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SHOWING MERCY
(Luke 9:51-56)

Intro James Dobson saw a sign outside a convent in SC: Absolutely No
Trespassing Violators Will be Prosecuted to the Full Extent of the Law. It
was signed Sisters of Mercy. We need mercy! We often cry for justice, but
what we really need is mercy. When you get Jesus view of the law that it is
not just our actions, but our heart that we will answer for we need mercy,
not justice. Thankfully God is rich in mercy. Paul says in Eph 2:4, But God,
being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,
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even
when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.
Other gods demand; our God gives. Our text today displays Gods mercy.

Luke 9:51 a great hinge upon which the book turns. When the days drew
near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. Prior to this
Jesus is coming; now He is going. Prior is acceptance; now it is rejection.
Prior it is acclaim; now it is humiliation. Prior it is multitudes; now it is
disciples. Emphasis has been on the person of Christ; now it is increasingly on
the redemptive work of Christ. Hes leaving Galilee for an extended journey
to Jerusalem. Luke devotes fully 40% of his gospel to this journey as opposed
to 2 chapters in Mt (19-20) and one in Mark (10). A lot is unique.

What is mercy? Mercy is God not giving us what we deserve (judgment);
grace is God giving us what we dont deserve (life). Here is mercy in action.

I. The Resolution
End of v. 51, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. Jesus is now focused on one
thing -- Jerusalem. He knows what awaits Him there; it has been prophesied
and He must go. Isa 50:
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I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks
to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting.
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But the Lord GOD helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I
have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame.
Death awaits; but not shame. Rather, it will be the moment of His ultimate
triumph, so He sets His face. Picture a runner rounding 3
rd
, headed for home.
The end is in sight. Light at the end of the tunnel. Hes in the home stretch.

A. The Coming
Up til now, Luke focused on Jesus coming. More than anyone, he described
the unusual birth, childhood and early ministry of Christ. The overriding
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question has been Who is J esus? That question has been answered in many
ways through His preaching, His OT references to Messiah, His miracles.
He has forgiven sin and accepted worship. Lukes case is clearly made; this
is Messiah; this is God in human form. It is an astounding revelation, backed
up and locked down by irrefutable historical facts. Who is Jesus? He is God,
thats who!

The answer to that question culminated in Peters confession: You are the
Christ of God (9:20), and in the Transfiguration, where Jesus divine nature
breaks through the human veil for one brief shining moment the Father
affirming Him: This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him! This is
resounding affirmation that Jesus is Immanuel God with us. Jesus is God
entering human history. He is the Word become flesh; He is Jacobs ladder,
connecting heaven and earth; He is the lamb whom God will provide (Gen
22); the seed of the woman (Gen 3:15); Hes the Lion of the tribe of Judah of
Gen 49, the Son of David and the Son of Man of Daniel 9 who will have
dominion forever. Who is Jesus? He is God delivering His people. Thats who
Jesus is. If you dont know that Jesus, then you dont know Jesus.

Jesus cannot be written off merely as a fairytale. Tim Keller challenges, "No
one has ever yet discovered a word that J esus ought to have said. Read the
accounts. You try to come up with better lines! Do you realize what kind of
person you would have to be to make this up? I f somebody made this up we
would have to be sitting here having the same kind of discussion asking,
Who is this incredible person who made this up?. . . He is always
surprising you; he is always taking your breath away, because he's better
than you can imagine. Why? They are the surprises of perfection. He
combined attributes never seen together. Tenderness without weakness;
strength without harshness; holiness and unbending conviction without the
slightest lack of approachability; power without insensitivity; passion
without prejudice; never inconsistent, never a false step, never a jarring
note. . . . The apostles knew they were looking through the substance of
human flesh to the being of God. What power could've gotten them to
believe it? He was real; thats what. As incomprehensible as it sounds, God
has become us. Thus Luke closes this section on Who is Jesus? Hes God.

B. The Going
Now Hes at 3
rd
and headed home, and the new question is, Why did He
come? According to v. 51 Jesus has set his face to go to Jerusalem. But
note that Jerusalem is an interim stop tho critical. Luke notes in Lu 13:33,
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for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.
Jerusalem is a very critical stop, but not ultimate. Why do I say that? V. 51,
When the days drew near for him to be taken up. Some say taken up is a
reference to the cross. They refer to John 3:14-15, And as Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
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that whoever
believes in him may have eternal life. That is a true statement, and it is part
of what is in view in Lu 9:51 talking about Jesus being taken up.

