“Joining Jesus on his Passover Pilgrimage, part 2”: a sermon for the FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT (15 MARCH 2026)

 

·        Biblical texts: Jeremiah 21.1-10; Psalm 89.19-33; Gospel of Luke 11.37-51

     Not-so-great expectations.  Have you ever been disappointed by God?  I don’t believe that God can ever really disappoint us (since he’s perfectly good and faithful), but I’ve often felt disappointed because God didn’t do what I wanted him to do or things didn’t turn out the way I would have liked.  Does that sound familiar?  We have a tendency to approach God with expectations.  This is quite natural – we believe that God has the power to intervene in our lives and we approach him with a sense of expectancy that he is going to solve our problems.  However, a better strategy is to approach God with attentiveness – with ears that are ready to listen to his voice and hearts that are willing to obey what he tells us to do.  We see this dynamic at play again and again in both Luke’s Gospel and its sequel, The Acts of the Apostles.  Time and again in these books, those who believe that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah become confused and angry because Jesus consistently refuses to act according to their expectations…  Indeed, what happened on Good Friday was the ultimate disappointment for those who had previously been convinced that Jesus was the Messiah (cf. Lk. 24.21).  Ironically, as Jesus and the disciples journey towards Jerusalem to celebrate Passover there, Jesus is the only person who can even entertain the idea of him undergoing suffering – indeed, Jesus is convinced that he must suffer in the Jewish capital (cf. Lk. 13.33)…as we will see, this conviction has much to teach anyone who would consider following this strange king.

     Destination: Jerusalem.  We are now half-way through our Lenten journey.  As we journey towards Easter, we once again – via our imagination – join Jesus and the disciples on the road.  They are still on pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and they will there experience the terrifying/awesome events of Holy Week.  Jesus had “set his face” towards Jerusalem, where his destiny awaits (cf. Lk. 9.51); Jesus’ fate is also that of the people of God, as Yahweh’s plan to establish his kingdom over all the nations is about to “turn the corner” (cf. Lk. 24.44-49).  In chapter 9 of Luke’s Gospel, Jesus embarks on the journey which will culminate in his arrival, in chapter 19, in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.  This section of Luke is called the “travel narrative”.  What gives this narrative its particular potency is the fact that we know Jesus is travelling towards the national capital with a dark purpose.  Indeed, Jesus had tried, unsuccessfully, to prepare the apostles for the fate that awaited him in Jerusalem (cf. Lk. 9.44-45).  To put it bluntly – Jesus is going to Jerusalem to die.  What is more, this journey to Jerusalem is – both for the original disciples and for us – a crash course in the kingdom of God.  Just as we have our own half-baked ideas and misconceptions about the kingdom, so did the first-century followers of Jesus.

     Whose hopes?  The disciples are following Jesus, expecting that their hopes are going to be realized.  However, as they will eventually discover, following Jesus is not a matter of “using” God to advance your own agenda; rather, it is a matter of participating in the strange purposes of God.  As Jesus will later pray, “Not my will, but yours be done” (cf. Lk. 22.42).  The disciples are about to be extremely disappointed!  For us, the season of Lent is an excellent opportunity to let go of our ideas of what it means to follow Jesus, and to re-learn the crucial fact that we have been called by the Lord to participate in the advancement of God’s plan and the realization of his will “on earth as it is in heaven” (cf. Lk. 11.1-2; Mt. 6.9-10).  May our prayer be, “Lord, what do you want me to do?”  As we will see, the kingdom of God is not a “membership benefit” for belonging to the people of God – the kingdom is not about us!  Rather, the kingdom of God is a reality that summons us to abandon our self-serving agendas and serve God’s purposes wholeheartedly.  The kingdom of God is the Creator’s strategy for re-claiming his world and exercising his healing rule over all of creation…through his people – that’s me and you.  Yes, the kingdom is less like a retirement plan and more like a job description.

