Focus 40 – Extreme Love
March 24,
2013
Matthew 23:37-39
“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. And now, look,
your house is abandoned and desolate. For I tell you this, you will never see
me again until you say, ‘Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the
LORD!’”
Love is not always returned. This passage is not about judgment. It is a cry of grief from one who loves
completely and has been rejected completely.
It is a very human moment in the life of Jesus. It is not hard to imagine tears in his eyes
as he says these words. This is near the
end of the ministry of Jesus. Jerusalem
welcomed him in with palm branches and rejoicing fit for a king. Now, in the last hours before Jesus will be
arrested the joy of that moment has turned to grief. God loves his people. When his people reject him, God grieves. Have we rejected God and his love? Do our lives bring joy or sorrow to our Lord
and Savior?
Let’s think for a moment about God’s love. He is patient. Love is patient. Prophets and messengers have been sent to the
people by the Lord. God’s desire is to
gather and protect. He uses the image of
a mother hen covering her chicks to protect them even though doing so leaves
her open to injury. God’s love is
willing to sacrifice for us. Jesus is
the ultimate declaration of God’s sacrificial love for his people. No one loves like God. No one will ever love us more.
Yet how have the people God loves responded to his
love? They kill the messengers and prophets. They reject sacrifice love and protection God
brings. God’s love is not forced on
anyone. Love must be acknowledged and
accepted. God’s people have time after
time refused to do this. We see the offer
of love and deliberately ignore and reject it.
So we write our own fate.
Rejecting God will never lead us down a healthy or happy road. Without God, people lose purpose and
meaning. Pain, hardship, and destruction
come. Yet there is still hope. If the people will call on the name of the
Lord they can yet be saved. They can yet
be restored. The house doesn't have to
crumble. How will we respond to the love
of God? Call on his name. Let him into our lives. His way is best.
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