31 In that very hour there came certain Pharisees, saying to him,
Get thee out, and go hence: for Herod would fain kill thee. 32 And
he said unto them, Go and say to that fox, Behold, I cast out
demons and perform cures to-day and to-morrow, and the third _day_
I am perfected. 33 Nevertheless I must go on my way to-day and
to-morrow and the _day_ following: for it cannot be that a prophet
perish out of Jerusalem. 34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killeth
the prophets, and stoneth them that are sent unto her! how often
would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen
_gathereth_ her own brood under her wings, and ye would not! 35
Behold, your house is left unto you _desolate_: and I say unto
you, Ye shall not see me, until ye shall say, Blessed _is_ he that
cometh in the name of the Lord.
A report reached Jesus that Herod was threatening his life. This report
was brought by the Pharisees who hoped that it would terrify the followers
of Jesus and induce him to flee to Jerusalem where he would fall into the
hands of the Jewish rulers.
Instead, Jesus sent to the king a message of defiance and irony; it has no
note of insolence, but reveals the courage and indignation of a true man.
“Go and say to that fox”—Jesus thus addressed Herod because he saw the
craftiness of the king. Herod did not wish the disrepute of killing
another prophet so soon after the death of John, but he wished his realm
to be rid of one whom he regarded as a dangerous leader; so he did not
arrest Jesus but tried to put him to flight. The Pharisees were asked to
bear this message to the king because Jesus saw that they were one with
the king in the malicious cunning of their report.
“Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures to-day and to-morrow and the
third day I am perfected.” Thus Jesus declared that his time and task were
divinely allotted; no king could shorten the time till the task was done.
When his work was complete, then in his death and resurrection the glory
and grace and power of Jesus would be made perfect. “Nevertheless I must
go on my way.” Jesus was to leave Galilee and Perea, the realm of Herod,
not because he feared the king, but in fulfillment of his task which would
take him to Jerusalem. The explicit reference to Jerusalem was made in a
tone of solemn irony, “For it cannot be that a prophet perish out of
Jerusalem;” that city had a monopoly in murdering prophets; it would be
quite improper for Jesus to be killed in any other place.
However, the reference to Jerusalem led Jesus to pronounce a lament of
touching pathos over the city he truly loved. He saw that his rejection
and death would hasten the destruction of the city. He saw its doom
already hovering over it like a bird of prey. He gladly would have given
his divine salvation and protection, but his people would not accept him.
Now they would be left to their own defense, that is to say, to the ruin
which he alone could have averted. Henceforth they would not see him in
his saving power until as a suffering and repentant nation they would
finally welcome his return as that of their true Saviour and Lord. How
Jesus always yearns to bless and to deliver, and how often he is spurned
and rejected by those who need him the most!