivia fans, this may be one of the few pasages in the Bible where the threefold repetition of the same word occurs. Can you think of others? It is reminiscent to me of my favorite line from the Wizard of Oz. When Dorothy is able to return to Kansas because of the good offices of the Witch of the North, she looks with disbelief at Glinda and says, "Toto too?" Glinda immediately responds, "Toto too." Say that five times and see if you have a congregation left!

I. Herod's Desire and Jesus' Response (31-33)

This passage appears in the section of Luke's Gospel beginning in 9:51. In that passage Jesus "sets his face" toward Jerusalem. Even though he has quite a few things still to say, quite a few miracles still to perform and demons to exorcise, he is already on his way to Jerusalem. Lest we forget, in 13:22, directly prior to our passage, we are reminded again that Jesus is on the way to Jerusalem ("teahing as he made his way to Jerusalem"). In his two-volume work, Luke has what we might call a "geographical strategy" to it all. We begin in obscure locations in the Holy Land and then gradually we are brought to Jerusalem, the center of the Jewish world. Then, as the Book of Acts opens, we are in Jerusalem but we are told that the process of the Gospel will be from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria and then to the ends of the earth (1:8). The Book of Acts unfolds in that pattern. It concludes with Paul preaching now necessarily at the ends of the earth but in the center of the inhabited world of the day--Rome--quite openly and unhndered. Thus, in our passage for the morning, we are moving inexorably toward the place of confrontatioin and salvation--Jerusalem.

Three points emerge from these three verses. First, and most important, is the view of time and power that the verses suggest. Jesus is informed that King Herod is after him. We don't know why this is the case, but we can infer that since Herod has already gotten rid of John, he wants completely to stamp out this frenzy following after John. As Luke says early, "Herod said, 'John I beheaded; but who is this about whom I hear such things?" (9:9). Jesus is tipped off about Herod by some Pharisees. This has caused problems for some scholars who want to see the Pharsees as completely opposed to Jesus, but Luke's picture of them, especially in his earlier chapters, is much more ambiguous than this. Herod wants to kill Jesus. The greatest local power wants to snuff him out. How does Jesus respond to the threat of power? By mentioning that he is on his own timetable. Herod may propose, but it is God who disposes. In two instances Jesus uses the "one, two, three" pattern to say that he is marching to a different beat.

Of course the deeper tone heard by the alert reader in this "one, two, three" is that Jesus will be raised from the dead on the third day, but Jesus isn't directly saying that here. Yet it is Herod's announcement that tells Jesus he must be on his way. In the Gospel of John when two Greeks come to him, Jesus immediately knows that "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified" (Jn. 12:20-23). Thus, even though Jesus is on his own timetable here, he recognizes that Herod's desire affects his movements. He is beholden to God and to his mission, but he is not oblivious to or unaware of human considerations. Herod wants to kill him. Jesus, however, is on his own timetable. Yet he must move on.

The next essay completes these thoughts.

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