Facing Opposition: Psalm 27; Luke 13: 31-35
It is safe to say that the stories of Jesus are often my favorite part of the Bible. Because of my work in criminal justice, I’m fascinated by the words, the behaviors, and the teachings. Some of Jesus’s responses are so filled with care, gentleness, compassion, and the kind of healing that just lifts up every broken piece and makes it perfectly whole. And…then there’s this scripture.
As much as I love the loving, caring, and sacrificial behaviors of Jesus, there’s something that’s a bit thrilling when Jesus gets all sassy with people who are causing trouble. In some ways it speaks to our own inner smart aleck, who looks at this and says, “Mhmm.” Jesus, in today’s scripture, and in much of his life faced opposition and personal difficulty. Whether Herod, the Pharisees, or a populace that went with whatever whim in their mind that day, Jesus faced times when he had to defend and push back. There are two main ways to handle opposition in our lives: confrontationally or sacrificially.
One of the ways Jesus handled opposition and trial was confrontationally. A few of the Pharisees came to him with a warning that Herod Antipas wanted to kill Jesus, and he should flee from the Jerusalem area if he wanted to live. I think Jesus really questions their motives for this. Remember this is the Pharisees, so it’s just as probable that they simply want Jesus gone as much as they want to warn and help him. Jesus’s answer seems to imply that he also suspects their motives for warning him about Herod’s wrath. Though, Herod was certainly not some easy-going king. By this point, he’d had John the Baptist brutally killed, so it was highly likely he had his murderous intents set on Jesus as well.
Jesus, rather than cower at Herod’s political power, tells the Pharisees to go and tell Herod that Jesus’s purpose would be accomplished. Jesus had a mission of redemption and salvation, and there was no power on Earth, which Herod had, that could interfere with Jesus’s mission. Jesus even calls him a fox. That’s meant to imply that Herod is cunning, sneaky, devious. Jesus uses the image of the fox to conjure up some predator sneaking into a henhouse to kill and destroy. Herod tried to be a bully, but Jesus had none of it.
This confrontational Jesus is not just limited to this particular scripture. We also see Jesus flip tables in the temple when the house of God is perverted for profit. We see Jesus defiant and strong against would-be plots to trip him up with weird questions and theological challenges from the Pharisees and Sadducees. Where there is injustice, impropriety in the house of God, or religious rigidity which did not follow with Jesus’s call to love, forgiveness, and redemption, Jesus flipped tables, called out the foxes, and challenged the leaders who were holding the Jewish people hostage in a cold, dead, and legalistic and hateful religion.
Where that exists today, we must gently, faithfully, and with every word and movement based in God’s word challenge and confront what is wrong, unjust, and un-Christlike in our society. Jesus had no problem confronting those who spoke religious words but had no faith. Jesus had no problem calling the corrupt Herod Antipas a fox. Jesus had no trouble calling for holy changes in God’s house. Sometimes, opposition, whether active opposition or the oppression of the status quo, demands that we gather up our spiritual wits and confront it.
But, as Ecclesiastes says, to everything there is a season and time. There is also a time for sacrifice when opposition arises. To those who are fighters and not lovers, this one may be a bit harder. Jesus foreshadows what will happen when he returns to Jerusalem, saying, “You will never see me again until you say, ‘Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’” The next time they would see Jesus is when he is set up to be killed.
Jerusalem had a long history of showing a low tolerance for prophets. Stephen was martyred there. Jerusalem had also killed Uriah, Zechariah, several killed by Manasseh, Josephus Antiquites, and according to some scholars, Isaiah. Jesus understood sometimes the cure for opposition is sacrifice. He told the disciples that there is no greater love than laying down one’s life for another. The Psalm tells us that evil may come to devour us and foes may attack us, but there is strength to be found in God. The Psalm tells us, “Be brave and courageous. Wait patiently for the Lord.”
Biblically, the greatest story of overcoming opposition was that of Jesus going to the cross to sacrifice for us. Jesus tells the Pharisees in his pointed words to Herod, “I will keep on casting out demons and healing people today and tomorrow; and the third day I will accomplish my purpose.” Jesus’s purpose, though, wasn’t to defeat that fox once and for all. His purpose was a cross looking toward a resurrection which would cast out evil and heal us all. It is sometimes hard to accept that the Jesus who flipped tables in righteous fury is also the Christ of the cross, who gave his life and taught us what it means to sacrifice for others.
As a society, we seem to have become comfortable with being confrontational, but we’ve lost or understanding or desire to be sacrificial. Perhaps it’s seen as weak, as giving up or giving in, or maybe we’d just rather fuss vaguely about having “our rights” when called on to sacrifice. Jesus confronted what was unjust but sacrificed himself for others. We, too, are called to both. We must stand with Jesus against the foxes of this world and the foxes of the church. Make no mistake, Herod practiced the Jewish religion—he was neither pagan nor atheist.
But we are also called to live sacrificially. Just as Jesus walked a lonely road to the cross for us, we must take up our cross daily and serve God. If you’re like me, you might really enjoy reading about this sassy Jesus who called Herod a fox and let it rip on the temple corruption. But also, we both have to realize that our hope and or faith is found in the Christ of the cross, who gives love, forgiveness, and life to all.
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