Is The End Goal The Real Goal? - Lent 2

Luke 13:31-35 - March 13th, 2022

The Lord Be With You.

A parable on the Gospel …

There once was runner who started to train for the marathon that was coming up in about a month’s time. Every morning he would get out of bed, down an energy drink, get all his emergency apparel on so passing motorist wouldn’t hit him by mistake and out the door he went. The first couple of days he only managed to run 1 or 2 miles. The second couple 3 to 4. After a few more days, he could easily run 10 miles. He thought that would be enough so he thought he had the marathon in the bag. However, on the day of the race, this runner found that he had miscalculated. His watch that he used to track distance was set for miles and the race was set for kilometers. He told himself that the difference wouldn’t be that much so he started the race with confidence. As the miles started to pile up, the runner became increasingly tired. As the runner rounded the 10 mile/16 kilometer mark – he was just short of the length he needed, 20 kilometers or 2 more miles, and he didn’t think he could finish. However, he reminded himself that he was there to finish the race. Finish the race to achieve the goal that he had set for himself and nothing was gonna keep him from crossing that finish line. And he did, although it took everything he had to do it. He finished.

Here ends the parable.

Verse 32 states, in part, “on the third day I will reach my goal” and I’ve come to that part because I believe that it points out to us a very important fact. That Jesus says it and it is so. Jesus is not one to go with the flow. He paves the way. Jesus is not one to succumb to those leaders of His day, He’s there to chart the course for all of us to travel as leaders of our day so we can follow the one leader for all of eternity. Jesus didn’t bow to the pressures of the Pharisees but held firm to His plan for the salvation of us all.

It’s almost like he told those Pharisees, “Here, hold my schmaltz.” In other words, He told them that He will be finished when He’s finished and no one, not one them or even the sly fox, is gonna do anything about it. His goal was to finish in Galilee what He came there to do, bring the good news to all who would listen, and then go on to Jerusalem three days later. That was either the time He thought it would take for those in the countryside to hear Him out or the three days until the death He knew He was facing would commence. No one knows.

I’ve called this message, “Is The End Goal The Real Goal?” because it is paramount that we can begin to understand that our own goals may not be the goals that God or Jesus has for us. If we cover our heads with our own trials then we will miss hearing those proddings that can take us all the way to the blessings that the Father has in store for us. If we stay silent then we cannot have the conversations with the Father that’s so needed. If we remain asleep in our own views of how the truth of the Gospel reflects on our world then we will surely not see where we can contribute that truth to those seeking it. Can we, indeed, finish the last 2 miles in our own race?

But, the truth is, we are prophets. Whether you know it or not, in our own day and age we are prophets because we’re tasked with telling our communities that Jesus is the Son of God and He is the only way to the truth and the light. And no one goes to the Father except through Him. Yes, we are all prophets. Discipled prophets that is.

Don’t be like the frog in the fable that was caught in a deep rut. In spite of the help of his friends, he couldn’t get out. They finally left him there in despair. The next day one of his friends saw him hopping about outside the rut as chipper as could be.

“What are you doing here?” the friend asked. “I thought you couldn’t get out.”

“I couldn’t,” the frog replied, “but a big truck came down the road and I had to get out.”

You see, some of us are living beneath our capabilities. Because we think or believe that we cannot do great things, we are inclined to not do anything. Every Christian has at least one gift or capacity with which they can glorify God. Whatever it is, we should use it with all our hearts. Be the prophet. Be the discipled prophet. Now and today regardless of anything.

You know? There were many prophets executed in Jerusalem. Seemed like that wasn’t the place to be if you were a prophet then because they were being executed there never the less. We read about them in the Old Testament. From Uriah written about in Jeremiah 2:20 – 23, to Zechariah written about in 2nd Chronicles 24:20 – 22, to Manasseh written about in 2nd Kings 21:16 among others. Jerusalem just wasn’t the place to be if you were a prophet that spoke about all that the rulers were doing and you wanted stay alive and well. The same could be said about those in Canada and even in our own country now. The leaders have all the power to make your life miserable and they know it. And they’re not afraid of any repercussions from using that power either. The most they ever get is a few lines in social media and then it’s off to the next headline. So, remember this about these so-called leaders, politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedies.

