Seeking Transformation in Tribulation

Luke 13:31–35 ESV

31 At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” 32 And he said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course. 33 Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.’ 34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! 35 Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ”

As we come to this second Sunday in Lent, we come to a short passage but one packed with great meaning. He begins chapter 13 by saying that any who do not repent will perish in the same way as some Galileans who were killed by Pilate or eighteen people who were killed when a tower in Jerusalem fell on them. He ends the chapter by lamenting over all those who will perish because they do not follow him.

It is a difficult thought for us. Jesus is clear especially in this chapter that there is a narrow way to God - that way is only through him. This kind of message is not one that our world wants to hear. We have gotten used to many in pulpits in churches across all denominational lines who declare a kind of universalism where everyone gets in as long as they are nice. It’s a works-righteousness that rejects the gospel for a feel-good religion that allows people to remain just like they are because God loves them no matter what. The gospel is no longer the gospel of Christ but a gospel of self-centeredness and self-love.

When pastors, churches, and denominations preach against this feel good religion, it often comes at a price in our world. You can get cancelled. You can get banned from Facebook or YouTube. You will be shunned by others. Our world does not like the true gospel. Jesus tells us that we will be hated because of him.

Today, we are going to explore what it means to be transformed in times of tribulation and persecution. None of us want to be unliked or hated by the world, but it is a natural consequence as we will see for standing up for the truth of the gospel.

1. Those who fear the gospel persecute the church. (vs. 31)

At the onset of our passage, a group of Pharisees comes to Jesus to tell him that Herod wishes to kill him. It is unclear whether or not this is a fabrication by the Pharisees to get Jesus to move on or if there is a real threat from Herod. Certainly, Herod was capable of such villany. He has just recently beheaded John the Baptist. Herod was a shrewd man who was paranoid of any one who may lay claim to his throne as a puppet of Rome. He may have seen Jesus as a threat to him because of many of his followers claimed that Jesus was the Messiah. This brought fear to Herod. It is also true that the Pharisees could have just made it up as a way to get Jesus to leave their area. Jesus and the Pharisees were at odds with each other at many different points in his ministry. There were moments when they tried to get rid of Jesus but did not proceed. Whatever the case, this encounter with the Pharisees gives Jesus the determination to finish his work that would be accomplished in Jerusalem.

The threat of death by Herod shows the fear and hatred that are found in those who do not want to hear the message of the gospel. Why does the gospel illicit such a reaction? The word “gospel” means “good news”. Don’t we all want to hear good news right now with everything that is going on? It is important for us to realize that just because it is good news to us does not mean it is good news to others. The message of the gospel requires change in us, and many do not want to change. They are happy in their sinful behavior because it is the default position of humanity. Paul tells us in Romans 1:24-25

Romans 1:24–25 ESV

24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

Herod was in a position where he had given up the truth for a lie and was given to the lusts of his heart.

Mark 6:17–18 ESV

17 For it was Herod who had sent and seized John and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because he had married her. 18 For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”

John had called out Herod because of his sin. His wife Herodias did not like it either. In Mark’s gospel, Herod believes that Jesus may be John raised from the dead:

Mark 6:14 ESV

14 King Herod heard of it, for Jesus’ name had become known. Some said, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead. That is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.”

John’s proclamation of the truth and the fear that it induced particularly in Herodias led to his death.

But Jesus gives us hope in the face of persecution. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says in Matthew 5:11-12

Matthew 5:11–12 ESV

11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

When we are faced with persecution in this life, it is because there is fear in others about the message that calls us to repent and turn to Christ in the face of our sinfulness. People do not want to leave their sin behind because it is all they know, and for some their sin gives them meaning. We are facing that right now as General Conference has been cancelled and there are many questions about what is ahead. I have already seen on social media those who are going to choose to stay within the United Methodist Church come out with hatred and vitriol toward anyone who would dare want to leave. We are being called hypocrites and liars. We have been referred to as people who want to destroy the church because of our bigoted ideas. It comes completely unprovoked by those who claim to be loving and caring for all. But it is coming and it will come hard. We must be ready as we look to the future. The next few months will not be an easy time for you, for me, and for my family. We pray all goes smoothly as we learn what is next and try to navigate it the best we can. But we must be ready for difficult times ahead. We will need to cling to verses like verse 12, “Rejoice and be glad.”

2. The gospel message must be proclaimed in the face of tribulation. (vs. 32-33)

No matter how the Pharisees mean it, Jesus takes their word at face value that they are agents of Herod. He asks that they send a message back to Herod about his threat. In his response, Jesus calls Herod a “fox”. In rabbinical literature, a fox was seen as a creature of low cunning and insignificant in comparison to greater animals such as lions. Jesus probably means both of these. Although Herod had power because of his alignment with the Roman government, he was seen as a joke to most Jews. They certainly feared him, but it was not because of his own personality or skill. It was simply because he could do whatever he wanted within the limits of Rome to control people and seize them.

But Jesus is not afraid of Herod. He sees him as nothing more than an insignificant animal. Instead, Jesus insists that his ministry will go on undeterred until he arrives in Jerusalem. He will complete his mission. He will cast out demons and cure people until such time as he goes to the cross. Jesus does not fain in the face of tribulation and hardship. Herod cannot hinder the mission that will be fulfilled in Jerusalem. God’s will is to be done because there is a specific purpose for Jesus to continue his ministry of proclaiming the kingdom until the mission is complete and reached its conclusion.

