Luke 13:22-35  "Where Do You Come From?"
(Jeremiah 22; Psalm 102)
Where are you from?
     We don't think about how important place is these days,
          because, quite frankly, place isn't that important to us.
     We move around an awful lot,
          and we don't put down roots very quickly.
     I have lived in at least 16 different cities,
          and some of you have moved around even more than that!
     
How do you put down roots when you are so often on the move?
     Many of you are faced with this challenge right now!
     So let me show you from the Word of God how to put down roots in the city of God
          that will help you bear fruit in whatever place you live.
Jesus says in verses 25 and 27,
     I do not know where you come from.
     In Matthew's gospel, the phrase is "Truly I say to you, I do not know you." (25:12)
     But here Luke reports it as "I do not know where you come from."
We usually focus on Matthew's phrase.
     "I never knew you."
          It has a very personal tone, and that is useful to point out.
Luke's phrase "I do not know where you are from,"
     is tied very closely to his geographical focus.
We have concluded the first stage of Jesus' journey to Jerusalem (9:51-13:21),
     and now we are beginning the second stage.
Verse 22 shows us this:
     He went on his way through towns and villages, 
          teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem.
This second stage will last for the next 6 chapters, 13:22-19:40.
     It is bracketed with Jesus words to Jerusalem in chapter 13, 
     You will not see me until you say, 'blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord'
          and the response in 19:38,
     where the people call out, 'blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!"
1. The Way toward Jerusalem (13:22-30)
Verse 22 launches this section with a reminder that Jesus is on his way . . . toward Jerusalem.
     He is headed toward the cross.
And as he goes someone asked,
     Lord, will those who are saved be few?
          This question does not arise out of nowhere.
          After all, when Jesus refused to call down fire from heaven against the Samaritans,
               but warned of the coming wrath against the Jews,
               it would naturally raise the question 
                    if the Jews have gotten it wrong,
                    and the Gentiles are wicked,
               then we must be looking a very small remnant that will be saved!
     But Jesus' answer does not really address the question.
     For Jesus it is not about the quantity of people who respond to the call of the kingdom.
          It is about the quality of the response.
The point here is not about how many are saved,
     but the way in which you are saved.
     
Strive to enter through the narrow door.
     For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.
This may sound shocking.
     "Many will seek to enter, and will not be able"!?
     Is Jesus saying that there are people who want to be saved,
          but God won't let them in?!
In a manner of speaking, yes.
     There are those who want "in"--
          whom God will not let in!
     
If you want to understand this, then listen to the story that Jesus tells:
When 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.'
The house is the Kingdom of God.
     The "many" who are seeking to enter are, in Jesus' story, unbelieving Jews.
     The Master is Jesus.
          Jesus is looking at the faces around him 
               looking at those who claim to be the people of God.
          And yet their eyes are blind they do not see that he is the fulfillment of all their hopes.
     And he is saying to them, I do not know where you are from.
Brothers and sisters, does Jesus know where you are from?
     Where is your home?
If your identity is bound up in the heavenly city,
     then your roots are firmly grounded,
     and wherever you go you find yourself at home with those who share that identity.
How do you put down roots into the heavenly city?
The key is to continually ask yourself,
     how can I be (how can we be) most fruitful in the kingdom of God?
What has God put me here, in this place, to do?
     And as soon as you start asking these questions,
          you start realizing that the only way to answer them,
          is as a part of the body of Christ in fellowship with each other.
But those who are fixated on an earthly city do not understand this heavenly identity.
Jesus looks at the crowds and he says, 
     Then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank in your presence,
          and you taught in our streets.'
     You fed us with the loaves and the fishes.
     We heard your teaching!
How can you not know where we are from?
     We are your fellow Jews!!!
But he will say,
     'I tell you, I do not know where you are from.
          Depart from me, all you workers of evil!'
To call anyone a worker of evil is pretty harsh.
     But do you realize what Jesus is saying?
          Jesus is speaking to Jews!
          He is speaking to those who have the covenant sign upon them!
               They have been circumcised!
               They are part of the covenant people!
     But Jesus says to them,
          I don't know where you are from!
     
