Sermon Archive

“The Kingdom of the Wing-Gatherers”

Luke 13:1-35
Bob DeGray
October 6, 2019

Key Sentence

The whole kingdom gathers for rescue under the care of Jesus.

Outline

I. Not personal righteousness but fruitful repentance (Luke 13:1-9)
II. Not rule keeping, but compassion (Luke 13:10-21)
III. Not focused on few or many, but on wing-gathering (Luke 13:22-35)

Message

I’ve chosen to use a verse near the end of this chapter as the key, so let me read it to you right up front. Luke 13:34 “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 were not willing!” I love that verse because it shows the heart of Jesus, that despite the hard-heartedness and unrepentance and ultimately opposition that he faced, he was still filled with compassion toward the people he’d come to. And so today, as we look through this chapter, which is about repentance, and about the kingdom, and about compassion and about hard-heartedness and soft-heartedness, I long for myself and for all of us to be wing-gatherers, those who are willing to gather under his wings and receive his rescue and care and compassion. The whole kingdom gathers for rescue under the care of Jesus

So, once upon a time there was a kingdom whose king was just and merciful. The king had built his castle high up on a cliff, and because he was wise, he built a wall behind the castle to keep his subjects from risking the dangerous and fragile cliff edge. All along the wall he had placed signs that said “turn back, loose rocks, dangerous fall.” But some of his subjects chafed under his rule, and from time to time one would scale the wall and explore the cliff. The first man who did so trusted in his own skill and ability. “I will never fall.” And yet when he clung to the cliff, he slipped on the rain-wet rocks and fell to his death. A second man, seeing the tragedy of the first, felt that the king’s wall and the signs were not enough. He began to build a new wall right on the edge of the cliff. But as he disturbed the rocks, a whole section gave way, and he and his wall tumbled into the valley below. The third man who approached the cliff was equally proud, a rebel who had defied the king. But when he saw the sign, with the king’s words and the king’s name at the bottom, he stopped, stared, and slowly turned, for he wanted to avoid destruction, and he knew the king was merciful, and would welcome him back into the kingdom with joy.

That’s the big idea today. There are many ways that we can miss the kingdom: hard-heartedness, indifference, self-righteousness, legalism, sin, evil and fear. But the king is one who longs to exalt those who humble themselves and repent. He longs to gather us as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. And so, in his perfect plan, the whole kingdom gathers for rescue under the care of Jesus. The first section emphasizes that all need to repent and that the king is patient in offering repentance.

It’s Luke 13:1-9 There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. ²And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? ³No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. ⁴Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? ⁵No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” ⁶And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. ⁷And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ ⁸And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. ⁹Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”

The section starts with people telling Jesus a story. The Roman governor of Judea, Pilate, had set his soldiers loose to kill some Galileans who were at the temple, offering sacrifices. It’s not immediately obvious to us why they bring this up, but it is to Jesus. He sees in it a common theme in Jewish thought, even as far back as Job, which says if something bad happens to you it’s because of your sin. To this Jesus says an emphatic “no, but.” “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? ³No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” He doesn’t say these people were worse sinners. He doesn’t say they weren’t sinners. He says there’s judgment for those who don’t repent.

He offers another example “Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem?” There is no record of this event, but it appears that Jesus chooses it because it was Judeans rather than Galileans who died in this one. But again he says “No, but.” “No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” Jesus believes all his hearers need to turn from their sin and be rescued from it or they will perish. It doesn’t matter how great your rescuer is or how open are his arms, you can’t be saved until you turn to him.

But he’s patient. Jesus tells a parable about an unproductive fig tree in a vineyard. Both of these are common Old Testament symbols for the nation of Israel, and both are used by Jesus in his teaching. The owner of the vineyard comes and finds no fruit on the tree. He’s been patient with this tree for three years and thinks he ought to cut it down. But his vinedresser says, verse 8 “Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. ⁹Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”

The point of the parable is clear. God is patient, waiting for people to repent. As Peter says in his second letter, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” But the other point is that this is a limited time offer. None of us knows if God is giving us one more year to repent, one more day, or one more hour. If we want to be wing-gatherers, the time to turn and run to his rescue is now. Wing-gathering implies repentance.

And repentance implies not only a turn, but a change of heart. Luke next reports an event in which Jesus extols compassion over legalism. Verses 10-21 Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. ¹¹And behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. ¹²When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.” ¹³He he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God. ¹⁴But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, “There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” ¹⁵Then the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it? ¹⁶And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?”

¹⁷As he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him. ¹⁸He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? ¹⁹It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree. The birds of the air made nests in its branches.” ²⁰Again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? ²¹It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.”

