Being the Resistance: Luke 13:31-35 - Second Sunday in Lent

 ³¹At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to [Jesus,] “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” ³²He said to them, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. ³³Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’ ³⁴Jerusalem, 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! ³⁵See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’ ” (NRSV)

Altar at St. Michael's Ukranian Catholic Church, West Leechburg. Photo by author.

For centuries, the Ukrainian people have endured war, corrupt governments, brutal occupations, and even genocide. They were conquered by the Mongols in the 13^th century, and right up until World War 1 just about every empire in Eastern Europe ruled over them for a time. 

Following the collapse of the Russian Empire and the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, Ukraine briefly gained independence until it was forcibly annexed by the Soviet Union 1922. In 1933, Josef Stalin collectivized Ukraine’s farms, seizing all the food the country produced, resulting in a massive famine which killed an estimated 3.5 million Ukrainians. 

When World War 2 broke out, Hitler’s invading armies were briefly welcomed into Ukraine as liberators, but the Nazis quickly sent many Ukrainian citizens to Forced Labor Camps in Germany—and 1.5 million Jews to the death camps. An estimated six million Ukrainians died during the war. It would not be until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 that the Ukrainians would be a free and independent nation, though the leaders of post-Soviet Russia have never stopped coveting the land.

The passion, bravery, and selflessness we see of the Ukrainian people today has been forged in centuries of unimaginable hardship. Despite this, the Christian faith has thrived in Ukraine, despite centuries persecution. Christians are also playing a major role in housing refugees in countries like Poland.

In today’s Gospel, their resilience can be heard in the echo of Jesus’ words. Some Pharisees warn him, “get away from here, because Herod wants to kill you.” 

But is defiant. He says, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’” 

It’s hard to say if the Pharisees were trying to be helpful to Jesus, or if they’re trying to intimidate him. But Jesus knows that a cross awaits him in Jerusalem—and he will carry it, because that’s what he was born to do. Death and evil will not break his trust in God, or his love for the world. 

But what about us? Throughout the ages, across the world, the people of God have risked life and limb, and have even died doing what we’re doing here today. Americans’ excuse for not coming to church is that they don’t have time, or they don’t get anything out of it. Some of the most generous people you’ll ever know are those who have the least to give. But we who have plenty, will we still be generous, even with gasoline costing $6 per gallon? Are we failing to follow Jesus because we’re afraid to be uncomfortable, take risks, face challenges, embrace change, and suffer losses? You can’t carry a cross if both hands are full of idols—all those things you think you cannot live without…

Think back for a moment on everything and everyone that got in Jesus’s way during his ministry… His own hometown rejected him. His disciples constantly let him down. Many times, the people became so enraged by Jesus that they wanted to kill him. One disciple betrayed him, another denied him, and the rest ran away when he was arrested. When you think about it, it was a miracle that he made it to Jerusalem. 

We also witness Jesus lamenting how he wanted nothing more than to gather the people of Jerusalem to himself, like a mother hen gathers her chicks, “but you were not willing,” he says. Jesus comes as our messiah, and we crucify him. 

God’s kingdom will come, and God’s will shall be done, on earth as in heaven. But not without resistance—from the world, and even from you and me. To free this world from sin and death, Jesus had to die and descend into hell. The only way you can truly be free from the control of sin and death is to die. And no one wants to do that. You will never become the person God created you to be if you stay where you are, as you are, and go your own way. 

Constantly, we fail to do God’s work because we think we don’t have enough money or enough people. As society grows more secular, we think people don’t need Jesus. Our congregations don’t grow because we don’t believe they can—which is why we’re unwilling to bear the costs and the risks that church growth demands. We love Jesus, but we won’t put him over our ambitions or our anxieties. We live as though God doesn’t exist. We don’t know Jesus as faithful because we’re unwilling to trust him. 

Rarely (if ever) will Jesus lead you down the path of least resistance. The way of the cross is path of most resistance. Growth is painful. Learning is stressful. Change is born of loss (even positive change). Loving the neighbor is costly. Relationships cannot grow without conflict and disagreement. Failures and mistakes are powerful teachers. God cannot change the world without shaking the world. Resurrection cannot happen without death. 

This time of fear and uncertainty may feel like the most inopportune time to follow Jesus. But now is the right time. 

The grace of God is the power to stand strong and move forward against the winds of chaos. Your life as a Christian, and our future as a church, should not be determined by all the things going on in the world, any more than you should have to live forever in the shadow of your failures, mistakes, and misfortunes. Worry, fear, and shame must not rule your life, because if they do, they’ll corrode your soul like acid.

When you make up your mind to take up your cross and die to all the things, good and bad, that keep you from Jesus, God’s victory in you began the second you said, “yes, Lord.” 

God is the resistance in this time of war, in this time of fear and uncertainty, in this time of rapid and scary change.

Now is the time to stop being pushed around by chaos, fear, and anxiety. Now is the time to be the resistance, following Jesus with a holy trust that life and love will prevail. Take up your cross and follow him on the sacred journey to resurrection.