IN THE D____ WAY

One day, a group of religious leaders tried to scare Jesus away from the ministry He was doing in Jerusalem.

On that very day some Pharisees came, saying to Him, “Get out and depart from here, for Herod wants to kill You.”  (Luke 13: 31)

They said, “Look Jesus, we like you.  Weeee don’t have any problems with what you’re doing.  We’re just saying that maybe you should step away from this whole calling Jerusalem to repent thing, for a little while----- for your own good.  Cause, you know, ‘they’ might get mad.”

And Jesus said to them, “Go, tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.’ ^33 Nevertheless I must journey today, tomorrow, and the day following; for it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem.” (Luke 13: 32, 33)

Jesus replied, “Go tell ‘they’ that I’m going to do what I came to do until I die, and three days after that I’m going to start back doing it even bigger than I’d done it before.  But, I know you’re going to do everything you can to stop me.   It wouldn’t make sense for you to let the world destroy me.  Nah, you gotta do that yourselves.”

Then Jesus looked around at Jerusalem, the center of his ethnic and biological home, the heart of worship that should have been directed at Him, the place that He loved above all earthly places, and He said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!” (Luke 13: 34) 

“All I want to do is help you, but you won’t let me.”

Or, as one of my more blunt friends put it, “Sometimes you just need to get out of your own d_____ way.”

And therein is the problem us---- us the divided and disempowered church, us the broken families of society, us the conflicted nation.  Most of the time, we’re in our own d_______ way, blocking Jesus when He so fervently just wants to help us.

There in our midst, God has preserved His holy Word to be the neutral arbiter of disagreements.  But, instead of sitting down with the Word and prayerfully and patiently searching for God’s direction, we snatch verses and passages from here and there.  We sift the Word through our respective worldviews instead of letting the Word sift us.

Crises and tragedies come upon us.  We come together, pray together, forgive old wounds, and overcome our tragedies in magnificent manner.  And then, having seen what greatness and beauty we are capable of as a united and prayerful people, we promptly divide again when the crisis has abated.  We forget God or claim God exclusively for ourselves.

We erect new obstacle after new obstacle between our hearts and the conviction of the Holy Spirit.  We say, “It’s not us.  It’s them.  Weeeeee don’t have any problem with Jesus and His message of repentance.” 

Yet, weeeee seem to only see clearly the sins that need to be repented of---by others.

We keep getting in our own d____ way.

And that breaks God’s heart.

Now as He [Jesus] drew near, He saw the city [Jerusalem] and wept over it,   saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. (Luke 19: 41, 42)

Maybe, just maybe this is a good time for us ----- all of us---- to get over ourselves and get out of God’s way while God’s way is still visible and not hidden from our eyes.

---- Anderson T. Graves II

Anderson T. Graves II is a pastor, author, educator, and consultant in central Alabama.  You can email atgravestwo2@aol.com or find him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves