Nothing Has Changed (Luke 13:31-35)
Rev. David French
03/13/22

As we have all learned, there are two sides to every story. “The teacher gave me a detention for no reason at all!” “I lost my job just because my boss doesn’t like me.” And it’s not just the secular world. These same kinds of one-sided views can be heard in the Church as well. “The pastor ran me out for no reason at all!” “The church only cares about people with money.” As a circuit counselor for nine years, I don’t know if I’ve heard it all, but I’ve heard a lot. The thing is, there has always been more to the story than one side is willing to share. Seriously, no one gets detentions for no reason at all. No one gets fired “just because.” And, as the old saying goes, no one gets run out of church for singing too loud.

So why bring this up? Well, as I was studying the lesson this week, I came across a word that really highlights the truth about two sides to every story. We heard Jesus say, “Look, your house is left to you desolate,” that is, empty and forsaken, really just caught my attention. Now, I realize that these words sound somewhat harsh by themselves. I mean, Jerusalem, consider yourselves forsaken? You could easily get the idea that Jesus is one of those run-you-off types who forsakes innocent people for no reason at all.

Ok, so obviously there’s more to this story. There has to be. I mean, Jerusalem is forsaken because they've earned it. We read, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!” Sadly, many people forget those words by the time they finish reading, “Look, your house is left to you desolate.”

But, is that how you know Jesus to be - vengeful and controlling? Because many do, but then there’s always more to the story. Clearly, we learn from the Scripture’s both Old and New Testaments that our Creator is a loving and merciful God who desires that all should come to believe in His Son for the forgiveness of our sins. But our Creator is also a just God. He doesn’t play favorites or bend the rules for anyone. God is absolutely fair.

We also learn that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” and that the wages of sin - is death. We also learn the message of the gospel through God’s Word, the Good News that all have been redeemed by Christ. That is, Jesus didn’t just go to the cross to pay for the sins of a particular age or ethnic group, a certain economic level, or social status. Jesus paid for the sins of the world; and that includes those who resent Him, hate Him, or never heard of Him. All sin has been paid for. 

You see, this is where the Greek word translated as “desolate” really comes into play. That word carries with it the idea of letting go, releasing, or loosing. And while it may sound odd, it’s the same word used in some of the miraculous healings of Jesus like when He “loosed” the tongue of the deaf and mute man. And what’s even more odd and yet, really important, is that this same word is used when God speaks about the act of forgiving sins. To forgive sins is to “loose or release” one from the guilt and punishment our sins deserve. To forgive is to release one from the wage due for sin; that is, our justly deserved death sentence.

It’s this word with the dual-meaning of both forgiveness and forsakenness that highlighted, for me, the truth that there is always more to the story, especially when it comes to Christ and His Church and His means of grace. Hearing these words of Jesus, I can easily picture God always reaching out to His people to love and cherish them, to forgive them of all their sin.

Unfortunately, the more God reached out, the more He tried to hold, protect, and love them, the more they resisted and pulled away from Him. That’s what it means to deny and reject God’s grace and trust in your own reason, strength, and goodness. It is, if you will, a slap in the face of God. Slap after slap, God continued to turn the other cheek as He lovingly and graciously reached out to embrace His beloved children who came to believe they really didn’t need Him. And so, finally, God let them have their way and released them. He had to let them go. He had to forsake them, not because He’s a vengeful and hateful God who just waits for the right time to drop the hammer, but because they wanted nothing to do with Him. They had rebelled. They pulled back. They denied Him. They wanted to be in control of their own lives and have everything on their terms, according to their timelines and their own liking. 

Again, you know our God is a loving and gracious God, but He won't “make” anyone love Him back. If He did, it would no longer be love, and we would no longer be free. But before you look down on those who foolishly forsake Jesus, let’s look at this from the perspective of your own life. How many people do you know who, not intentionally - it rarely is - but still, have done the exact same thing? There are those who have known the love of God in Christ and yet are no longer a part of His Church today because of that same rebellious attitude towards God and His Church.

And, if we’re confident enough in God’s mercy and forgiveness to be brutally honest with ourselves, we would confess as well that we also have taken some proverbial swipes at our heavenly Father. And that’s the point. We have sinned and continue to sin against our God to this very day. And yet, we are forgiven and not forsaken without jumping through any hoops to gain God’s grace and favor. 

And so, we find there is a “now, but not yet” reality that is still a part of God’s plan of salvation. And, as it turns out, our forgiveness and forsakenness are a part of that reality. Remember, Jesus was speaking of this forsakenness — this letting go — to a particular group of people in a particular city at a particular time in history. Many of those same people saw Jesus when He came to them later on Palm Sunday when His disciples lined the streets proclaiming “Hosanna in the highest!  Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”

You see, Jesus never said they were irreversibly and so eternally forsaken, only at that time. Throughout all of that first Holy Week, God gave the people of Jerusalem many opportunities to see that His promise of the Messiah and the salvation He would bring was being fulfilled in the person of Jesus. But God didn’t stop there. Until the time they breathed their last, God gave them and gives us, who in our day have also sinned against Him, both time and opportunity to repent of our sins and turn back to Him who is the fountain and source of eternal life. That’s how gracious God was in dealing with His rebellious children then, and that’s how gracious and loving God is in dealing with His rebellious children now. 

And so, nothing has changed. God has never and will never eternally forsake a person while they still live on this side of eternity! The truth is, God’s only begotten Son was forsaken in your place so that you might live, not in the shadow of His justice, but in the light of His grace and mercy, both of which are offered to you again right now. 

In His name, Amen.