Luke 13: 31 – 35
A few years ago, we visited New Zealand and Australia, and our hotels, in both Dunedin, NZ, and Manley, Australia, were right opposite surfing beaches. I am not a surfer, although I have done a bit of body boarding in my time, but I do know that if a surfer wants a successful ride to shore, they have to get the timing right, and in order to do that, they have to be prepared to wait – to wait for the optimum wave. So, there they sit, like black cormorants on their boards, just waiting, and waiting.
Waiting can be pretty boring, when it’s something like waiting to board an aeroplane, or for a bus or train to come, but waiting is crucial for the success of some things. For seeds to grow you have to wait, for cakes to bake, you have to wait, dig them up, or take them out before they are ready and you are doomed to failure. And if you are playing in an orchestra, or singing in a choir, and you don’t wait for the required length of a rest, before coming in, then the performance will be spoiled. Some things are worth waiting for, yet sometimes we cannot afford the luxury of waiting, so it is crucial to get the timing right.
The passage from St Luke’s Gospel, is all about time. How did Jesus know when the time was right to go into Jerusalem? ‘I must be on my way’, he says, this can’t wait, and he uses the Greek word,’dei’, ‘it is necessary’. No human threat is to stop his mission. This passage is full of references to time and timing.’ At that very hour some Pharisees came to him’. Jesus speaks in two contexts of ‘today, tomorrow and the third day’ and declares that they will not see him again until the time comes when they say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord’.
What is the motive behind the Pharisees warning about Herod? Were they trying to persuade him to leave the city because he created tension, or diluted their own influence? Was it a friendly warning? Are they protecting Jesus, or wanting rid of him?
What is sure, as Jesus stands looking over Jerusalem, with tears in his eyes, is that the inhabitants certainly have not got their timing right.
Holy Week is full of fears and tears. A time to reflect, a time to look back, a time to look forward, but mostly a time to walk the road with Jesus, who always got his timing right, even if it didn’t seem as if he did – at first glance.