“Behold the Savior in His Boundless Love”
(Luke 13:31-35 – Lent 2 – March 16, 2025)
Luke 13:31-35 – 31On that very day some Pharisees came, saying to Him, “Get out and depart from here, for Herod wants to kill You.” 32And He said to them, “Go, tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.’ 33Nevertheless I must journey today, tomorrow, and the day following; for it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem. 34O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing! 35See! Your house is left to you desolate; and assuredly, I say to you, you shall not see Me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’”
Dear Redeemed in Christ, who in love went to the cross to redeem us from our sin:
How strong is our love? I don’t mean merely feelings. It is easy to say, “I love you” when it feels good. But I mean how strong is our love in action? Love is an act of the will, a decision to do what is best for others no matter how it feels. How strong is our resolve to act in love for others even when it hurts, even when they reject us?
Here we see Jesus’ love in action. We see His resolve to act in the best interests of sinners He came to save, even if it meant dying for them. Already in Luke 9:51 we read: “Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem.” Jesus knows that soon at Jerusalem, He must be lifted up on a cross to die for the sins of the world. Then He would rise again on the third day. Later, He would be received up into heaven in His ascension. Jesus goes forth in love with firm resolve to do everything it takes to win our salvation.
“Behold the Savior in His Boundless Love”: 1) A love which takes Him to His certain death, 2) A love which sorrows for those who reject Him, 3) A love which extends hope to those who accept Him.
1) A love which takes Him to His certain death
Already, Jesus knows all that must happen. In His boundless love, He willingly goes to the cross and His certain death. He does not need anyone to prod Him along. Yet here come some of His enemies to prod Him along with sly politics and plotting.
“On that very day some Pharisees came, saying to Him, ‘Get out and depart from here, for Herod wants to kill You’” (vs. 31). With apparent friendliness, the Pharisees warn Jesus of Herod Antipas, or Herod the Tetrarch. Herod ruled Galilee in the north of Israel and Perea to the east, where Jesus did much of His ministry. Earlier, John the Baptist had rebuked Herod for his incestuous marriage to Herodias. After that, Herod had John beheaded at the request of Herodias. Certainly, Herod was not a friendly man.
But neither were the Pharisees. These Jewish religious leaders opposed Jesus through His ministry with their false teachings and misplaced zeal. Jesus could see through their hypocrisy in warning about Herod. For Mark 3:6 tells us that already, the Pharisees had joined with the Herodians in plotting how they might destroy Jesus.
They were unlikely allies. The Herodians served the hated Romans who occupied Israel. The Pharisees were zealous for Israel’s freedom as God’s holy nation. Yet they were united in their hatred of Jesus. Both wanted Him out of Herod’s territory. Herod wanted Jesus to leave because He was getting too popular among the people in his jurisdiction with His miracles and teaching. The Pharisees wanted Jesus to move on to Jerusalem where they had more allies and could more easily kill Him.
How did Jesus reply to such sly politics and plotting? “Go, tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.’ Nevertheless I must journey today, tomorrow, and the day following; for it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem” (vs. 32-33).
Jesus expresses contempt for any danger Herod might present. Already in the eternal counsel of God, it was determined that He would die. But it would all be in God’s time. Jesus goes forth willingly to Jerusalem where His work must be perfected in His death on the cross to take away the sins of the world. But in the meantime, He would continue in all His Father sent Him to do – performing miracles and proclaiming the Gospel, calling sinners to repentance and faith, bringing more souls into His Kingdom.
2) A love which sorrows for those who reject Him
Behold the Savior in His boundless love, resolved to act in the best interests of all even unto death! But we see that it is a love which sorrows for those who reject Him. Jesus says: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!” (vs. 34)
We hear Jesus’ heartfelt sorrow for Jerusalem and her children, the people of Israel through whom God had promised to send the Savior. Jerusalem means “city of peace.” Yet it was not at peace with God. How often in love, God sent prophets to lead them in His truth, to give them His true peace through repentance and faith. Yet how often they rejected His overtures of love, killing the prophets and stoning those sent to her!
