Messiah Lutheran Church:

based on Luke 13:31-35

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Batman, Pokémon…what’s your favorite Saturday morning cartoon? Growing up, I really enjoyed Saturday morning cartoons. Once and a while, I would watch an older cartoon, like Popeye the Sailor Man. That is a classic. The few episodes I remember always have the same basic plot: Popeye is spending time with his girlfriend Olive-Oil, but then she gets captured by some bad guys and Popeye gets stuck in a bad situation. Things look hopeless for Popeye until he eats some of his spinach. This almost-magical spinach powers Popeye up to defeat the bad guys and save his girlfriend right at the very end. Do you know the theme song to the Popeye cartoon? Part of it says that Popeye is strong to the finish, cause he eats his spinach—he’s Popeye the Sailor Man. Spinach always made sure that Popeye reached the goal at the end. In today’s text, we see Jesus as he was approaching the end of his ministry here on earth. We see that

Jesus was strong to the finish,

1.     showing unwavering determination and

2.     loving concern.

How easily do you give in to peer pressure? Sometimes, all your friends have to do is say these two short words: Come on… Sometimes, peers can put a little more pressure on you. How easily do you give in to that peer pressure? Jesus was under some peer pressure today. The Pharisees came up to him and pressured him to leave the area because Herod wanted to kill Jesus. But the Pharisees weren’t really looking out for Jesus’ safety here. Jesus had been doing ministry work for almost three years now. He had a huge following. People listened to him. People believed in him. Up to this point, no matter what the Pharisees tried, they couldn’t silence Jesus. The Pharisees in today’s text just wanted Jesus to take his ministry and leave. So they tried to pressure him, saying that it was for his own safety that he should leave the area.

How did Jesus react to the pressure? Did he cave in? No. Despite the pressure from the Pharisees and the threat against his life, Jesus never lost sight of the goal. He mentions his goal in verse 33 when he says, “No prophet can die outside of Jerusalem.” Jesus was marching on toward his death. He knew it was coming. And he knew it had to end in Jerusalem. So when the Pharisees tried to get him to lose sight of the goal, he kept his eyes firmly fixed to the goal ahead of him. He would not stop marching on towards Jerusalem, towards the end of his life, exactly when and how he knew it needed to happen. He was determined to finish his ministry just as it needed to be finished.

One of the first computer games I remember playing was a game called “The Oregon Trail.” This was supposed to be an educational game, so I got to play it in school. You start in the year 1848 and have to take a wagon party across the United States. You have to plan your supplies, go hunting for bears, deer, and squirrels, and hope no one dies of dysentery along the way. At least, this is how the original version of the game went. One of the last things you have to do before you make it across the U.S. is to cross a river. You can ford the river, or if you think the river is too deep, you can caulk your wagon and float across. The whole time you’re crossing the river, you’re hoping that you make it across without the river washing you away. At the end of Jesus’ ministry, he could feel the pressure trying to wash him away. He could feel people try and push him away from the goal. But he would not stop pressing on towards the goal at the end of his ministry. His determination was unwavering.

But why? Why would Jesus feel the need to keep going towards his goal of dying on a cross? You made him go. Your sinfulness drove him to the cross. Your sinfulness made him press on towards his death. If we were perfect, there would be no reason for Jesus to die. But we aren’t perfect. Have you ever hated someone? Have you ever lied? Have you ever been selfish, rude, or arrogant? All these sins required payment, a payment of death. God says, “The wages of sin is death.”

We sin—but by God’s grace, we will not suffer eternal death. Jesus suffered for us. Jesus knew that we were doomed to hell for eternity because of our sin. So he sprung into action. He came to earth. He lived a perfect life, the life God demanded that we live but could not. With unwavering determination, he saw the finish ahead. He saw the cross, and he knew that his suffering and death was the only way to save us. So he kept going forward. He didn’t succumb to the pressure to turn away. He remained strong, strong in his desire and in his actions to save us.

You and I were always the ones Jesus had in mind on his journey to the cross. He kept going because he loves us. He remained strong to the finish, showing his loving concern for us. Jesus talks about how concerned he is for Jerusalem—not the city, but the people in it—in verse 34 when he says, “How often have I longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings…” Maybe you’ve heard this story before: A mother hen and her baby chicks are resting in the hen house during a violent storm. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning shoots down from the sky and hits the top of the hen house. The hen house starts on fire. It begins to fill with smoke and fire. The mother hen takes her chicks and huddles them under her outstretched wings to protect them from the fire. Eventually, the rain from the storm puts out the fire. When the farmer goes outside to check on the hen house, he finds that the mother hen has died. But when he lifts up the dead mother hen, he finds her chicks, still alive! This is what Jesus wants to do. He wants to gather his chicks under his wings. He wants to protect and save Jerusalem, and not just Jerusalem, but all people of all time. This is his motivation for his mission.

How important is it to be motivated? You have a big project coming up at work. You can be motivated by a desire to use all your gifts faithfully, or by a desire to earn a paycheck to provide for your family, or a desire to provide a needed service to someone. But how would you feel about that big project if you weren’t motivated? You probably wouldn’t have much desire to do it well, or even to do it at all. Without motivation, it seems like the project is 10 times worse than it was before. So when you do the project, it is important that you are motivated. Jesus was motivated. He was motivated by love. In everything he said and everything he did, in his ministry and in his journey to the cross, he was motivated by love.

What is the worst tasting medicine you’ve ever had? I remember taking this bitter cherry flavored medicine as a child, and it was the worst flavor I have ever tasted. I used to want to fight my parents to the death so that I would not have to take the medicine. Yes, I needed the medicine. Yes, my parents told me I needed the medicine. But did I want to take it? Absolutely not. People have the same attitude toward Jesus. What did Jesus say about Jerusalem at the end of verse 34? Jesus wanted to gather them in under his wings, but “they were not willing.” They rejected Jesus. Oh, they needed Jesus. They needed a Savior. But as much as Jesus loved them and was concerned for them, they equally hated Jesus. Before we start shaking our heads at them, we need to look at ourselves. We see Jesus’ love, and we see how often we have pushed away from Jesus’ protective care. We think we don’t need Jesus. We think that every time life is going well, we can do it on our own. We are mature, responsible people. We can get by without Jesus. Yet, every time we think like this, we reject Jesus and even show hatred towards Jesus. Our sinful nature hates Jesus and cannot stand him. The hatred we show Jesus is the exact opposite of his love. And what is the result of rejecting Jesus’ protective care? As he says in verse 35, “Your house is left to you desolate.” Without Jesus, all that is left is desolation, destruction, eternal death.

Despite all the times we sin, despite all the times we reject Jesus’ protective care, despite all the times we show sinful hatred toward Jesus, he still loves us. He showed his love for us as he pressed on towards his goal at the end of his ministry. Jesus was entirely motivated by his loving concern for a people that would be hopeless without him. Jesus finished his ministry strong, seeing the cross ahead. He could see the nails, yet beyond it all he could see eternity, an eternity in heaven for you and me. He knew what it would cost to cleanse us from our sins and set us free. It would cost his innocent suffering and death. He could see the cross, but he still came. He came for you and me.

We could come up with a list of reasons why Jesus should have listened to the Pharisees. It would have been safer for him, he would get a little pressure of the Pharisees off his back, and his road ahead would have been much easier if he had turned away. But Jesus was strong to the finish of his time on earth. He showed his unwavering determination to finish his mission of saving us from our sins. He showed his loving concern for us. What a blessing it is for us that Jesus didn’t quit before the end, but was strong to the finish! Amen.