Love in the ruins - Lent 2

Luke 13: 31 - 35
Philippians 3:17 - 4:1

“Ten measures of beauty gave God to the world: nine to Jerusalem and one to the remainder Ten measures of sorrow gave God to the world: nine to Jerusalem and one to the remainder.”

So records the Talmud which is the compendium of the Jewish oral law. And indeed there is much beauty in Jerusalem. In that ancient city are to be found the places held to be holy by the followers of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Yet also, in Jerusalem the signs of hatred and conflict between those who are described as “Blood Brothers” by the Palestinian priest Elias Chacour. This is the city in which three faiths engage in conflict both with each other and even amongst themselves. For this is the place where God has been too often betrayed by those who speak of One God and claim a lineage that goes back to Abraham.

And all of us are affected by the highs and lows of that great city. For as the American spiritual leader, Barbara Brown Taylor puts it;

“Nothing that happens in Jerusalem is insignificant. When Jerusalem obeys God, the world spins peacefully on its axis. When Jerusalem ignores God, the whole planet wobbles.”

And too often as we look at Jerusalem, we sense a planet wheeling out of control.

But conflict in Jerusalem is hardly new. We find Luke telling us that the Pharisees gave a warning to Jesus that Herod was seeking to kill him. Now we cannot be sure quite what was happening. It is possible that these Pharisees were seeking to silence Jesus. Yet, it seems reasonable to take things at face value. After all, Jesus was not in conflict with all Pharisees and there seem to have been Pharisees who found their way into the early church.

Certainly, Herod may well have wanted to kill Jesus. This was after all a man who was only too prepared to shed blood if he felt his self preservation was at stake. He had imprisoned John the Baptist when his teachings became unpalatable, and later had him killed. If Jesus became a threat either directly or as a result of the responses of the crowds, Herod would have no qualms about killing him.

And certainly Jesus could be seen as dangerous. After all, one of his closest followers was a Zealot militant, a sworn enemy of the existing order. Yet he defied normal logic by also calling a collaborator with that order to follow him. Inclusiveness - Yes! But an inclusiveness opened to suspicion. And that suspicion could only be made worse by his giving a hitherto unknown value to those who had hitherto been marginalized as sinners and the unclean. Jesus had become a danger to the established way of life. The man was clearly a subversive type!

And with Passover coming, Herod would be at his most vigilant. This was the time when religious feelings would be at their most passionate. And Herod’s masters in Rome could be relied upon to take a firm line with dissent at such a time.

And yet, we find that despite the warnings Jesus presses on resolutely to Jerusalem in full knowledge that he would be going very much into the lions’ den!

And in this we get a clear picture of a courageous Jesus who in no way flinches from a situation of great danger to himself. For here is no “Gentle Jesus” or “Pale faced Galilean” but a Jesus who is resolute and full of courage.

But for what is he so full of courage? This courage can only be seen as a courage whose ends are to express love. As he contemplates the city of Jerusalem, he is fully aware of the wrongs that have been done their by the very people of Jerusalem. The city has not come up to scratch. And yet, he feels a deep and tender love for this city;

“How I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings , but you were not willing.”

Oh, this is a tender love, a love that is that of a mother for her children. They may have messed up but the feelings of love run so deep. It is reminiscent of the story of a farm which is devastated by a fire. The farmer comes to survey the destruction. As he look around, he sees the charred remains of a hen and he touches it with a stick only for the chicks that have been unharmed to come running out. Only a mother could do that. Yet it is precisely such maternal feelings that we now find Jesus expressing for the people of this errant city. He loves them and longs to protect them and ultimately he will sacrifice himself that people might come to know the extent of that love.

And do not make the mistake of thinking that this love is earned in any way. For soon, the people of this city will be shouting out;

“Crucify him!”

Only for Jesus as he is being tortured upon the cross to cry out for their forgiveness.

In this we see the purpose of the courage of Jesus. It is all for love. Here is no sentimental or easy love but a love that goes all the way. Confronted by rejection, Jesus responds with an embrace. Faced with hatred and violence, Jesus responds with love and shalom. And where people descend to their worst badness, the response of Jesus is to exceed that badness with the goodness of his response. For the greatest wonder of the love of Jesus is that it is not dependent on the recipient being deserving. Indeed the very point of what Christians call grace is that it is a gift of benefit that can never be deserved.

This is illustrated by a story concerning the late William Sloane Coffin. Whilst training for the ministry, he was working in a tough area. One day he met a gambler whom he tried to dissuade from continuing that lifestyle. After a while, the gambler said to him;

“You’re going to be a preacher some day, aren’t you son?Coffin replied;

“That’s right, why?”The man continued;

“So you believe in grace right?”And Coffin replied;

“Yes, why?”

Only for the gambler to explain himself;

“I’ll tell you why. You believe in grace and I believe in gambling, and that means that both of us believe life is good when it is something for nothing.”

And you know, grace is in a sense about something for nothing. It is pure gift and it comes to us when we deserve it least. But there is cost - only Jesus bears that cost. And it for today as well as then. For just as Jesus courageously reaches out to the undeserving Jerusalem of 2,000 years ago, the same passionate maternal love is also for you and me. For such love to be made known, Jesus sacrifices all so that Isaac Watts writes in those memorable lines of his;

“Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.”

Oh yes! Amidst the ruins that we erect in our lives and in our world, the love of Jesus reaches out. He does not give up on us but resolutely and courageously offers himself in love for us. And because of the touch of that incredible grace, we can be transformed to be the means through which the story of grace goes on.


This sermon to be preached at Bideford Methodist Church on March 4th 2007