The Fifth Sundy in Lent St. Mark Ev. Lutheran Church

March 21, 1999 Watertown, WIPastor Jensen

The Gospel of Saint Luke 13:31-35

At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, "Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you."

He replied, "Go tell that fox, `I will drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.' In any case, I must keep going today and tomorrow and the next day--for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, `Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.' "

What does a heartbreak sound like? Listen to the radio and you'll hear all kinds of songs and singers trying to answer that question for you. I'm sure you all have heard a song or two trying to describe what the ultimate heartbreak feels like or sounds like. They try to describe the pain and sorrow over unrequited love and loves lost. And, each new song about a heartbreak tries to describe in even better words just what the ultimate heartbreak sounds like.

But we don't need to listen to the radio to hear about the ultimate heartbreak. For this is what the ultimate heartbreak sounds like. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! The ultimate heartbreak is the heartbreak Christ experiences when rejected. The ultimate heartbreak is the unrequited love Christ experiences. The ultimate heartbreak is over all the loves lost He has known. Oh it's almost too painful to watch, too painful to listen as Christ pours out His emotions and shows us that His heart is breaking because Jerusalem and it's people have rejected Him. What Jesus is describing is the ultimate heartbreak, because His love for them was the ultimate. It is the purest heartbreak, because His was the purest love.

His love for the people of Jerusalem was the purest love because . . .

• As their creator, they were His children created in love to love only Him.

• He had never done anything to hurt them, but had only showered His love on them.
• As the Children of Israel He had a special relationship with them in which they enjoyed wonderful advantages over all others.

• He had not left them in the dark, but had revealed Himself to them as the one true God.
• They had His Word which told them about His will for their relationship with Him and about a Father's forgiveness when they broke that relationship of love . . . when they broke the family rules.
• They had the temple and sacrifices constantly reminding them that . . .

• He their God and Savior was of the coming.
• He Himself would sacrifice Himself once for all people of all times.
• He Himself was coming to secure their place in His family for time and eternity.

With all these advantages, with all this outpouring of love how could these children turn their backs on Him? How could they break the heart of their loving, caring Heavenly Father!? But rebellion had marked this relationship throughout.

It's infancy with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had it's ups and downs, but then . . .well, Israel never seems to grow up out of the terrible twos, but rather spent the rest of its history throwing one disobedient temper-tantrum after another. Again and again, the children of Jerusalem would kick and scream in a spiritual temper-tantrum. With a pouty face they would look right at their heavenly Father and to His very face say, "No." And when He would try to gather them in His arms the way a mother hen gathers her chicks under her wings, they were not willing. For almost always, when He would try to speak tenderly to them . . .when he would try to embrace them in His love, they would begin hitting him in the facetrying to break away. And then to make sure that they really hurt Him they'd say, "Leave me alone! I don't love you! I don't want you! I wish you weren't my Daddy!" And because His love for them was totally pure, totally selfless, totally seeking their good . . . His heart was breaking all the more.

Yet, God's heart . . .Christ's heart . . . longed for His children all the more. It didn't matter how much they had rebelled. It didn't matter how many times they had told him: I don't love you. I never want to see you again. He still loved them. For they were still His children and He still longed to gather them under the wings of His love.

And, His love knew no length. There was no length to which He would not go to win back His children that had run off. In love that knew no length He sent the prophets to warn them. He sent the prophets with a message of tough love which warned of the danger of rebellion against their Father. He sent the prophets with that message of tough love, but also of tender Gospel with it's comforting and welcoming message:

• You can come home.
• I do still welcome you.
• All will be forgiven and forgotten, in fact, all has already been forgiven and forgotten.

But, even then, so hostile was their rejection of their heavenly Father that they refused to have anything to do with anyone who had anything to do with God. So hostile was their rejection of God's of love, forgiveness and acceptance that they killed many of the prophets.

Yet, through all that heartbreak, Christ still longed to gather them to Himself. When Israel had broken all its promises, never did He once break His. He would still come. Through all the heartbreak He still loved them so deeply that He would still come. In extreme, pure love He Himself would still come to gather them as a mother hen gathers her young under her wings. He would still come even though

• the rulers, like Herod, would reject Him.
• the religious leaders would reject Him.
• the majority of the people would reject Him.

Even though most would reject Him, He would press on to the goal. Just listen to the longing and determination in His voice giving word to what flowed from His heart. "Go tell that fox, `I will drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.' In any case, I must keep going today and tomorrow and the next day--for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!