     Hopes of freedom.  Not long before Jesus takes to the road, we find Peter’s famous “confession” that Jesus is the Messiah, Israel’s long-awaited king (Lk. 9.18-20).  And now, as the Passover festival approaches, the king and his inner circle begin to make their way to the national capital.  Everything seems to be unfolding according to plan (i.e. expectations).  Not surprisingly, at Passover time each year, as the people of God celebrated the original Exodus from Egypt, the hopes and expectations of the Messiah’s victory were re-ignited.  Would this year finally be the year that the kingdom of God would be established and that the people of God would be liberated, redeemed, and “saved” from their enemies – i.e. the kingdoms of the world (cf. Lk. 2.25, 38; 24.21; Ac. 1.6)?  We see “the hope of Israel” for rescue and deliverance repeated time and again in Luke – Acts (e.g. Ac. 28.20).  The extremely radical aspect of Luke’s 2-volume work is that it claims that Israel’s hope was indeed realized…through the death and resurrection of the Messiah (cf. Lk. 24.25-27, 44-49)!  The God of the Bible turns out to be a God who likes surprises and plot twists…

     Called to die.  Once Peter “confesses” that Jesus is indeed the Messiah, Jesus reveals that he has re-written the expected plotline for the kingdom’s arrival (cf. Lk. 9.18-24).  First of all, he forbids the apostles to reveal his identity; secondly, he declares that his destiny is to be murdered by the rulers of the nation.  Finally, Jesus insists that only those who consider themselves to have been condemned to die by crucifixion are welcome to follow him:

“If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” (Lk. 9.23)

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906 – 1945) famously said, “When Christ calls someone to follow him, he calls them to come and die”.  It took the disciples a long time to understand this, but understand it they eventually would.  You see, the kingdom of God is a bizarre, subversive reality, one that calls into question everything the human race assumes to be true regarding power, authority and what’s important in life.  The kingdom of God is the counter-intuitive reign of the Creator and is actually far more powerful than the greatest kingdoms that humans can build, such as the Roman Empire.  It is no coincidence that Jesus was born under the reign of Ceasar Augustus (cf. Lk. 2.1-7), the first emperor of Rome.  Roman civilization was the greatest the world had ever seen, and it was during Rome’s reign that Jesus came to establish the reign of God.  The disciples took it for granted that as Messiah, Jesus would displace the Roman empire; what they could not possibly imagine was how Jesus would do this, and what their role in the Messiah’s victory would be…

     Jesus or you.  The disciples were excited by the idea of the kingdom of God being established during their lifetime.  They believed that the arrival of the kingdom meant that they would stop being “nobodies” and would finally become “somebodies”.  That’s why they were always fighting amongst themselves and competing to see who was the best, the greatest, who was going to have the top jobs, etc. (cf. Lk. 9.46-48; 22.24-27).  Even as Jesus attempts – rather pathetically – to make the disciples understand that he will be killed in Jerusalem, they refuse to understand and continue to expect “glory” for themselves following the Messiah’s “guaranteed” victory.  It seems to have been the case that for them, the kingdom of God was less about God and all about them and their aspirations and ambitions.  As Bob Dylan (b. 1941) sang, “You gotta serve somebody”.  We are all serving a kingdom, whether it be our own or God’s.  At any given moment, I am either living a self-serving life, or a life completely dedicated to the service of the will of God.  As C.S. Lewis (1898 – 1963) said, “In the end, there will be two types of people – those who say to God, ‘Your will be done’ and those to whom God says, ‘Your will be done’”.  We will either serve or rebel.  This was a lesson that the people of God at the time of Jesus had failed to learn.  The disciples showed themselves to be typical members of God’s people in the sense that they assumed that the kingdom of God was designed for their benefit and that it was a kind of “prize” for being God’s favourite nation.  Jesus had a rather shocking message to share with God’s people that would indicate just how mistaken they were…

     Jesus was going to Jerusalem to die.  But why was Jesus so convinced that he would be killed in Jerusalem?  One way that we could answer this question is to say: “Jesus had to die in order to atone for our sins and to offer us forgiveness and salvation”.  That’s true, but that is the unexpected outcome of what was, first of all, a tragic but inevitable (!) rejection of Jesus as a messenger of God.  Jesus himself answers our question in Luke chapter 13:

“…it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’ Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you…” (Luke 13.33-35)

