Scripture
34 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me. 35And now, look, your house is abandoned. And you will never see me again until you say, ‘Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!” Luke 13:34-35
Observation
Jesus had such a deep love for His city and His people that even though he was constantly rejected He still invited them to relationship with Him. Even though He knew those who praised Him now would be the very one’s to curse Him He still saw them as worth dying for. The best indicator of future behavior is past behavior and Jesus knew He was the next in a long line of servants of the Lord to be silenced by death. Yet, this time, In His time, at the right time His sacrifice would break the pattern of sin, rebellion and death. The image of a bird protecting its young is used in the Old Testament for God’s protection of his people (Psalm 17:8; 91:4; Isaiah 31:5). Jesus indicates He showed up over and over to Jerusalem and every time His love was spurned, His protection rejected, His joy was mocked, His miracles misinterpreted, and yet here was Jesus again pouring His heart and soon His blood out on hardened ground.
Application
God doesn’t just love us He actually likes to be with us. God will meet us where we are at, but He will never cross our will. We can reject Him, but He will never stop calling us to Himself. I think about how when someone rejects me the last thing I want to do is spend more time with them. I can’t imagine showing up to a second date with someone who threw hot coffee in my face on the first date for no good reason. Yet, this is the persistent, consistent, insistent love of Jesus that never stops meeting with us if we are willing to meet with Him. As if to drive home the point this morning of how much He loves me and how He calls me to love others He lit up the sky with a beautiful orange and yellow sunrise. As it caught my eye through the reflection in the mirror I realized I was called to reflect this kind love to the cold world around me. Then, as I looked at the sunrise I saw the words on the wall of the Starbucks where we are meeting for our Life Group. I don’t remember ever having seen it before but it’s the point of this passage and the purpose of my life as I follow Christ- “Pour Your Heart Into It”. Not a trickle, not a sample, not a drip, not a smidge- a pour!
Prayer
May these words not just be written on the wall of a Starbucks but written on the walls of my heart. There’s so much polarization and division lately over almost every issue. It’s pretty easy to justify letting my love grow more calculated, cold, and careful. Maybe I’ll give a little love, but, out of self-preservation I pull back instead of pouring out. As I draw closer to You during this 21 Day Fast I pray You’d show me the places where I’ve drawn away from others. I want to love this city and state the way You do. I want to pour my heart into everything I do as You pour Your heart into me!
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