3rd Tuesday in Lent, March 22. “Stay calm and keep trusting”

Prepare to Listen.  Take your time to be still, using this prayer: Turn my heart to your decrees, and not to selfish gain.
 
Prayerfully Read Luke 13:31-35
31At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, ‘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 away from 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.”’
 
Prayerfully Wonder
Warning and lament, back-to-back, both giving comfort and assurance.  Luke’s readers lived in troubled times, the aftermath of Rome’s destruction of their nation.  They needed to know God still cared and was in control.  We too live in troubled times—an invasion of Ukraine that affects us all, the effects of the pandemic, worrying economic times, and more.  We too want to know that God cares and has control in this mess.  Jesus’ back-to-back warning and lament are intended to comfort and assure so that we stay calm and keep trusting.
 
Yes, God is still in control.  Jesus showed an utter disdain for Herod’s threat and refused to react.  He was neither fearful nor angry, nor did he resort to violence.  He persisted in his pursuit of God’s plan.  Jesus would die, not in Galilee at the hand of Herod, but exactly as God planned—in Jerusalem.
 
Yes, God still cares.  Jesus’ lament highlights the depth of his love.  He is emotional as he says, “How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!”  Like the hen with her chicks when fire threatens, Jesus takes on the full force of disasters, protecting those who come into his embrace.  But you must enter his embrace.  Jesus doesn’t use force or violence.  When threatened, fear and violence are not appropriate responses for followers of Jesus.  Stay calm and keeping trusting God to work things according to his plan.
 
Prayerfully Reflect
What does this episode teach you about Jesus?
 
Respond to Jesus
Lord, thank you they you showed such love and concern for the people then and continue to show it to us today.  Help me walk in your way and keep praising you sincerely.  Amen.
 
Live obediently.  Stay calm and keep trusting.