Tell Out My Soul

Second Sunday in Lent (Luke 13:31-35)

Today’s reading contains what is called the Lament for Jerusalem. Jesus loves Jerusalem and its people, even though he knows that he will be rejected, and be put to death there. His sadness is apparent when he says, “How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” It’s a beautiful metaphor. I’m sure many of us have seen a mother hen carefully protecting her chicks.

The scene opens with Jesus working in Herod’s territory, and some Pharisees come to Jesus to warn him that he’d better leave because Herod wants to kill him. Jesus tells the Pharisees that he will leave when he’s good and ready, and in any case, Herod won’t have to worry about him because he’s on his way to Jerusalem and then it would all be over.
Jesus knew beforehand that he would be rejected in Jerusalem. He tells us himself in the parable of the vineyard, in which he refers to a passage in Psalm 118:
The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes.

The people that rejected him, knew everything about Jesus and what he was saying and doing. They interviewed the people who were cured, they had written statements and eyewitness reports. They could see the faith of Jesus’ followers who acclaimed him as the Messiah, and they saw the multitudes that followed him. Lazarus was raised from the dead as a sign to the people. But the authorities refused to believe, they were unwilling. Why were they so adamantly opposed? Were they blinded by the devil, was it self-interest, or fear of losing their power and position? Or all of these things.

The self-satisfied and powerful were in denial because this suited them, they didn’t want the love and hope that Jesus was offering, they were doing just fine without him. Jesus was a serious trouble maker who was setting to overturn their comfortable and prosperous lives. To them the Messiah was just an abstract concept, a story to tell, something to hope for in a fairy tale kind of way, but not the hard reality of a physical person possessing and manifesting the divine powers of God. They couldn’t bring themselves to actually accept the fact that God was among them, preaching, healing, and caring. Their notion of God was shallow and academic, they didn’t understand what God is. They prayed by formula, and they carried out the prescribed rituals, so when Jesus came along, they were incapable of understanding what was actually going on.

Jerusalem is central to the context of Jesus’ mission. Jerusalem is a microcosm of the world and its people. He longs for everyone to come to him, for him to gather all people to him, and to save them all. But he knows this is not going to happen with everyone. We have free will, we can either be willing to go to Jesus or be unwilling to go to him.

Imagine, all the work that he’d done, the miracles, the healings, the raisings from the dead, the teachings, and still the people were unwilling. It’s astonishing; but that’s what happened all those centuries ago and it’s still happening today. God can do no more. God cannot make us love him, even though he sent his only begotten Son, to make himself known.

It’s not unreasonable for someone living in Judea or Galilee at the time, maybe a Pharisee or religious leader, to ask, “why here, why now?” But then one could also ask, “why not?” A man came out of Nazareth two thousand or so years ago and said that he was the son of God, and he proved it. God, for whatever reason, chose that place and that time to come to us, and give us the promise of salvation. Some believed it, and others, even some who knew him, spoke to him and ate with him, could not believe it. The world is still on that see-saw. On one side we have those who are willing, and on the other side, the unwilling.

When we understand something, we often say, “oh yeah I get it.” Some people, at that time, just didn’t get Jesus, some people don’t get Jesus today. It’s still the same. His living, dying and rising do not affect them. That is why Jesus lamented and he still laments. Why don’t people get Jesus, why are they not willing to be gathered, when it’s all there on offer to them? The Gospel has been preached, and proclaimed over and over, and there have been so many witnesses to Jesus, the saints and the martyrs, over the last two thousand years. It’s a big question.

What we do know is that the drawing together of God’s children, the gathering of the brood, is a long game. And the play isn’t over. Jesus gives the people another chance, and this opportunity has been there since 33 AD. In this reading, Jesus says, “You will not see me until the time comes when you say, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.”

These words of Jesus work on two levels. On the more immediate level, he could have been talking about Palm Sunday, when the people would praise him with those very same words. But there is a deeper level of meaning. He’s saying to all the people of the world, then and now, “I’m here, but you won’t see me, until you turn around and look at me, and acknowledge me for who I truly am.

Another word for this turnaround is repentance. It’s when we allow ourselves to be willingly gathered up by Jesus. John the Baptist came and shouted the message loud and clear on the banks of the Jordan, repentance! To believe, one must first repent, it’s not optional. The first command of Jesus’ public ministry was not praise, love, or grace, but “repent.” Matthew 4:17 tells us, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Repentance is bigger than just being sorry for our sins, it literally means an about face, a full one eighty. To repent is to turn away from a life that puts the self above all things, above God. It is a serious and solemn pledge to turn instead towards God as our source of life and ultimate value.

Without repentance we do not belong to Jesus because we have instead chosen to belong to ourselves only, as separate and removed from God. We have chosen self as the object of our worship. Just before the Lament for Jerusalem, Jesus preached about the narrow door. Some people were concerned that only a few people would be saved. And Jesus told them, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.”

Now a narrow door means that you can’t cram a lot of stuff through it. It will be just wide enough for a person to get through, without all their belongings. You can’t go through a narrow doorway carrying a suitcase in each hand, carrying all that baggage, whether it be physical, spiritual or emotional. Repentance is seeing Jesus on the other side of that door, and dumping all that baggage there and then, so that you can be free to go to him. Envy, greed, grudges, pride… especially pride; these need to be shed because they hold you back from going to Jesus and following him. And you have to do it now, not at some later time, because Jesus tells us that the Kingdom of heaven is here and now.

Lent is often regarded as a time of self-denial, but Lent should more importantly be a time of self-examination, of repentance and cleansing. Giving things up for Lent is not designed to make us suffer, it’s more of a conscious effort to clear out our personal cupboards and strip away the things that are not God. When we de-clutter our spiritual house, we take away all the unnecessary things to make a space for God and the new life in Jesus that arrives with the coming of Easter. Lent is a time of going through the narrow gate, choosing God’s kingdom and not the earthly one that revolves around self interest and pride.

A couple of Sundays ago, the parable of the bridegroom was mentioned; you never know when the bridegroom will arrive so you make sure that you’re ready at all times. Lent is when we prepare ourselves and ready ourselves for Jesus. We organise ourselves in heart and mind, we sweep away the negatives, and say no to the things that distract us from knowing him.

St John of the Cross said, “God refuses to be known except by love.” When we turn around and look at Jesus and say with our whole heart, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord,” it means our eyes have been opened, and it is the power of love alone that draws our hearts to understand this saving reality.

Easter is an expression of this love. It means giving and offering. A lot of times the word “sacrifice” is associated with Easter, but to me this word has negative connotations, because the word sacrifice sounds like someone is losing something or being disadvantaged. When I say, “I’m making a sacrifice,” it sounds totally different to when I say, “I’m offering something.” To offer is to give freely without anticipating a reward. There’s no sacrifice in a free will offering, because it’s a win win situation. An offering is more like a gift. Jesus, for love of us, was giving the gift of eternal life when he offered himself up on the cross. He said, “No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.” And we see that his life was totally his to do with as he saw fit; that’s free will.

Saying no to that piece of chocolate or that second helping of pie, is just a little thing, not a sacrifice, but a heads up, reminding us of the great gift that our Lord gave us. So these small token gestures, are like little gifts, and reflections of our love for him.
During this holy time of Lent, in our words, thoughts and actions, we acknowledge Jesus. We turn around and we “see him,” as he truly is, our Lord, our Saviour and the one who sits at the right hand of God. This is a time to let Jesus know that we are willing to be gathered under his wings, body and soul, and we pray that we will indeed see him again when all God’s children look at him in his glory and say, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”

Amen