Luke 13.31-35     Lent 2     Hymns: 351, 423, 429, 324

I know that many of you have heard the story about how I got my first bike when I was young boy in the fourth grade. But I want to tell that story again because I can’t think of a better way to illustrate the point Jesus is making...a very sad and poignant point... is describing how he tried to get the Jews, the citizens of Jerusalem to believe in him as their Savior, but they were unwilling to let him do that.

This morning we consider this wonderful truth: JESUS LOVES YOU WITH ALL OF HIS HEART.

I got my first bike in this way: I had gone to the grocery store for my mother. I had a list of things to get that filled two grocery bags, which I put into my red, Flyer coaster wagon, as we used to call them. My house was on 7^th street; Ray’s grocery story was on 6^th street. To get to the store I walked through the alley to Burleigh Street, east a half a block, then around the corner to Ray’s grocery store, next to Lustig’s Tap, the corner bar.

I was on the way home with the groceries and when I walked back down Burleigh Street and entered the alley, my friend Kar-en was riding toward me on bike. It wasn’t the full-size 26 inch tire on the bike; it the next size down. She rode up to me and said, "Do you want to ride it?" Sure, I wanted to ride it; I didn’t have my own bike so it was pretty cool that she was willing to let me ride "her" bike.

When I got on the bike, she said, "It’s your bike." I didn’t under-stand what she meant. How could it be my bike? I didn’t have a bike. Then she said, "Look down the alley." Our house was way down at the other end of the alley. But I could make out the fig-ure of my Dad, waving at me. It really was my bike. I didn’t be-lieve Karen when she told me it was my bike; I believed it was my bike when I saw my Dad waving. My Dad gave me the faith to take possession of my bike when he waved. My Dad gave me the faith to receive the gift of a bike.

Can you imagine how my Dad would have felt if I had given the bike back to Karen and pulled my coaster wagon with its cargo of groceries down the alley, and then, when I had come to where my Dad was standing I would have said to him, "I don’t want the bike; you can keep it or give it to somebody else." My Dad worked two jobs to make ends meet for our family. He and my Mother saved up for a long time to buy that bike for me.

Listen again to what Jesus said to the Jew people who lived in Jerusalem (v 34). The Jews needed a Savior from sin more than I needed a bike. And Jesus wanted to give them what they needed to save them from sin more than my Dad wanted to give me a bike...and my Mom and my Dad really wanted me to have a bike and were very happy and proud when they actually saved enough money over a period of almost a year to buy that bike...which cost them $15!!

What did it cost Jesus to save the citizens of Jerusalem, that is the Jewish nation...that is, the entire world’s population! It cost Jesus his life...his perfect life which he lived here on this earth, and the loss of his life when he died on the cross. He wanted the Jews to believe that he was their Savior from sin and death and hell. Jesus loved the people of Jerusalem with all his heart and they said ‘no’ to his love, ‘no’ to his forgiveness, ‘no’ to eternal life in heaven. How did that make him feel? Listen again to the words, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem." These are words of lament and deep sadness...and love as when he said to his friend, "Martha, Martha," and then told her that her sister Mary knew that the one thing needful was to listen to his word of salvation, or when Je-sus said to Saul, "Saul, Saul, why do you keep resisting the truth and persecuting those who believe in me. I think also of the words of David when he found out that his son Absalom had been killed, "Absalom my son, my son; Absalom my son." These were words of deep sorrow and love even for the son who tried to take David’s kingdom away from him by turning the people against him.

So the words of Jesus, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem," are words of deep sorrow and love because he came to give salvation to the Jews and they refused to receive it...refused to believe. Can you imagine anyone not wanting to be loved by Jesus? not wanting his forgiveness? not wanting salvation in heaven?

What can we say about the Jews of Jesus’ day...about the Jews or any other unbelievers of today’s world? They are independent thinkers, they don’t need anything from God, they don’t need God’s forgiveness, God’s love, God’s salvation so they get along in life without a need to confess their sins, without any interest in getting to know why Jesus says that he loves them and died for them and offers them the forgiveness of sins.

How do these people live and face each day and the reality of death without faith in Jesus, without loving Jesus, without any appreciation for who Jesus and what he did for them?

Or let me ask this: When you choose to ignore God’s Word and go your own way in life, choose to think you are so independent that you don’t need to rely on God in your life, choose to believe that you can choose to sin in way...when you do these things are you, and I, any less acting in unbelief than the most pagan of pagans? You don’t love Jesus with all your heart, but you count on him to love you with all his heart. You don’t expect Jesus to turn away from you even though you turn away from him. You don’t want Jesus ignore what’s going on in your life...you want him to hear your prayers and answer them...you want him to take care of you and not neglect you even though you choose to neg-lect him and not take care of your faith. You and I...we are no different than the Jews who would not allow him to gather them together under his protective arms as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. We push Jesus away, we run away, we tell him, "I don’t want the bike...don’t want your love" when we set our-selves above his will for our lives.

But there is a difference between you and me and those who do not want Jesus’ love: because he has given us faith...the belief and conviction that he loves us and died for us...we come to our spiritual senses and ask him to forgive us, ask him to keep loving us and protecting us and providing for us and keeping us on the path to eternal life in heaven, keeping us thankful to him for being our Savior and for loving us with all his heart.

How often do you do this? Every day! Several times a day! Be at peace with God; Jesus loves you with all his heart. Love him because of his love for you