October 27, 2022 – Luke 13:31-35
Today Jesus is warned by some Pharisees to leave the area where he teaches. The reason they give is that Herod is after him. This is Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great, whom we have already met. The region of Perea was part of his territory as tetrarch. The warning, of course, could only have been a ploy by the Pharisees to get rid of Jesus by frightening him in this way.
Jesus’ reaction: Jesus called Herod a fox, a cunning, frightening and dangerous animal. But with prophetic courage, Jesus was determined to accomplish the messianic work entrusted to him by God his Father. Therefore, Jesus sent the message to Herod that he would continue his ministry of preaching and healing. Prophesying his death in Jerusalem, Jesus expressed his love and desire for the Holy City of Jerusalem, using the image of a mother hen gathering all her chicks under her protective wings.
“The image of being protected by wings, which recurs frequently in the Old Testament, refers to God’s love and protection of his people. It is found in the prophets, in the canticles of Moses (cf. Deut. 32:11), and in many Psalms” (cf. 17:8; 36:8; 57:2; 61:5; 63:8). That mosaic is a representation of today’s Gospel text expressing God’s warm and protective maternal love. Jesus loved Jerusalem and its inhabitants. He therefore felt deep sorrow at the lack of response to his message, a lack that would continue when he preached there in the last week of his earthly life.
Moreover, Jesus is still in Galilee but on his way to Jerusalem (Lk 9:51). He cannot give up going to the holy city where he will find fulfillment of his mission. Jesus regards the Pharisees as Herod’s ambassadors and asks them to respond to the king with these words, “it is necessary for me to continue on my way today, tomorrow and the next day, for it is not possible for a prophet to die outside Jerusalem” (13:32-33). Jesus is not intimidated by threats, he is not hiding, he is not going to give up the task he has been given, indeed he reiterates that he will go all the way.
To become the good workers…
– Our lives are also in God’s hands, and nothing will happen to us that conflicts with God’s desires and plans. In the end, everything is for our well-being. But let us be careful to recognize the Lord coming into our lives often in very unexpected ways and through very unexpected people.
– Some of those we reject may bring, even unknown to themselves, a message from God that we need to hear and follow.
– “Let us not rest after we have begun, let us not fail in our labors, let us not say we have cultivated asceticism for a long time; let us instead increase the readiness of our will, as if we were beginning every day” (St. Anthony Abbot).