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Luke 13:31-35

God Keeps Loving Jerusalem

March 13, 2022

Second Sunday in Lent

Lectionary Year C

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ASK (a.k.a The On-Ramp)

Good morning! I have a question for you…
Do you have a pet or do you know someone who does?
And…do the pets always do what you want? (No!)
Sometimes they even do the exact opposite of what we want them to do, right?
For instance, you might want to give your pet a bath – and when you put the pet in the water, what do you they usually try to do? (Jump out, do a quick shake, and run away!)

TELL (a.k.a. The Freeway)

I share this idea of pets not listening to us because in today’s scripture story, Jesus repeats something another prophet had said about God and the city of Jerusalem.
This other prophet said that God longed to gather the people of Jerusalem together, like a mother bird gathers her baby chicks under her wings.
That sounds kind of nice, doesn’t it? And if you can’t imagine it, such an image might look something like this:

Image from: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4ZMlp3IpkLE/S970CT371CI/AAAAAAAAEDM/81BTkWIfuao/s1600/und erHISwing.jpg

That looks pretty cozy and inviting, doesn’t it?
But, the prophet says that the people of Jerusalem were not willing to be gathered under the care of God.
Instead, it sounded like they acted a lot like our pets – where they would jump out and run away from God.
And, because the people of Jerusalem didn’t want to receive God’s care, then they also weren’t too interested in listening to or following Jesus.
What’s so frustrating for Jesus is that he knows it’d be so much better for the people of Jerusalem if they would receive God’s love and care…
…just like we know it’s better for our dogs and cats to have a bath from time to time, even if they don’t want it.

SHARE the Good News (a.k.a. The Destination)

So today’s story is kind of a sad story.
But guess what?
Even if some people in Jesus’ time didn’t accept Jesus’ invitation to receive God’s care, we can accept Jesus’ invitation to receive God’s care and love.
As we follow Jesus and learn from him how to receive God’s care and love...
…then we’ll have more of God’s care and love to share with others – just like Jesus did.
And that’s the good news for today!

CLOSING Prayer

Let’s pray. This is a repeat-after-me prayer.

Dear God,
Dear God,

Thank you for Jesus…

…who teaches us …

…who teaches us…

…how to receive your love and care…

…so that we can then…

…share your love with others.

Thank you and Amen

Originally posted February 24, 2013.
Updated on February 14, 2022
Written and edited by Nathanael Vissia

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