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Wednesday, March 03, 2010
The Thing That Breaks God's Heart
Psalm 27; Luke 13:31-35
Walk with Jesus a while in any one of the four Gospels, and you'll find yourself caught by surprise over and over again. Just when you think you've got his story nailed down tight something or someone knocks you off-balance. And with any luck you'll wind up a little bit wiser for your trouble.
That was my experience in reading Luke's little story of Jesus and some friendly Pharisees.
That, in itself, was a great surprise. For just about every Gospel reference to that religious group portrays them as strongly opposed to Jesus and his message, and him as equally at odds with theirs.
But here, some Pharisees actually warn Jesus that King Herod is on the move to get rid of him once and for all. It's pretty clear in context that Jesus' words and actions have created such an unstable stir in the remote province of Palestine that the Romans are worried about insurrection. Herod understandably wants to put a tight lid on the situation and stay in Rome's good graces.
Jesus' answer to this warning is another surprise. And by the time you read this little story of just five verses, two more jolts of reality-check catch you by surprise.
I could go on and spell out the four surprises here, but I won't take your time and attention just now.
And, fact is, when I preached on all this last Sunday, I couldn't quite do it then either. Midway through, I lost track of my notes (written and mental) and came up with only three surprises. That's the sort of thing that can happen when you try sermonic improvisation after an intense week of pastoral management of death, grief, and attendant practical concerns.
If you're curious where I ended up, or just wanting to get down to biblical basics, then I invite you please to...
Listen to the GODcast!
posted by Jack Buckley at
5:40 PM
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