But Lukes primary reference is to Jesus ultimate return to heaven, when His
mission will be complete. What is that mission? Mark 10:45 answers: For
even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as
a ransom for many. He has to go thru Jerusalem to do that to become the
ultimate Passover lamb. But the resurrection and His ascension to the Father
will follow showing Gods verdict: Mission Accomplished!

We know that whole process is in view here because Lukes use of Greek
word to describe these events. When the days drew near for him
to be taken up (, form of ). Turn to Acts 1:9. Luke
writes: And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was
lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. This is Jesus returning to
heaven. Mission accomplished. Now 3 times in Acts 1, Luke uses the word
to refer to this fantastic event. Its in vv. 2, 11 and 22. Note
particularly v. 11 where the angels standing by as Jesus ascends say, Men of
Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? [Well, wouldnt you be?!]
This Jesus, who was taken up () from you into heaven, will come
in the same way as you saw him go into heaven. Thus in Luke 9:51, Luke is
describing the completion of Jesus mission of redemption to planet earth.

So the road home leads thru Jerusalem bc His mission is to pay the penalty for
our sins. J esus could not get back to heaven except by way of the cross
awaiting Him in J erusalem. And neither can we get to heaven except by way
of the cross awaiting our decision. He went there to become sin for us. We
must go there to repent those sins and become righteousness. He went to
make payment; we must go to receive His payment. There is no other way to
heaven. That is the point of that whole, critical, hinge verse. Everything
hinges on the cross. Had Jesus bypassed the cross there was no payment and
no hope for mankind. If we bypass it, we bypass salvation. At the cross, the
lamb must become our lamb.

One day during WWII, a number of prisoners were selected for execution at
Auschwitz. One begged for his life as a married man with children, but to no
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avail. But Polish pastor, Maximilian Kolbe, stepped forward and offered to
take the condemned mans place. Normally such an offer would have been
scorned, but for some reason, that day the authorities accepted the offer. They
isolated Kolbe and starved him. Thats what Jesus offers to satisfy the
righteous demands of a holy God. He is the only way of salvation. It would
have been folly to reject Kolbes offer, just like it is folly to reject Jesus.

II. The Rejection
But that is exactly what we find here rejection. V. 52, And he sent
messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans,
to make preparations for him.
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But the people did not receive him, because
his face was set toward Jerusalem. This is so reminiscent of John 1:11: He
[Jesus] came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. People with
an opportunity to know Christ are blowing Him off.

Luke tells us the Samaritans rejected Him because His face was set toward
Jerusalem. That was part of a 900-year-old feud. Israel was united under
David and Solomon. But Solomon died in 930 BC. His son, Rehoboam, taxed
the people so heavily that the 10 northern tribes rebelled under Jeroboam.
Civil War ensued resulting in two nations Israel (or Samaria, 10 tribes) in
the North and Judah (2 tribes) in the south. Jeroboam did not want his
northern people going south to Jerusalem to worship. Instead he led them into
idolatry. Over the next 200 years, Israel had 19 kings all bad and all
idolatrous. Consequently, God gave Israel into captivity to Assyria in 722 BC.
The Assyrians invaded, intermarried and soon destroyed the ethnic identity of
these Jews. The people there became the hated half-breed Samaritans and they
established their own worship on Mount Ebal and Gerizim. They hated the
Jews enough to turn down business of those headed to Jerusalem to worship.

The Samaritans knew little of Jesus because of their isolation. Their religion
led them to reject the very one who as going to Jerusalem to do what? To die
for their sins. Where He is going to make their freedom from guilt and sin and
death a possibility and they turn Him down flat. Not a pretty picture, is it?