Oh how He loved them . . .Oh how He would do anything for Him, including sacrifice Himself. Now clinical psychologist [and even radio talk show psychologist] would tell us this is destructive behavior. That there is something wrong with a person [or even a God], if He is willing to hurt or kill Himself for people who had never returned any of His affections and had never done anything but reject Him But, His was not an abnormal love. His was a pure love. A love we can't totally understand, because when we love we expect something in return. God doesn't. He has a pure love for people that loves simple to love whether they want His love or not. And in that pure love, even knowing that they would reject Him, He would do anything for the children of Jerusalme. For when He says He must go on to die . . .this does not indicate that He had some kind of a death wish, but a desire for life . . . that they might have life through His death.

But, at last, sadly, Jerusalem, the one place on earth that had been so abundantly blessed with the truth about the Lord, His Old Testament Scripture, the Prophets, and then finally God Himself come into the flesh to reclaim them . . .that very special place called Jerusalem would not listen. And in our text . . .after two thousand years of loving, pleading with the children of Jerusalem, we find Jesus totally frustrated in love. And devastatingly brokenhearted, He pours it all out when He says, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! Look, your house is left to you desolate.

But that was just for then, right? Oh, no. No. No. Christ's heart still breaks over unrequited love. For He still loves all people and through the pages of Holy Scripture, His heartbreak still echos to us when we do not respond to His love in faith and love. And knowing how much He loves all the lost, it is s as if we can hear Him say . . .O Watertown, watertown . . . how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!

Now by this comparison, we are not calling Watertown the New Jerusalem. But rather, we are saying that like Jerusalem, Christ has given Watertown so many spiriutal advantages. In so many ways Christ has given His message of unconditional love to Watertown in the attempt to gather all of us as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings.

Watertown, Wisconsin is a very special place, very blessed by God. Why? One reason is that Christ has been here with His message of love and forgiveness from the very beginning of this cities existence. What's else? How many other towns of just over 20,000 people can claim . . .

• As many pulpits that ring out the truth about sin and God's love in Christ?
• As many schools dedicated to sharing the message of Christ with the next generation and making disciples of Christ for the new millenium?
• Why, for about 150 years, we have even had a school of future prophets in our midst.

Yes, Christ has blessed this small plot of earth so much more than so many other places. I can only compare it to what I know and tell you that more truth about who God is, more truth about sin and its devastation, more truth about Christ and His full and free forgiveness is proclaimed in Watertown, Wisconsin than in all of New Jersey and as we calculate it, more than in New Jersey, New YorK city and surrounding areas.

Oh, we have been so blessed by Christ! In so many waysHe has longed to gather the children of Watertown under the wings of His love and shield them from all the harm of sin?

Knowing . . .

• that He has given His all, even His life, for all the children of Watertown . . .
• that He longs to gather them all to Himself for time and eternity . . .
• that His heart breaks over these loves lost . . .

. . . how can we not share His message of love and forgiveness with all the people of Watertown.

And what about us? What about Christ's children at St. Mark's? Could Christ's heart at times be breaking over us? When we hear how much He loves us and know how often we still throw spiritual temper-tantrums, it is not hard to imagine Christ looking down on us and saying, "O St. Mark's, St. Mark's . . .how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! For although He has already gathered us to Himself by giving us faith in Him, in sinful weakness we often throw spiritual temper-tantums through which we kick and scream and try to break out of His loving embrace.

Through our daily disobedience, we too look Him right in the eye and give a pouty "No" to His loving commands. We too would through our thoughts and words and yes, even our actions, tell Him that we don't love Him and we wish He wasn't our Father.

We do this whenever . . .

• we are quicker to reach for the remote rather than for His Word.
• we would rather read the sports page than a page of Scripture.
• we come grudingly to His house, but in our hearts thought of ten other places we'd rather be.

Oh, how His heartbreaks when we behave in such a way! But, in spite of our spiritual temper-tantrums, He still loves us. And no matter how hard we try to kick and hit our way out of His embrace through our sins, He still longs to embrace us and in His mercy still will embrace us.

Oh what a love He has for us! May His love ever embrace us. May the wings of His mercy shade and protect us for time and eternity. And may we He strengthen us in our love for Him so as maturing children, we don't continue to break His heart. Amen.