What Jesus did was tell the Pharisees that He knew what they were doing. “No prophet can die outside of Jerusalem” which states that even though the ordinary people knew this truth, God sends His prophets to tell the truth regarding the world no matter what. Imagine, today, if every single person on the side of truth, the truth of the Gospels, the truth of the Old and New Testaments, the truth of the Good News, were to pray and come together to tell the Pharisees of our day, enough is enough. Imagine if throngs of people got together and said we recognize the lies that you spew because it don’t pass neither the logic nor the scriptural test. Imagine if all of God’s people, His prophets today, which are you and me came together in our own little Jerusalem countries and said enough is enough. Imagine how that would sound. Imagine what change could be made. Imagine the number of ordinary people that would be led to Christ or even back to Christ. Just imagine.

That did happen, although it’s been over 50 years ago. On August 28th, 1963 Martin Luther King, Jr. did just that. And the shock waves that it created went on for at least 2 decades. Today, 57 years later, we reduce what we could do to a meme on social media. But … I’m no different from anyone else. It’s a lot of trouble to get involved. It takes a lot of money we think. The system is rigged. Nothing will ever change. Church is for Sundays. Separation of church and state and all of that. So sad, too bad. Right? Right! But Jesus said, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” That means, folks, that no matter what race you are in with your life right now, the real race that you will be facing is the one that when God comes calling – and He will – we just don’t know when or how, that you can say you stepped up to the starting line and started. None of us knows if we will, in fact, finish the race. But we’re all called to at least train for it and make the effort to step up to the plate. Step up to the starting line.

The parable about the runner is us. Running the races of our lives. It’s also about Jesus finishing the race of His earthly life too. His life was that last two miles that the runner fought to finish. There were a lot of obstacles set up in the path of Jesus just like that extra two miles for the runner must have felt like. Felt like he was running uphill. Same with us when we come to the trials in our own lives. When we’re faced with mountains that separate us from where we want to go. Mountains that are really just imagined but feel real, never the less, and are accompanied by the unknown in how we’re gonna cross them.

So, how would you like to be Jesus and know what it was gonna take to cross His mountains. He was facing an inevitable earthly death while our own mountains are just more problems that seem to be obstacles that we can’t seem to cross. The runner felt that too because his training was only for a point that would have made him come up short. You know, we can put those imagined obstacles in our own paths too. Or we can be like Jesus and tell ourselves that no matter what, we will overcome and more forward so that our mission given to us by the Father can be fulfilled. Can be our very own races that we can win.

There’ll be those who try to hold you back. There’ll those that say you can’t do what you need to do. There will be those that put boulders in your path so that your very own race is forever encumbered. But through the knowledge that Jesus pushed forward, you and me can do the same. With the knowledge that Jesus took the mission that He was assigned to do with the seriousness of someone who saw that path and put His head down to push forward, we can do the same.

You know, this world is gonna tell you that you can’t be the disciple you were born to be. Can’t be the follower that you know you are in your heart. That you have failed and there’s no way out when you know that forgiveness is just a breath away. This world will put all of this, and more, in your path so that your last few miles, like the runner, will look almost impossible to cross. But Jesus is there to tell you to follow me. Pick up your cross and follow me. Put the negatives of this world aside and see that the real truth is standing right there before you. Come.

You know, folks, we can choose to just stop with the original 10 miles we grew up with, limited in our own knowledge about, walked away from that door that was opened so Christ could come through, we can choose to just stop or we can take up the challenge that is given to us each and every day. Follow Jesus. Tell someone what you know. Walk with them as Jesus walks with you. Be a friend. Or not. It’s your choice. Choose wisely. Something to think about! Something to pray about?

Can we pray? …

Father in heaven, we come to you in this season of Lent in order that we can reflect on our own lives and ask where we can know your promises to us. Father we pray for the hand that you extend so that we can make it through our own trials. We put our trust in your Son, Jesus and your Holy Spirit so that we can know that we are not alone. We rejoice that He has already traveled down our own roads ahead of us. Help us to listen to Him to show us the way that is cleared. Father be with us and fill us with your grace and your mercy. We pray this in the name of your Son, Jesus the Christ.

And all God’s people said – Amen?!

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