Despite the opposition, Jesus is still invited to teach in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. But once again the legalism of the Jewish leaders toward the Sabbath is an issue. Jesus won’t let Sabbath rules stand in the way of compassion, for in compassion he sees the seed of Kingdom growth. So, as he is teaching, he becomes aware of a woman was bent over, who could not straighten herself. Luke says this was due to ‘a spirit,’ probably a demonic or satanic influence on her life. She’s been this way for 18 years. And Jesus had compassion on her. He called her over and said “you’re freed,” laid his hands on her and she was immediately made straight, and she gave God glory. She recognized the perfect and glorious hand of God at work through the hands of Jesus.

But, the ruler of the synagogue was indignant because this healing broke a sabbath rule. He paraphrases the fourth commandment and says to the woman, “There are six days when work may be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” But Jesus calls this hypocritical and makes an argument from the lesser to the greater. Even the Pharisees and teachers of the law would water their animals on the Sabbath. The principle of caring for your animals on the Sabbath was well established. But if you can take care of your animals, “ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?”

Compassion is more important than rule-keeping, especially when it leaves the gray area and enters into clear legalism, as this did. This is something that we, as those who ourselves gather under the compassionate wings of Jesus, should wrestle with. I think of two circumstances where this caution is needed in the church. For the first one, picture a well, the water of life which Jesus gives. Gathered around it are those Jesus has drawn to himself, receiving that free gift, and being cleansed from sin by it. The problem we sometimes have is that we go out, oh, quite a distance from the well and we set up a fence, with a gate, and without meaning to we say to everybody who approaches the gate, “uh, if you’re not cleansed from your sin you can’t come in,” even though they can’t be clean until they come in to get to the well. So sinners are not welcome among us, even though it is only here they are likely to find Jesus.

The second case is like it. Someone falls into grievous sin. They are in trouble and they need help, to get past the sin, or often to deal with the consequences of the sin even after they’ve repented. But we sometimes say “no, we can’t help someone who has done that. It would be like we were approving of it.” And so, we push those people, whom Satan has bound, away from the well of compassion. Brothers and sisters, these things shame us, and ought not to be.

Verse17 “As he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him.” This is a typical reaction to Jesus’ teaching and his miracles, but in context I think it’s important. He’s put down his adversaries, he’s strongly made this point that compassion is more important than rule-keeping. But he’s also received this strong reaction of rejoicing by all the people for all the glorious things he’s done. And I think in this case Jesus himself is encouraged by this reaction and sees the flourishing of the kingdom in it, because he tells these two quick parables that celebrate the power and the growth of the kingdom. Verse 18 “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? ¹⁹It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.”

In Jesus' teaching the "mustard seed" represents that which is tiny but effective. He uses it this way again in chapter 17. The full-grown mustard tree is about ten feet tall, quite large enough for birds to settle in its branches. Sometimes in the Old Testament birds in branches are symbolic of the Gentile nations which come to the kingdom. That symbol would fit with much of what Jesus says in the next section. But the point of the parable is the power of growth inherent in the seed. This power is also inherent in the kingdom, as Jesus' healing of the woman has just demonstrated. “Again he said,” verse 20 “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? ²¹It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.” The leaven, or yeast, also demonstrates the power of the kingdom to cause growth. Jesus celebrates the impact of his repentance and compassion teaching, both on that crowd and on the future, the many believers who have received it, hopefully including us.

So those who gather under his wings recognize the necessity of repentance, they put compassion over legalism, and third, they are focused on wing-gathering. Verses 22-35 He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. ²³And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them, ²⁴“Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. ²⁵When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ ²⁶Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ ²⁷But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ ²⁸In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. ²⁹And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God. ³⁰And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”

³¹At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” ³²And he said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course. ³³Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.’ ³⁴O 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 were not willing! ³⁵Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’”

The issue in these paragraphs is who and how many are going to be saved. The bottom line is that those who gather under his wings will be saved.

The question “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” was part of an ongoing debate in Judaism. Some felt all Jews would automatically share in the world to come Others felt that only their sect of pure Judaism would inherit the kingdom. What was Jesus’ opinion? Jesus points the question back to the questioner, and to us. He says, “you, strive to enter through the narrow door.” Don't worry about how many or how few are being saved, worry about whether you are part of that group. Strive, present tense, make sure you are entering the door. For many will seek, future tense, but will not be able to enter. Do it now or you may not be able to do it later. There will come a day when the owner of the house, the owner of the kingdom, will shut the door. The offer of salvation is not an unlimited offer. So, make sure now that you are part of the kingdom.

