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<DIV><FONT size=4>...when Jesus says that it is impossible for a prophet to be
killed outside of Jerusalem, the meaning is not that blind fate or divine
intelligence for some inexplicable reason dictated that prophets must die in
Jerusalem. These words of Jesus are rather a commentary on the history of the
mistreatment of past prophets by the people of Jerusalem. A prime example is, of
course, Jeremiah who was condemned and barely escaped death in Jerusalem.
Another prophet, Zechariah (Luke 11:51; II Chron. 24:20-22) was killed in
Jerusalem. The irony is that the very city which was the site of the temple, the
house of God, and therefore destined to represent sacred space, becomes the
scene of persecution and murder of prophets. Could it be that the most severe
persecution of prophets has been at the hands of the religious establishment in
any age?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><A
href="http://www.cresourcei.org/lectionary/YearC/Clent2nt1.html">http://www.cresourcei.org/lectionary/YearC/Clent2nt1.html</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Jirair Tashjian</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>There are still those who can't get either their head or their
heart around the feminine imagery of the hen Jesus uses here. For some odd
reason, God, who by definition can't be humanly male, female, or anything else,
is still by some people packed full, laden down with a baggage car of male
characteristics, largely of the worst sort! Is this a real God? Or only some god
made in our own distorted image?!</FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><A
href="http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/laterallyluke/LLK133135LENT3.html">http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/laterallyluke/LLK133135LENT3.html</A></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Brian McGowan</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Jesus, on our behalf, travelled the way to Jerusalem, the way
of glory through suffering and death. In Jesus, we have completed that journey
and so we sit in glory with him. Yet, as part of our preparation for rule in
eternity, Jesus sets us on the pathway he once trod. <BR>
Our passage for study gives us two insights into the journey: <BR> <BR>i]
<U>Discipleship is governed by a Divine imperative</U>. <BR>
There is a "must" about it. We don't have to follow the pathway that Jesus has
laid out; it does not effect our salvation. Yet, if we place ourselves in the
center of God's will, our training toward eternity will be hastened through the
interaction of applied Biblical truth and life's
circumstances. <BR><></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4> This then should be our way -
to strive for the freedom of the lost in the face of rejection and failure.
<BR> <BR>ii] <U>Discipleship is governed by the danger of
desolation</U>.<BR> The Old Testament prophets, as well as
Jesus, warned Israel that their failure to hear the Word of the Lord would bring
desolation to their house. Jesus and the apostles warned the church of the same
scenario. The Lord will gather a people to himself, but institutional power,
ministerial approval and success, congregational survival, conformism, and above
all, legalism, often deafen the hearing of God's people. This is the danger that
all believers face. <BR></DIV></FONT>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><A
href="http://www.lectionarystudies.com/studyg/lent2cag.html">http://www.lectionarystudies.com/studyg/lent2cag.html</A></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><FONT size=4></FONT></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Bryan Findlayson</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><FONT size=4>- - - -
-</FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4></FONT></FONT> </DIV><FONT size=4><FONT
face=TimesNewRoman>
<DIV align=left>Here we have a “struggle of wills”: the intention of an
adversary, the determination of</DIV>
<DIV align=left>“the one who comes,” the unwillingness of Jerusalem, and the
fulfillment of God’s will.</FONT><FONT size=1 face=TimesNewRoman><FONT size=1
face=TimesNewRoman>4 </FONT></FONT><FONT face=TimesNewRoman>In the</DIV>
<DIV align=left>midst of this struggle comes the prophet’s compassionate lament,
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem...how</DIV>
<DIV align=left>often would I...and you would not!” (13:34). Indeed, isn’t it
precisely such passionate longing for</DIV>
<DIV>the other that heightens the prophetic indictment, “Behold, your house is
forsaken” (13:35).</DIV></FONT></FONT>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><A
href="http://www2.luthersem.edu/word&world/Archives/12-1_Luke-Acts/12-1_Simpson.pdf">http://www2.luthersem.edu/word&world/Archives/12-1_Luke-Acts/12-1_Simpson.pdf</A></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Gary M. Simpson, 1992</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>This image of the bird hiding its brood under its wings is a
familiar one from the psalms (see Psalms 17, 30, 57, 61, 63)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><A
href="http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=2961">http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=2961</A></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Jennifer M. Ginn, 2004</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4> </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Jesus could allow himself to be silenced by Herod’s threats
and live in safe obscurity. He could stay in Galilee and challenge Herod to
carry out his threats. Or he could begin the journey to Jerusalem. Jesus’ choice
was between the natural human instincts of flight or fight, and the third way of
obedience to God.<BR><BR>Our choices are less dramatic, and yet just as real:
choosing between safety and authenticity; the way that is right for us yet
incomprehensible to others. <BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><A
href="http://www.laughingbird.net/ComingWeeks.html">http://www.laughingbird.net/ComingWeeks.html</A></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Colin Hunter, 2004</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><EM>- - - -
-</EM></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
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