     We are Israelites!  They might say.
     No, Jesus says, if you were truly Israelites, you would strive to enter through the narrow door 
          you would come through me!
     And so Jesus says it to them plainly:
          In 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.
     The day will come when you will realize that you have missed the point.
     You have found your identity in the earthly Jerusalem.
     You have failed to see that the earthly Jerusalem is only a pointer to the heavenly city.
And when that heavenly city is revealed in all its glory,
     then you will see that you have missed the point.
And people will come from east and west, and from north and south,
     and recline at table in the kingdom of God.
And behold, some are last who will be first,
     and some are first who will be last.
Remember Theophilus?
     Luke writes this gospel to Theophilus the lover of God.
Theophilus no doubt a Gentile would recognize in this statement of Jesus
     that he is included in this statement that some would come from east and west, north and south,
     and recline at table in the kingdom of God.
We, after all, are those who were last.
     We were strangers and aliens from God's covenant.
     But now we are partakers.
Where do you come from?
     Where is your home?
     Jesus says in John's gospel "I am the door."
          "I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me."
     Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and all the prophets had their hearts set on the heavenly city.
          They sought a city whose foundations were built by God.
     In other words, they were looking for Jesus.
Strive to enter through the narrow door.
     I cannot help but think that the "narrow door" is a reference to the temple.
          There is only one entrance to the temple.
          And it is not a wide one.
     There is no way into the presence of God, except one.
          You cannot get into the presence of God except through Jesus.
God will never turn aside one who comes to him through faith in Jesus.
     But there are many who want the benefits of the kingdom apart from Jesus.
     Jesus says that there is one way--one door that leads to life.
You can't come to God saying, Hey, I lived in Jerusalem!
Think of all the songs that focus on place:
     New York, New York
     Chicago, Chicago
     I left my heart in San Francisco
Where do you come from?
     Where is your home?
     You have to come saying, "I left my heart in the heavenly city"
2. Jerusalem Forsaken (13:31-35)
At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him,
     'Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.'
Aw, isn't that nice of them?!
     They are trying to protect Jesus!
     Right?
That's not how Jesus takes it!
     Jesus sees that they are trying to scare him away.
     Go and tell that fox, 'Behold I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow,
          and the third day I finish my course.
     Nevertheless, 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.'
     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!
     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!
What is Jesus saying here?
     In short: I am going to be killed in Jerusalem.
          I wish that all Zion's children (all of Israel)
               would repent and be restored,
               but you refuse.
          And so judgment is coming 
               first upon me, and then upon Jerusalem,
               because Jerusalem refuses to listen.
We read in Jeremiah 22 God's curse upon faithless Jerusalem 
     and God's curse upon the faithless house of David,
     and especially upon the despised Jeconiah, the last king of Judah,
     whose house would be cut off because of his faithlessness.
Jerusalem was forsaken because the kings of Judah were faithless and disobedient.
When the church is faithless,
     God's judgment comes.
This is why it is such a blessed thing to have King Jesus sitting on the throne.
     Because in Jesus we have a faithful king,
          and so we know that the church will never be wholly overthrown again.
     The heavenly Jerusalem is secure, because Jesus is King.
We live in a day when the earthly manifestation of the heavenly Jerusalem is weak and feeble.
     On the one hand, the gospel is going forth with power to the ends of the earth 
          and yet, the church is fractured and fragmented.
     
Psalm 102 reflects on such a time of weakness and affliction:
     the Psalmist says that his heart is struck down, and his enemies taunt him;
     his days pass away like smoke, and his bones cling to his flesh.
But even in the midst of his affliction, he cries out in hope:
But you, O LORD, are enthroned forever; you are remembered throughout all generations.
     You will arise and have pity on Zion; it is the time to favor her;
          the appointed time has come....
     For the LORD builds up Zion; he appears in his glory;
          he regards the prayer of the destitute and does not despise their prayer. 
     (Ps 102:12-13, 16-17)
Indeed, he says that God will look down from heaven
     and set those who were doomed to die,
          that they may declare in Zion the name of the LORD,
          and in Jerusalem his praise,
               when people gather together, and kingdoms, to worship the LORD. 
     (Ps 102:20-22)
This is what Jesus has come to do.
     Jerusalem is afflicted.
     But this time the cause of the affliction is not enemies outside the city.
     The cause of the affliction is Jerusalem herself!
          Israel has failed.
          The kings and priests have failed.
          Jerusalem is in exile Jerusalem is in bondage 
          and the only way out is for Jesus to take upon himself the curse of Jerusalem.
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!
     Jesus laments over the city that has self-destructed.
How often would I have gathered your children together 
     as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!
But Jesus' lament does not end with the threat of fire from heaven against Jerusalem.
     It ends with the enigmatic statement to forsaken Jerusalem:
          I tell you, you will not see me until you say,
               'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'
This is from Psalm 118.
     It is a response to the deliverance promised in Psalm 102.
     
You will not see me until you recognize that I am the one who delivers you.
     At the triumphal entry the Jews will sing this to Jesus.
     When Jesus finally reaches Jerusalem, they will say,
          Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
The Son of David comes riding in triumphal procession to the city of God.
     He comes to restore the kingdom of his father David,
          and the crowds rejoice that Israel's exile is at long last coming to an end.
But their hearts are set on the earthly Jerusalem.
     And when it becomes clear that Jesus is not going to lead a rebellion against Rome,
          they turn against him and will cry out "crucify him!"
And yet all this will only bring to pass what he himself had said:
     it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.
And in his death and resurrection he will indeed restore the kingdom of God,
     and in his ascension to the right hand of the Father,
     he will sit down on the throne of his father, David,
          and be proclaimed King of kings and Lord of lords.
Conclusion
Where do you come from?
     Where is your home?
As you live as elect exiles in this world,
     remember that your home is the heavenly city the true Jerusalem 
          where our Lord Jesus Christ sits at the right hand of the Father.
And remember that the church is the place where we collectively remember our identity.
     Whether you are moving in or moving out,
          remember that wherever you go you will find those who share that heavenly identity.
     If your roots are in the heavenly city,
          then you will find that wherever you go, you will find your roots.
     We are aliens and strangers in this world.
     Every homeland is a foreign land,
          and every foreign land is a homeland.
Communion meditation:
reclining at table in the Kingdom of God