Sermon for the Second Sunday in Lent

March 4, 2007



Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18
Psalm 27
Philippians 3:17-4:1
Luke 13:31-35
Year C

I.N.I. (In the name of Jesus)


The congregation I served last, Good Shepherd, in Rutland, Vermont was in its earliest history a group of hale and hearty Swedes, who first arrived in their new homeland in the late 19th century with the promise of work in the marble quarries. Many had their houses provided by the Vermont Marble Company and settled in neighboring West Rutland. These Swedes were not afraid of hard work, and found jobs working the equipment in the deep mines. Being good Lutherans, they established the first church in West Rutland in 1891 in what is now a building for masons, and promptly named it Salem Lutheran Church .

Now, Salem is a biblical place in Palestine that is precursor to the name Jerusalem. And Salem all by itself is related to the word salaam or shalom, peace.

For those immigrant Swedes making the journey from Stockholm to New York to Rutland, the church of their new homeland was for them a vision of heaven, the new Jerusalem. I always liked knowing that.

We are making a journey, you and I. We are together in this strange land, and walking ourselves to a place which God holds in store for us. In this forty-day season of Lent, we renew this sense of pilgrimage as the journey to Easter, the new life held for us through our baptisms in Christ's death and resurrection. The trip that we will make has in front of us the cross of sacrifice, a symbol of death and the end of the line, but for those who walk by faith becomes transformed into a tree of life, a new way home.

Deep into the heart of the gospel of Luke, chapter 9, Jesus' ministry takes a turn toward that center of religious and political power, the city of Jerusalem.

With his disciples, he descends from the mountain of transfiguration where he shines with the gleam of the heavenly city, and right away proceeds to tend to a boy gripped by the demonic.

While the crowd is amazed at this feat, Jesus reiterates to his disciples saying, "Let this sink into your ears: The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into human hands." No one understood this. Again and again, Jesus' followers needed to be taught and reminded and shown the purposes of God that usher in kingdom of heaven, the politics that lead to peace, the way that leads to life.

Two verses later, to bring heightened meaning to Jesus' final destiny in this world, Luke narrates, "When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem." Jesus is unifocused on the epicenter of Israel's history and faith, knowing that for him he will encounter not welcome but rejection, not coronation, but execution.

Jesus deliberately makes the journey to Jerusalem, the pilgrimage of salvation, and bequeaths God's will and way through his teaching and healing. Over and over, as he nears the holy city, he tells stories, he blesses children, he heals lepers, and he teaches with picture-telling, like if we had faith the size of a mustard seed we could hurl entire trees into the sea.

Jesus is determined get to Jerusalem, to bring us with him, and to show us the way to God.

Now, today, in chapter 13, after being warned by Pharisees about Herod's own determination to be rid of him, Jesus laments "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!"

Jesus himself wishes Jerusalem to be a haven for peace, a welcome home, a place of safety. To counter the fox, Herod, Jesus calls himself a mother hen who would just as soon hug his brood tightly yet it would not be so.

We are inundated with elected officials and candidates who want our allegiance. When all goes well with programs, laws, and taxes that benefit us, we tend to be supportive of our elected leaders. Yet we cannot make politics or government our religion.

We sometimes expect everything in church to go our way, and when programs and ministries benefit us, we tend to be supportive of our congregation.

When conflict arises, when faced with crisis, when challenged by a change in direction, can we still hold on to God's promise to lead us and guide us? When faced with a cross in the midst of our travels, in our comings and goings, and in this Lent, can we continue to make the journey by faith?

Whenever we feel settled, there just may be a call to get up and go to another land. Whenever we feel soured, there just may be a call to wait on God's promises. Whenever we feel strange and put out, there just may be a new way home.

Each week, we commit ourselves to relationship with God in our own covenantal meal with thanksgiving for God's saving us through the cross. The bread and wine become for us Christ's flesh and blood, his own willingness to be rejected by those in power to become life for the world.

Let us make the journey this Lent to the cross, rooted in baptismal life, modeling ourselves after Jesus' own journey, our faces set toward the new Jerusalem, committed to peace and just living. Let us make the journey this day toward the covenantal meal, where God's promises are fed to us as the way to live in the face of adversity, together as Christ's body in the world.

And here, as we pray, as we sing, and as we eat and drink, we might just get a glimpse, and get a taste of that heavenly city.

I.N.I.


The Rev. Timothy J. Keyl, Pastor
Christ the King Lutheran Church
| CtK Home | Back to Pastor's Page |

Christ the King Lutheran Church, 3 Lutheran Drive, Nashua, NH 03063 (603) 882-6142
If you have problems with this web page contact: webmaster@ctknashua.org