Daily Devotion – March 4, 2022 – Dr. Pat Taylor Ellison

Luke 13:31-35
13:31 At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.”
13:32 He said to them, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work.
13:33 Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’
13:34 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!
13:35 See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.'”

Jesus is adamant. He is unstoppable. He will not short-circuit his mission. He will not run away to save his life. In fact, he knows that when he gets to Jerusalem, that part of his mission where he allows his life to be taken will be the most important moment of his mission and the ultimate way he will be establishing God’s Kingdom on earth.

He came as a healer, a demon fighter to overcome the devil, a teacher about love and compassion, and the very love of God walking around on earth. And with the help of God, he will even defeat the totality of death itself. This is the savior we believe in.

If this is our Lord, what do we have to fear in this life? Jesus pressed on to work, to live, and even to die and rise again for the sake of the human beings God has always loved. We can press on to whatever work God calls us to. What is your calling from God on behalf of the world God loves? What specific talents and gifts has God given you to use so that others can see the Kingdom of God coming near?

And what specific mission has God delivered to each of our local churches? How has God placed us, specifically on the corner where our church sits, to be a working living sign of the Kingdom, to form Christian community with our neighbors, with strangers, with anyone who needs to see the Kingdom of God coming near? As a believer in this working, living, dying, rising savior, what is your part in God’s mission?

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for entrusting us with a mission. Help us not to be vague about it. Help us to be adamant and fearless in our work for you.    Amen.