March 16, 2025

Today's Reading: Luke 13:31-35

Daily Lectionary: Genesis 16:1-9, 15-17:22; Mark 6:1-13

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! (Luke 13:34)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. 

People don’t like to hear God’s Word. It’s uncomfortable, demanding, condemning. His Word calls a thing what it is and calls people what they are. Sinners. Enemies of God. God’s Word doesn’t mince words. And that’s why Jerusalem kills prophets and stones apostles. People don’t like to hear God’s Word, so it must be silenced.

Why did Jerusalem react so violently to the prophetic voices sent by God? The pattern of putting prophets to death shows that God’s Word isn’t just a few suggestions to improve already good people. It’s a violent encounter of the holy God with sinful man. The prophets are well aware of this: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips,” lamented Isaiah at the foundation-shaking voice speaking God’s Word (Is. 6:5). 

We are not that different from Jerusalem. Perhaps none of us have resorted to murder at the sound of God’s Word, but we would rather it be silenced nonetheless. His Word makes us uncomfortable. It’s demanding. Condemning. Even the preachers who are sent to proclaim it shy away from it. But even stopping your ears and despising God’s Word is a violent attack on God.

Violence is not God’s nature, though. To curb sinful rebellion, God sometimes resorts to violent measures, but that’s foreign to His nature. Jesus, the Son of God, shows the heart of God when He speaks as a mother hen. “How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!” And as the prophets before Him, Jerusalem put Him to death for speaking a Word that people don’t want to hear.

But then something ironic happens. When they kill this Prophet, He begins to gather His brood like a mother hen. “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself” (John 12:32). On the cross, His tender heart shed the blood that cleanses us from all sin. On the cross, He put hostility to death. With the New Testament of Jesus’ Blood, there is no more violent encounter with God—only an invitation to His pierced side.

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

O God, You see that of ourselves we have no strength. By Your mighty power defend us from all adversities that may happen to the body and from all evil thoughts that may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

-Rev. Jacob Ehrhard, pastor of St. John’s Lutheran Church and School in Chicago, IL.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, KY.

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