They represent a world that rejects Jesus without really knowing who He is or
what He did for them. Years ago a Bible teacher held meetings in Boston. A
Harvard instructor came at the request of a friend, but he told the pastor, You
should know, Im not really interested in the gospel. I do not believe Christ
died for sins and have no need for forgiveness. The pastor responded,
Well, I understand. I n fact, I know why youre not interested. The young
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mans curiosity piqued; he asked, Why? The pastor responded, Well,
youre right here in John 3:19 where it says the light has come into the
world (Jesus did His part), and people loved the darkness rather than the light
because their works were evil. The man took offense, Thats whats wrong
with you religionists. Youre always looking for evil in good people. The
pastor responded, Im not saying youre evil in the sense that youve killed
someone or stolen something. Evil is anything that keeps us from Christ.
Your evil may consist of sitting in the stacks at Harvard, thrilled at the joy of
discovering the answer to some problem in Shakespeare. The point is, if it
keeps you from God, its destroying you. The world of books can be just as
evil as the world of lust or robbery or murder. The world of religion can be
just as evil as the world of sex trafficking if it keeps us from Jesus. Rejecting
J esus, you see, is the ultimate evil. Thats was the Samaritans. Could be you!

III. The Rebuke
Now Jas and John were incensed. V. 54, And when his disciples James and
John saw it, they said, Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from
heaven and consume them? No wonder theyre called sons of thunder! You
have to admire their faith. They believe they can get fire on demand.

They are gutsy; they are also dead wrong. They are violating the character
and mercy of God, and they are opposing Jesus mission. Probably they were
motivated by the Transfiguration of Jesus where they had come face-to-face
with Elijah. They were fully aware of II Kings 1 where Elijah on 2 occasions
called fire from heaven down to consume soldiers sent to capture him because
he challenged Samarias king for his blatant idolatry. Apparently, they now
saw themselves on a par with Elijah and are eager to call down some fire of
their own on Samaritans. If it was good enough for Elijah, why not them?

But they had neither the spirit of Elijah nor God. They were taking pleasure
in sending men to hell. Must sin be judged? Yes but even in the OT God
said in Ezek 18:23, Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares
the Lord GOD, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?
Furthermore, while judgment will thoroughly characterize the 2
nd
coming of
Christ, that was not the mission of His incarnation and first coming. John 3:17
makes this abundantly clear: For God did not send his Son into the world to
condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
Lu 19:10 concurs in defining Jesus mission: For the Son of Man has come to
seek and to save that which was lost. Jesus didnt come to kill Samaritans;
He came to offer forgiveness thru a gospel they had little chance to hear.
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J ames and J ohn were way out of line. Thus Jesus reaction:
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But he turned
and rebuked them.
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And they went on to another village.

Beloved, we must never compromise the message of the gospel the
forgiveness that awaits believers and the eternal separation from God that
waits rejecters. But we must never take joy in that pronouncement. It must
always grieve us to the depths of our being, like it does our Father. Peter says
in II Pet 3:9, The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count
slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but
that all should reach repentance. Our God is a God of mercy and so must we
be. He gives every possible chance for repentance before judgment falls. We
cannot represent Him if we do not teach judgment, but we cannot represent
Him if it does not come from a heart of compassion.

Conc Know what I love about this story? The rest of the story! Turn to Acts
8:25. James, of course, was killed early on for His faith in Christ. But John
carried on the work and ministry of Christ. Eventually that work took him
back to Samaria. Look at Acts 8:25, Now when they (Peter and John) had
testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem,
preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans. Revival broke out
among the hated Samaritans. Isnt that good? Do you suppose that J ohn went
back to this very same village where he wanted to call down fire from
heaven? Very likely because now he had the mind of Christ. Compassion is
everything to Him.

In Radical David Platt tells of a retired couple, Ed and Patty, now in their
early 70s. Given all the options they might have chosen, they followed an
uncommon path. A few years ago they were home only 11 days between July
and October. Where were they? Doing disaster relief in flooded areas of
America, and in Nigeria cooking meals for the hungry in the middle of rebel
fighting. Ed said that Patty goes most places with him, but she does not like
sleeping under trucks in the middle of rebel fighting, so she passed on Sri
Lanka! When asked why they would go to such places, Ed responds, What
else am I going to do with my retirement? I just want to tell as many people
about the gospel as I can." Is that your heart -- or would you rather call down
fire from heaven on the homosexuals or evil politicians or the neighbor down
the street who lets their dog run wild. Were easily distracted. God give us a
heart of mercy and compassion that matches His great heart. Lets pray.