Feb. 24, 2013 Second Sunday in Lent

Luke 13:31-35

31 At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, "Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you."
32 He replied, "Go tell that fox, 'I will drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.' 33 In any case, I must keep going today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!
34"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! 35 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.'"

“AGENTS OF LOVE”

God wants to love us more then we want to be loved.
God wants his love to be a living power and passion in our lives, sustaining us when we are down, challenging us when we are off course, directing us when we are confused and loving us into joyful obedience and hopeful servant hood, no matter what.

We don’t want that!
It is scary to be loved by God that much, for it “demands our life our soul our all.”
Being loved this much means I can no longer play at being religious - I have to become real.
Like Mother Teresa who was an agent of God’s unrelenting love in the midst of unrelenting odds.


“I WOULD - YOU WOULD NOT”

One of the most destructive things we can do is try force our way on someone else.
We can weep for them but we can’t live for them.

The best we can do is model - try influence someone into wanting what we have.
Jesus did a lot of modeling as he walked among us.  He didn’t force anyone to follow him;
he modeled Gods love and it drew people to him.

His weeping over Jerusalem is modeling that love.  A love that will not let us go, but will not force us to come either.  A love which wants the best for us, and is willing to risk our not wanting it, and weeps for us when we don’t.  O what a wondrous love!