Welcome to this Come to Jesus Daily Devotional as we continue in our Luke, Exploring Who Jesus is series. Today, from Luke 13:31-35, we reflect on Jesus’ mourning over His people - the Jews - who reject him and He wants to fill us with His compassion for those who refuse His love.
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‘At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, “Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.” He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’ In any case, I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem! “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, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”’ (Luke 13:31-35)
During the Great Fire of London in 1666, Samuel Pepys recorded the tragic story of his maid, Jane Birch, who refused to flee from the fire. As the flames approached, Pepys and his household evacuated, urging Jane to come with them. However, she was overcome with fear and decided to stay in the house, hoping the fire wouldn’t reach them. Despite their pleas, she refused to leave. Tragically, Jane was killed when the fire consumed the home.
i. Many reject Jesus
Rather like this account of Jane Birch, In our text today, we see Jesus’ grief that many of His people - the Jews - refused to receive His love and salvation. In fact, Jesus knows that those who should be celebrating the coming of their Messiah will kill Him. Like Christ, we also must be prepared to experience rejection and the rejection of the gospel.
ii. Jesus obeys God rather than fear
When threatened by Herod, Jesus’ response is very strong - ‘“Go tell that fox, ‘I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal”’. Here, we see Jesus’ exemplary courage and willingness to confront evil people. Jesus will not swerve from His ministry and mission. Christians, like Christ, are not to obey authorities who try to stop them from doing God’s will. We are to share the gospel -with respect, care and sensitivity- no matter who tells us not to. We may be in a job, such as teaching as I was, where one is not to force ones faith on the students; we may be in healthcare where, likewise, one is not allowed to force ones faith on vulnerable people. Many will have limitation to how one can share the gospel in the places that God has put them. However, we are to disobey ‘Herod’ - and pray for opportunities to share the gospel and our testimony as much as possible. May each of us throw off fear and seek to be led by the Spirit in sharing the gospel everywhere!
iii. Jesus is driven by compassion
As many reject Him and as people seek to take Him off course through fear, Jesus continues to commit Himself God’s will. He’s driven by deep compassion.
Petrol (of gasoline) is the perfect fuel for the internal combustion engine because of its volatility. However, petrol was actually a byproduct of refining oil and considered a secondary and less useful substance than Kerosine - the primary reason for refining oil at the time. Since petrol was more volatile and didn't have a clear use initially, it was often discarded or used in smaller amounts for things like cleaning. It wasn’t until the development of the internal combustion engine that petrol’s potential as a fuel became apparent, turning what was once a byproduct into a highly valuable fuel.
In our text today, we see that compassion was a primary ‘fuel’ for Jesus’ life and ministry. Compassion, like petrol after the invention of the Internal combustion engine, becomes powerful when it is teamed up with understanding and doing God’s mission. Regarding those who reject and hate Him and prophets in the past Jesus says: ‘“…As a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”’ Jesus’ heart is that His people come into the love of God and be saved from judgement. John Piper, speaking of an often lethargic and unmoved church:
‘“I think one of the greatest signs of worldliness is little concern for the reality of hell and people's going there because they don't believe.”’
Response
If we want to be strong like Jesus. Faithful to God’s will like Jesus. Faithful in sharing the gospel in difficult places like Jesus. Like Jesus, we need to be filled and fuelled by deep love and compassion for those who, currently, are not in the loving embrace of our Heavenly Father.
Let’s pray together
“Lord Jesus, I thank you for your perfect love that took you to the cross for me. Please fill me with your love and compassion so as to love those who may even reject me and your message. Help me to be led by love rather than fear. Use me and give me opportunities to share your good news - help me to see and make full use of the opportunities that you give me each day. Amen.”
Community Group Notes
1. Notices
It might be good to begin with notices. Please share from this week’s Church News.
Please ensure that you and your group are aware and have the details for our week of prayer next week.
2. Icebreaker
How has God been speaking to you from His Word this week and how has this helped you?
3. Worship together
Let’s begin our time together by lifting our eyes and hearts to worship our great God. Perhaps you have readings and songs that you would like to use together. Let’s be open to the gifts that the Spirit wants to give in order to encourage one another.
4. Study and pray together
This week is ’SIV Week’ (Serve, Invest and inVite) and so we will give most of our time to thinking and praying about helping to bring our community to Jesus.
Our message on Sunday, as we restarted our Luke, Exploring Who Jesus Is series, was from Luke 13:10-35. This section, although seemingly separate parts, is joined together by the idea that although many reject Jesus (Luke 13:10-17), nevertheless, the Kingdom is growing (Luke 13:18-21) and, although this is true, it’s not automatic and we need to tell and call people to respond to the gospel (Luke 13:22-30), being fuelled by loving compassion that overcomes fear and rejection (Luke 13:31-35). In summary, we could put it:
Jesus’ Kingdom is growing and we must play our part, fuelled by compassion.
Please read Luke 13:10-35 and discuss:
Did God speak to you about anything from Sunday’s message?
What promises does this text make about the success of the gospel and how are we to respond to this?
What does this text teach Christians about their role in the spreading Kingdom?
SIV - Do we have any stories of how we have ‘Served, Invested, and inVited’ recently?
SIV - Spend some time together talking and praying about who and how you are seeking to bring your community to Jesus.
Let’s pray together: Pray for the Spirit to fill us and move us to be like Christ who mourned over Jerusalem’s current rejection of Him.
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