As followers of Jesus, we are called to the same action. We know that the world is going to hate us because we proclaim the same gospel as Jesus. As we have said before, the gospel strikes fear in those who do not receive it as good news. It is a curse to them. So, their reaction is going to be one where their hatred toward God who they cannot see will be brought upon us who they can see.

John 15:18–19 ESV

18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

Jesus tells his disciples that they will face the same kind of hatred by the world that he has. If the world loves you and celebrates you while you preach about Jesus, then there is something wrong with the message you preach. Those outside of Christ cannot love us because they hate the true Christ. The world loves the Christ that just talks about love and acceptance. The world loves the Christ that does not call them to repentance. The world loves the Christ that never talks about sin. The world loves the Christ that allows it to remain where it is and does not call it to account. They love a Christ that isn’t “judgy” like evangelical Christians. But that is not the Jesus revealed in scripture. That is the Jesus that the world has fashioned for its own gain so that it does not have to repent and leave behind that which they love - the self-centered religion that is created by having that kind of Jesus.

This is why the church in this time must be like Paul:

Romans 1:16–17 ESV

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

The gospel message that is proclaimed by Jesus and the apostles is simple: Repent and believe on the name of Jesus. Be obedient to his commands. Be transformed by the power of the gospel to be something more than this world can offer.

That is the fallacy that is presented by those who hate the real Jesus and by default us, too. They want to proclaim a false gospel that is built on the works that we do and create as straw man argument against anyone who dare stand in their way. The world that is offered by a false gospel is just this world. How is that good? What the true Christ offers us is change and transformation to be more and more like him - one who loves and cares for all in this world and longs for them to have a relationship with him.

3. Transformation happens when our hearts break for those who reject the gospel. (vs. 34-35)

Over the centuries, Jerusalem had been the place where many of God’s prophets had been rejected by the people and by the king. There is a great love that God has for this city because his presence has been with the people even when they have rejected him. There is so much love that God has for Jerusalem that he would gather them up like hen does her brood under her wings. God wants so much for Israel to turn to him and turn to Jesus. But just as the prophets of old who they killed and stoned, they will reject Jesus and kill him as well.

Jeremiah calls on judgment against Jerusalem and the king, but Zedekiah’s officials threw him into a muddy cistern and left him for dead:

Jeremiah 38:5–6 ESV

5 King Zedekiah said, “Behold, he is in your hands, for the king can do nothing against you.” 6 So they took Jeremiah and cast him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king’s son, which was in the court of the guard, letting Jeremiah down by ropes. And there was no water in the cistern, but only mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud.

In Deuteronomy 13:1-5, Israel was told that they were to stone the false prophets among them.

Deuteronomy 13:1–5 ESV

1 “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him. 5 But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has taught rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of slavery, to make you leave the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

But, instead, Israel would get rid of the true prophets and keep the false ones.

Luke 11:49 ESV

49 Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,’

Jesus says of Jerusalem, “Your house is forsaken.” These are similar words to Jeremiah when he says

Jeremiah 22:5–6 ESV

5 But if you will not obey these words, I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that this house shall become a desolation. 6 For thus says the Lord concerning the house of the king of Judah: “ ‘You are like Gilead to me, like the summit of Lebanon, yet surely I will make you a desert, an uninhabited city.

Jerusalem will be destroyed on account of its rejection of God’s prophets, especially Jesus, who is both Messiah and God himself. When Jesus finally does arrive in Jerusalem, they declare, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” But as much as he tries to gather the people under his wings with his teachings, the more their hearts are hardened to the point where the people set themselves up on a path to destruction.

Luke 21:24 ESV

24 They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

Those who are skeptical of Jesus will not be cured of their spiritual blindness even after the destruction of Jerusalem. However, the day will come when the Son of Man will be revealed in all of his glory. On that day, Jesus’ enemies will have no choice but to acknowledge who he is.

Luke 21:27 ESV

27 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

It is because of God’s great love for all of us that he wishes that what happened to Jerusalem does not happen to those who will see the Son of Man in power and great glory. God wants every person to know Jesus as Savior. It should break our hearts that there are so many who are still in the world and do not know Christ as Savior. Their fate will be the same as those who witnessed the destruction of Jerusalem. Jesus will come again in judgment against the world. Those who have rejected him will be judged. We do not want that. That is why when we look out in the world we see what Jesus does a great harvest.

Matthew 9:37–38 ESV

37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Our hearts should be for the lost in our world. The church has lost its compassion for others not just so that they might have food or clothing. But eternal salvation.

We will go through tribulation and persecution in this life. It will be difficult when we share the gospel of Jesus Christ with others at times. But we must not be deterred because it is hard or because we might be rejected. We must still preach the good news of Jesus in a world that is desperate. People are searching for meaning and purpose in so many places other than Christ. They are going to be disappointed in what they find because they cannot fill the hole in their lives with anything other than Christ. Anything else is a cheap imitation and a poor substitute.

Matthew 28:18–20 ESV

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”