Jesus makes it clear that he will not be killed in a battle against the Romans, nor will he die because some powerful pagans hate him.  Rather, Jesus insists that he will die as the result of the hatred that (the leaders of) the people of God have for him (cf. Lk. 9.21-22).  Jesus longs to protect Jerusalem like a mother hen spreads her wings over her chicks to shelter them from a fire, but the people of God refuse the invitation to safety offered by trusting in Jesus’ teaching.  Jesus seems to have believed that “his generation” was in the grip of dark spiritual powers who were determined to drive the people of God to destruction.  Only repentance of their violent nationalism and trust in Jesus’ vision of the kingdom of God could save them.  Through Jesus, Yahweh was returning to establish his kingdom as a healer, while “this generation” of the people of God wanted a warrior.  Israel desired violent vengeance against her enemies, but Jesus knew that this is “the way that leads to death” (cf. Dt. 30.15-20; Jer. 21.8-10).  Jesus is a prophet – the last prophet (cf. Lk. 20.9-19) – and he will share the fate of most of the prophets who had come before him.  It is the explosive combination of Jesus’ prophecies of judgment against Jerusalem and his claim to Messiahship that will lead to his demise.

     Jeremiah (almost) did it first.  “It is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem”.  There had been a prophet who had lived six centuries earlier, in somewhat similar conditions to those of the time of Jesus, and after whom Jesus seems to have modeled his ministry – that prophet was Jeremiah.  A member of a priestly family from the village of Anathoth, near Jerusalem, Jeremiah had been called by God to the prophetic life before he could take up his father’s priestly mantle (cf. Jer. 1.1-8).  Once the Babylonians had defeated the Egyptians at the battle of Carchemish in 605 B.C., this near-eastern empire began to exert pressure on the kingdom of Judah.  Despite several attempts by Judahite kings to resist Babylonian encroachment, Jeremiah spent 40 years preaching in Jerusalem that the people of God should not resist, but rather submit to Babylonian rule.  Indeed, Jeremiah proclaimed that Babylon was Yahweh’s instrument of justice, and that whatever the Babylonians did to Jerusalem was to be understood as God’s just judgement against his wayward people (cf. Jer. 7.1-34; 25.1-14).  Jeremiah put a stark choice before “his generation” (cf. Jer. 7.29) – either surrender to Babylon and live or resist Babylonian rule and die (Jer. 21.1-10).  Needless to say, this message didn’t make Jeremiah many friends, and his life was in almost constant danger (cf. Jer. 11.18-23; chapters 37 – 38).  Amazingly, not only did Jeremiah survive to see his prophecies of Jerusalem’s destruction come true, but he survived the catastrophe (cf. Jer. 43).

     Politics at the dinner table.  As Jesus continues to journey towards Jerusalem, the tension between him and the obstinate members of “his generation” is increasing.  As often happens in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus gets invited to a dinner-party to participate in a type of Pharisaic “symposium”, a learned discussion over a meal (Lk. 11.37; cf. 7.36; 14.1).  The conversation quickly becomes a heated debate about law-observance.  Jesus proves once again that he has an extremely low tolerance for splitting hairs over the fine points of jurisprudence…as well as for hypocrisy (cf. Lk. 12.1-3).  Jesus goes so far as to utter three “woes” – i.e. oracles of judgement – against the Pharisees (11.42-44).  At this point, a scribe – legal expert – protests.  Jesus then turns on the scribes and pronounces three “woes” against them (11.46-52).  (it is not stated whether anyone actually got around to enjoying the meal…).

     Strange purpose.  Jesus has come to fulfill God’s purpose for Israel, so that the kingdom of God can finally be established and then spread out from Jerusalem to overtake the entire world (that’s the story of The Acts of the Apostles).  The scribes’ vision of the kingdom consists of freedom from Rome through strict application of the Mosaic Law and if necessary, through violence (cf. Lk. 11.46, 52).  Jesus knows that this course of action will only result in Yahweh’s name being profaned among the nations (cf. Ez. 36.18-23).  Jesus condemns the scribes as “those who build the tombs of the prophets whom their ancestors killed” (Lk. 11.47).  Instead of listening to the prophets’ message, Jesus’ generation had turned the prophets’ memory into nationalistic monuments.  Jesus then utters a terrifying prophecy:

“…this generation will be charged with the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be charged against this generation.” (Lk. 11.50-51)

Jesus’ generation is the generation of destiny – it will witness the culmination of God’s plan for Israel, the plan which began with the call of Abraham, through whom “all the families of the earth would be blessed” (cf. Gn. 12.1-3).  However, the dark side of this coin is that Jesus’ generation will be held responsible for the murder of every messenger that Yahweh had sent to his people!  Even darker still, Jesus utters this prophecy knowing that the fulfillment of the divine plan involves his own murder, which will be a foretaste of the judgement of his people (cf. Lk. 13.31-35; 20.9-19; 21.20-33).  The kingdom of God includes justice, the terrible justice of God.  And Jesus intends to stand between Yahweh and his rebel people, and thus fully experience the wrath of God.