What does this mean? It means placing your trust in the king. Jesus the king died to win you a kingdom, to open the door and to invite you to enter. Picture it this way: the kingdom of man is a desert, a wasteland behind you. You stand on the edge of a chasm, above a bottomless drop. On the other side of the chasm is a green land stretching beautifully into the distance, with a magnificent castle rising behind. Spanning the chasm is a narrow bridge in the shape of a cross. A bridge placed there by the death of Christ on your behalf. That's the picture. Christ himself stands on the other side and says "come across to me" and you might say “I'm scared to cross that narrow bridge.” But he says: “Trust me. I put the bridge there. I will not let you fall.”

To enter the kingdom, you have to trust in the king. This is not simply attending church, or hanging out with Christian people. When the owner of the house closes the door, those standing outside say please let us in. But the owner says the awful sentence "I don't know you. I don’t know where you’ve come from.” They say to him “But we ate and drank with you. You taught in our streets.” The owner, the Lord of the house, is Jesus. He is the one who ate and drank with sinners and taught in the streets. But he says to them, in the NIV, “I never knew you.” Being physically close to the church, or Christians, or a Christian group isn’t enough. You’ve got to know the Lord and have a relationship with him as Savior, which you enter by turning to him and trusting him, gathering under his wings. This is the narrow path that many will not walk.

Yet Jesus goes on to say that there will be all kinds of people in this kingdom. First, there will be some who are surprised to find themselves outside. “there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out.”

Second, though, “people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God.” So, verse 30, some who we would think of as far outside the fence will be the first to come to the well, and some we think of as already there will be the ones who far away. The apostle Paul calls this a mystery. Ephesians 3:6 “This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.” Because of the work of Jesus, Jews and Gentiles are joined into one body. The kingdom isn’t identified by race, or sex, or color or heritage. It is not identified by church affiliation or even external behavior. The kingdom is whoever, whenever and wherever Jesus is owned as king. The people of the kingdom are those who have placed their trust in Jesus the king. God has chosen to save people from every tribe, tongue and nation, people as near to you as your own soul and as distant as the ends of the earth.

But if Jesus has called us to a narrow road of repentance and wing-gathering, it is because he first walked the narrow road of sacrifice and suffering. Verse 31 “At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, ‘Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.’” Some see this as a warning, from Pharisees sympathetic to Jesus, but most see it as a threat from Herod through these Pharisees. That’s how Jesus responds to it. He calls Herod a fox, which in that day was someone both sly and disreputable, not admirable at all. But Jesus is not daunted by the threat. “Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course. ³³Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.” Apparently Jesus was still in Galilee, or possibly in Perea, on the far side of Jordan, because these were the areas ruled by Herod. And so, Jesus says “I am leaving your region. I’m going to Jerusalem but it’s not because you are pushing me out. I'll work here for a while before I go. It’s not because I fear any threat, even death. I'm going to Jerusalem, and that’s where all prophets, including myself, die.

There are two interesting things about these statements. First, the whole ‘three days’ thing. I’m not sure if Jesus was directly making an allusion to his three days in the tomb, but this is at the very least the way Jesus thought about three days: “today, tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course.” Even apart from that, this is a direct prophecy of his death. He implies that first, he’s a prophet, and second, he’s going to Jerusalem, and third, he’s going to die there. He doesn’t, here, mention the resurrection, but remember that that was the climax of his prophecy made at the transfiguration. “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” The Son of Man will walk that narrow road of suffering so that we might repent and gather under his wings.

Verse 34, again “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 were not willing!” Jesus addresses these words to Jerusalem, but they really apply to the people of Jerusalem, and ultimately to all who are either willing or unwilling to be gathered to Jesus. He’s talked about repentance, the need for it and the urgency of it, all through this. Now he is deeply saddened by the unwillingness, the lack of repentance that keep people from gathering for rescue and safety, under his wings. This is his cry to you and me as well. I long to gather you, Jesus says. I long to protect you, to comfort you, to guard you and guide you. I long to forgive you and rescue you. But are you willing?

The chapter concludes with a further cry of Jesus’ heart. Verse 35 “Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’” Some of you may remember that those last words were spoken of Jesus at the triumphal entry. But I doubt that’s what Jesus is primarily focused on. The triumphal entry was a fitting but pre-mature and soon forgotten recognition of Jesus. But when he comes again, the second coming that we talked about last week, then the words will fulfilled. And in the fulfillment of the Kingdom men and women and children will truly say, from the heart, “blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”