Now as their Savior came to them in person, they even despised and rejected Him (Isaiah 53:3). Jesus longed to gather them as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings to protect them. Yet like wayward chicks, they would not take refuge in Him and be saved. With utmost resolve in love, Jesus sought to save them, even His enemies, until they stilled His voice in their cries: “Crucify Him, crucify Him!” (Luke 23:21)
As we hear the love of Jesus that sorrows even for those who reject Him, we see how different His love is from ours. Often, we love those who love us; but when others hate and reject us, we withhold our love. We love when it feels good; but when it hurts, we lose our resolve to act in their best interests. Often, this even affects closest relationships. We resolve to love family and friends and do what is best for them. But when it means giving up our selfish desires, or we see lack of appreciation for our efforts, we withhold our love. As sinners, our imperfect love and resolve fails.
But our Savior in His boundless love sorrowed even for those who despised and rejected Him! In His loving resolve, He did the very best He could do in hope of their eternal good. He gave His life on the cross for them. He prayed: “Father forgive them” (Luke 23:34). To the bitter end He loved His enemies, willing their salvation.
Here we see a truth Scripture teaches. In His boundless love, God our Savior does not want anyone to perish, but that all repent and be saved through faith in Jesus (Ezekiel 33:11; 1 Timothy 2:3-6). In earnest, God sent His Son to die on the cross for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2). The blood of Jesus has paid for all our sins. So in earnest, God sends His Gospel to the ends of the earth. The Holy Spirit calls all sinners to repent and be saved through faith in Jesus’ blood-bought forgiveness.
Yet God’s love does not force acceptance. To how many must Jesus say at last: “How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!” Maybe we have felt some of His sorrow when, despite all our loving efforts to share the Gospel with someone, he hardens his heart. The sinful will of fallen man is bent against the truth of God. It does not want to come into the light, but to remain in the darkness of sin and unbelief (John 3:19-20). The sinful will resists the Holy Spirit and rejects Jesus (Acts 7:51-52).
Jesus prophesies the result of rejection: “See! Your house is left to you desolate.” (vs. 35) Jerusalem would be destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. The temple where God had been present with His grace would be laid waste. Yet how much worse is the desolation brought by unbelief in hell, where the soul hardened against God never again hears of His grace and hope. It is in view of this that Jesus sorrowed.
Yet, it is by the grace of God alone that any of us believe and are saved. For we all were born with the same sinful nature bent against God. We all were spiritually dead toward God in our trespasses and sin (Ephesians 2:1-9). Therefore, we did not by any superior willpower or goodness in ourselves choose to believe and be saved. It is only by the gracious work of God in us. As we confess in the Catechism: “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, or come to Him; but the Holy Ghost has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the truth faith.” (Apostles’ Creed, Third Article)
3) A love which extends hope to all who accept Him
We can be thankful that our salvation does not depend on the strength of our love or the resolve of our will. Our love often falters, even in our closest relationships. Our resolve often fails, even with our best intentions. But by Holy Spirit worked repentance and faith, we look only to the boundless love and resolve of our Savior that never fails. It is a love which extends hope to all who accept Him.
Jesus holds out that hope here: “Assuredly, I say to you, you shall not see Me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’” (vs. 35). Soon when He rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, the crowds would greet Him with those words. To this day, all who by the grace of God are brought to faith in Jesus say the same. As God’s Israel by faith, we praise Him who has come to save us.
We bless Jesus that, in His boundless love, He steadfastly set His face toward Jerusalem and went to the cross for us. For every way we have selfishly lacked love, Jesus went forth in selfless love to lay down His life for us. For every way we have lacked resolve to do what is right, Jesus went forth in righteous resolve to suffer and die for us. On the cross, He prayed for us: “Father forgive them.” For His sake, God forgives all our sins. Now He counts to us the perfect love and resolve of our Savior.
Today we bless Jesus that He comes to us with His boundless love in Word and Sacrament. For here, He brings us His blood-bought salvation. Here, He baptizes and washes us to our very heart and soul. Here, He feeds us His Body and Blood for our forgiveness. Here, He sends the Holy Spirit to keep us in saving faith to the very end.
And since Jesus died and rose again for us, we cling in hope to His promise of our resurrection to eternal life. When Jesus comes again in glory to take us to heaven, we will join all the saints, with robes washed in the blood of the Lamb. In the heavenly Jerusalem, we will behold our Savior in His boundless love and bless His name forever:
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be. Amen.