Read
Jesus and Herod
31At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said, “You had better get away from here, because Herod wants to kill you!”
32Jesus said to them:
Go tell that fox, “I am going to force out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and three days later I'll be through.” 33But I am going on my way today and tomorrow and the next day. After all, Jerusalem is the place where prophets are killed.
Jesus Loves Jerusalem
(Matthew 23.37-39)
34 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. 35 Now your temple will be deserted. You won't see me again until the time when you say,
“Blessed is the one who comes
in the name of the Lord.”
Reflect
Was there ever a passage with so much emotion?
Jesus’ death was no accident. Not even a simple miscarriage of justice, though it was that. He knew what he had come to do, and ironically not even the Pharisees’ warning that Herod was out for his life could deter him from giving his life. He knew what awaited him in Jerusalem. He gave his life for us. It was not taken from him.
Jesus’ words here are reminiscent of the parable he told of the absentee landlord. Remember the story in Matthew 21:33-44 of the man who left his orchard in the care of tenants? When he sent messengers to collect the fruit, the tenants murdered them. Finally he sent his son, and they murdered him too.
Jesus is of course speaking of himself.
In the Old Testament stoning was prescribed as the punishment for blasphemy. The Pharisees had been accusing Jesus of blasphemy for some time (see Luke 5:21), and blasphemy would be the charge on which he was finally sentenced to death (Matthew 26:65).
What tragic irony! The religious leaders couldn’t see that Jesus’ loving actions revealed that he was the Son of God, so they killed him for claiming it falsely.
You would think that Jesus would be frustrated with them, and angry. But he wept over Jerusalem. Such was his love for God’s people, these very people who were so blinded by their own preconceived notions of what God was like that they could not recognize him when he stood in their midst. They sealed their own fate. As we saw in yesterday’s reading, the kingdom would be taken away from them and given to Gentiles who believed (Matthew 21:43).
He weeps over us, too, whenever we fail to recognize him. Do you ever think that God is angry with you for something you did? His anger is tears – and a plea to come back to him.
Respond
Lord Jesus, open my eyes to see you. I want to hear your voice. Forgive me for the times I have chosen my own preconceived ideas and shut you out. Your love for me is past anything I can understand. Amen.
Annabel Robinson
Annabel was born in Kew, near London, England. She committed her life to Jesus Christ at a Scripture Union camp when she was 16, and immediately found joy and peace. At Oxford she was active in the Oxford Inter-Collegiate Christian Union, where she met her husband, Reid. They emigrated to Canada in 1965, where she taught Classics at the University of Regina until 2007. She has two children, Heather in Oslo and Alasdair in Calgary.