“Some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, ‘Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.’” We find this incident told in Luke 13:31-35. This passage shows us how committed Jesus was to obey His Father, despite threats on his life, and how the plan and purpose of Jesus in fulfillment of the Scriptures written centuries before His time was so perfectly executed.
At this point in His ministry, Jesus is still preaching and performing miracles in Galilee. The Pharisees want to get rid of him, and so they intimidate Him to leave Galilee saying that Herod Antipas (who was the one who had John the Baptist killed, remember?) was ready to have Him killed too. These Pharisees hope that Jesus will run for His life and depart from Galilee, away from the territory of Herod.
But look at the response of Jesus. Jesus stands firm and holds His ground. He declares that He still has work to do there, and is not afraid of Herod. He even says unkind things about Herod, and is certain that this will be reported back to Herod. But Jesus is not afraid. He knows He will be executed, but He implicitly says, that that would be in Jerusalem, not in Galilee.
Jesus had many options in His ministry, of course. He could have avoided Galilee altogether. Or He could have changed His preaching approach, and stuck to doing all sorts of miracles and healings. He might even have sought audience with Herod so that together they could expand His outreach. He could have even collaborated with all the Pharisees and turned their ministry around. He could have stayed on shore and helped fishermen catch tons and tons of fish everyday. He could have empowered hundreds and thousands of people to just go around healing every single person. And, yes, no kitchen would ever be empty of food to eat because people could turn stone into bread. And this would have made Him so popular that people would make Him King, not only in Galilee, but in all Judea. And His Kingdom could expand, because His popularity would spread rapidly. And, He didn’t have to die on the cross. Right?
But no. God had different plans. And this plan was written and declared by prophets centuries ago. And Jesus obediently did His part to fulfill everything prophesied about the suffering Messiah.
My dear friends, see how confident Jesus was here in Galileee, knowing that His Father would protect Him at all costs, and that nothing was going to get in the way of their plan? Do you see how committed Jesus was to our salvation? Do you see how fearless He was despite the real and grave danger that He was facing? Do you see how He denied Himself all other options, but stuck with the game plan, which required that He would be abandoned by His friends, accused wrongly, ridiculed, and executed in a most horrifying way?
I hope we can all draw inspiration from this. You see, all of us have a God-appointed mission and role and purpose, whether in our place in the family, or as stewards as employees or owners of a business, or whether we are asked to serve in some volunteer capacity at church or in the community. Or a combination of any and all of these.
And life being what it is, things don’t always go smoothly. Either we make mistakes, or other people make mistakes. And sometimes, other people may even oppose what we do, right? And after all is said and done, there are times when our work is not even acknowledged or appreciated. People point out our imperfections, but ignore our good effort and the outcome.
When these things happen, our natural inclination is to give up, and think to ourselves “it’s not worth the effort”. Sometimes we even fight back, and say or do things that we might later regret. Or maybe we get the job done, and then swear we will not work with or for those people again, right? And then we end up asking ourselves, why we even did what we did in the first place? And we move on empty and broken.
If we look at the life and ministry of Jesus, we also see Jesus experience many pushbacks, right? Today’s gospel we see Pharisees warning him of death and execution by the ruler of the region. In other incidents, we see that crowds are about to stone Him to death. And yet, Jesus stands His ground despite the pushbacks, despite the threats, and even knowing that – at the right time and right place — it will all actually lead to his persecution and death.
Why is Jesus able to do this? The answer is simple. First of all, He does this because of His great love for all of mankind. He loves purely, and not because He expects people to love Him back. And secondly, and most importantly, because of His supreme love for His Father – He did what He did, namely picked up His cross, out of loving obedience to His Father. “Not my will, but Yours,” was His singular mindset from the very beginning when we see Him as a young boy in the temple. Obedience to His Father was the defining character of the life of Jesus. Obedience to His Father was what made Him stick to the game plan. Obedience to His Father at all costs was what enabled Him to complete His mission. Obedience to His Father earned Him victory over death.
And so I encourage everyone listening to this message to reflect on why you do what you do. Look at all the tasks and roles that you have taken on. Whether as a student, an employee, a parent, or a minister. Reexamine why you do what you do, and what keeps you going? Or what discourages you from continuing?
And I invite you to draw inspiration from reflecting on this single-minded obedience by Jesus to His Father, at any and at all costs. He trusted and He loved His Father. And because of this, He obeyed everything that His Father told Him to do, and He did not do anything without seeking His Father’s will. And so, Jesus was secure; He was confident; He was at peace; He had joy. Because He knew His Father was sovereign and in complete control of everything that would happen.
Let us remember, my friends, that the moment we accepted Jesus into our lives, we surrendered full control of our lives to Jesus, and we made Him Lord of our lives. I hope it’s ok to presume that you acknowledge Jesus as Lord. In case you didn’t realize it then, please reevaluate your decision now about Jesus being your Lord. Is He really Lord of your life? Because this is what it means when you declare that Jesus is your Lord, namely that you voluntarily give to Jesus full control of your life, and that you don’t own your life anymore, and that it belongs to Him. Therefore, this means obeying Him in everything that you do, regardless of what it costs, or regardless of what might be the consequences. It means you will not do anything on your own and do absolutely nothing on your own without first seeking His will — whether in big life-time decisions, or even in the small decisions in your day to day life. You will obey Jesus who is Your Lord, even if what He tells you to do does not make sense to you. Even it means personal discomfort. Even it means to love your enemies, or to forgive those who hurt you. Even if it means to put other’s interests ahead of my own, to work as a slave with no rewards, or to sell all that you own and give to the poor.
And finally, the lesson we learn from Jesus is that our joy should come not from seeing our efforts bear fruit. Look at that verse again, and see Jesus lamenting over Jerusalem, who – despite the doors that Jesus opened for them, they refused to walk with Him. So, our joy should not come from seeing our efforts bear fruit, but trusting that God is sovereign and that Jesus will be victorious. Our joy should also not even come from receiving the blessings and consolations of answered prayers. Instead, our joy and peace should come from the fact that we obey Jesus the Lord, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords.
So my brothers and sisters, if you feel convicted and desire to re-dedicate yourself to Jesus, then I encourage you to pray right now with me. Come, bow your head and pray with me this prayer:
“Jesus, I thank you for inviting me to follow You. I ask for your forgiveness that I have not until today fully surrendered my life to You. But I pray that You will accept me today, as I submit myself fully, completely, and entirely into Your hands, and declare that from this day forward, You, Jesus, shall be my Lord, my Master, my King. I shall live my life completely in obedience and submission to Your holy, sovereign, and loving will, and desire only that You be glorified in all that I do. And I pray for a fresh outpouring of Your Holy Spirit right now, so that You may dwell in my heart and give me the power to do Your will. Let this me my prayer. Let this be my joy. Amen.”
Amen. Amen.
Leave a Reply