Genesis 15.1-12, 17-18; Luke 13.31-35
Jesus is going from village to village, teaching and healing as he makes his way to Jerusalem. A few verses before, Luke records him exorcising an evil spirit that had held a woman crippled for 18 years, unable to stand up straight. As soon as the spirit departs, she is completely healed, stands up straight, praising God. The leader of the village synagogue protested to the crowd that this should not have been done on the sabbath and Jesus rebukes him stating that each one of them would take their donkey or ox to water on the sabbath, should not this daughter of Abraham be set free from Satan’s bondage on the sabbath?
Throughout his ministry Jesus is moving to a pre determined plan. No threat from Herod Antipas, in whose territory he currently is, or anyone else is going to disrupt this plan, this path that Jesus must follow to his death and subsequent resurrection. So when the Pharisees - perhaps surprisingly considering their resistance to Jesus - warn him that Herod wants to kill him, Jesus is not worried, not threatened and indeed calls Herod out for what he is - a lowly cunning fox and he declares that he will continue to heal, to teach about the kingdom of God, and at the right time, God’s kairos moment, he will go to the cross and resurrection.
Perhaps we should call out Putin for what he is - a self seeking, insecure, fearful, untrustworthy despot. And what might we name Trump? A survey among Americans by ABC news came up with the following: incompetent, arrogant, egotistical , ignorant, racist, and narcissistic. Jesus named Herod correctly and us in correctly naming somebody, accurately stating their character, removes some of their power over us. Words have power, an authority of their own. Perhaps I am on shaky ground and I am in a minority of one and you strongly support these two?!
Jesus goes on to say:
“Jerusalem, 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.” He is not close to the city, he is using the term Jerusalem to refer to the whole Israelite nation and he is understandably upset that many Israelites reject him. He is their Messiah and yet they do not recognise him. Such heart ache, such passion for the people he came to save, God’s chosen nation.
What we learn from this passage is that Jesus is in control and yet he wants things to be different. He wants people to respond to him and the father. Yes he knows that God his father has got things sorted, that he is in control, that he need not worry about the threats from Herod, that the time of his crucifixion is not yet, but he cannot control the hearts and minds of those he is ministering to, we have free will and he cannot override that and when people do not respond to him, do not recognise him as the Messiah, that saddens him.
How about us? The world is in a precarious state at the moment. Do you hide from the news? Afraid to turn it on? To read the paper? The events of the past months have caused me to reflect on what those who lived through the Second World War may have felt day to day. The worry, the uncertainty, the hope that it will all work out in the end. In 1940 and 1941 hope would have been in short supply and maybe the people of Ukraine feel likewise now. May be you feel that as well - everything is going to pot. How do hold on to God in all this? How do we trust that he is in control?
The Bible helps us in this. About one third of the psalms are psalms of lament. The writer, whether King David or someone else is pouring out their heart, crying out to God. They follow a pattern of thought along the lines: God you promised to look after us, to watch over us, but life is awful and we are afraid, we need your help, do not desert us, do not abandon us. Hear us, answer us. Act. For examples of this look at psalms 5, 6 and 7.
These encourage us to express our lament to God. So we could write one for ourselves today.
“Lord, we are so used to peace and security, to things getting better day by day, for good support from our NHS, for being able to do what we like without fear. But now Lord we worry about the effects of climate change, increasing bills, uncertainty of food and energy supplies, we worry about the self centredness and unpredictability of Trump, the violence and grabbing persistence of Putin, the terrorists and gang warfares we hear about. There is so much wrong with the world, and we cannot see you at work. We cannot see you bringing justice. Yet you are a God of justice, love and mercy, so hear us, Lord, act and bring changes for the good, turn people’s hearts back to you, put everything right we pray.”
We need to acknowledge our pain and insecurity. We need to name it and express it all to God. Like clearing the decks away, this then allows us to take that step closer to God when we can once again feel his security that in the end all will be okay. Lament is the driving force that like a catalyst pushes us to deeper prayer, heart felt crying to God, imploring him to act….Do you do that? I know there is still a huge part of me that still thinks and acts as if I am in control. Relinquishing control is part of lament, recognising that we have no power of ourselves to help ourselves, that there are things we need which only God can do.
Yet I know I am slow at turning to God. Maybe we need things to go wrong before we commit to the sort of passionate prayer that true lament is. Maybe we have not got that far yet. Things have got to become more desperate, far more desperate before we spend hours on our knees imploring God to act.
In World War Two several National days of prayer were called especially when the war was going very badly and looking back we can see God acting through them. How desperate is your praying? I feel I barely scratch the surface of prayer. Luke records that in the garden of Gethsemane Jesus “in his anguish prayed more earnestly and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground.” Luke 22.44. That is passionate prayer. Let us encourage each other to pray with lament, to pray with passion, to pray with determination, to pray with hope. A hope that God will hear and respond.
To encourage us in this, this praying with lament is not all up to us. In the first reading, God affirms his covenant with Abraham, a promise that is still valid today. God took the initiative and called Abraham. Jesus took the initiative and died for us. Every time we share the bread and wine at Holy Communion we are renewing the new covenant that Jesus has made with us. As we receive the elements in Holy Communion we are reminded that despite all that is going on, Jesus has defeated evil, Jesus is the bread of life, and in the end all will be well. That he yearns to gather us up like a mother hen, to hold us close and protect us, to provide for us. All we need to do is to be willing to allow him to do this, and he will do it. Today let us renew our trust that God is at work in us and in the world.
Amen