     Like Jeremiah, Jesus predicted the destruction of Jerusalem, within “one generation” of his prophecies (Lk. 19.41-44; 21.5-36).  Unlike Jeremiah, Jesus would not “live” to see his oracles fulfilled; however, Jesus seems to have described his own fate as a precursor of the fate that would soon befall the nation (cf. Lk. 23.26-31).  So, when Jesus called his contemporaries to “repent” of their kingdom-vision (Lk. 13.1-5), he was doing precisely what Jeremiah had done before him.  Jesus was calling “his generation” to abandon their program of violent resistance to Rome, to “repent” of that kingdom-vision which had as the desired outcome the destruction of their enemies.  Like Jeremiah, Jesus said that if the people of God took up arms against Rome, the end result would be the total destruction of Jerusalem and the temple (cf. Lk. 13.34-35; 19.41-44, etc.).  Sadly, Jesus’ prophecies came true in the year 70 AD, when the Roman legions sacked Jerusalem during the First Jewish War (AD 66 – 73).  Like us, Jeremiah and Jesus lived during times of unrest, of empires and attempts to resist them – times rife with fear and hatred.  What does it mean to work for the kingdom of God at such times?  Jesus says to us again: “Love your enemies, ‘see’ people as God sees them, act with compassion and forgiveness and, along with others who share this kingdom-vision, pray for the strength to endure the consequences” of following the way of peace (cf. Lk. 11.1-4).

     Kingdom 101.  The apostles had been called by Jesus to follow him all the way to Jerusalem…and beyond.  So, what have we learned about the kingdom of God during this crash course on the road?  The kingdom is clearly not something we have to die in order to experience – though it may indeed cost us our life.  Jesus is our example – just read the book of Acts.  Those who follow and obey the crucified Lord can expect to suffer as he did.  The kingdom of God denounces all injustice and corruption, beginning with that found within the people of God.  The reign of God celebrates peace, love, healing and compassion; it is a reality in which the weak and vulnerable find refuge.  Power looks very different in the kingdom of God compared with all other kingdoms.  Under the reign of God, power looks like humble service.  To serve in God’s kingdom is the highest honour one can aspire to.  Where and when God is honoured as king and Jesus is acknowledged as Lord, there is shalom – peace, well-being, wholeness and flourishing.  When the kingdom is fully present, the world will finally be what it was always meant to be.  And we get to contribute to that dream here and now.

     Them and us, then and now.  Our experience as Christians (i.e. Jesus-followers) resembles that of the apostles in several ways.  First of all, they were expecting the imminent fulfillment of the purposes of God for his people Israel (cf. Lk. 2.25, 38; 24.21; Ac. 1.6).  We are expecting the final fulfillment of God’s purpose for his entire creation (cf. Rom. 8.18-25; Rev. 21.1-5).  Secondly, they were called by Jesus to follow him and join in the work of the kingdom and so have we been.  The kingdom of God is not something we simply wait for; it’s something we are called to work for.  We have been called to an uncomfortable – and maybe even dangerous – mission.  Thirdly, they didn’t understand what was going on as they walked towards Jerusalem, what Jesus’ true intention was and what kind of kingdom they were being invited to serve – and so often, neither do we.  Time after time, our commitment to Jesus is mixed up with our own pride, misguided ambition, self-serving agendas and our desire to avoid discomfort.

     Finally, in spite of their short-comings, the disciples were never abandoned by Jesus, and neither will we be.  Our Lord is with us, every step of the way.  This Lent, let’s remind ourselves of the fact that we have been called to join the cause of the kingdom of God.  The new Jerusalem awaits (Rev. 21.1-5).  Let us allow our self to be crucified – once again – as we pick up the cross and stagger after our Lord, knowing that the path to true glory leads through Calvary.  Death awaited Jesus in Jerusalem.  Death also awaits us at the end of our journey through life.  Today, as we recommit ourselves to following Jesus along the dusty road of discipleship, we are reminded of our frailty and mortality.  However, Easter-life is our destiny – to be raised with Christ and to reign with him in the glory of the new creation.  But before that, our Master beckons us to take to the road.  Let us also recall our mission – to serve the purpose of God by obeying our tenacious Master.  Amen.