Go Tell That Fox....

By John Stallings

Luke 13:31-35 contains one of my favorite stories about Jesus & some of my favorite words that He spoke.

 We often think of Him as a mild mannered man preaching on how to be more “mild- mannered.” Some see Him as a man who just wants to be loved & accepted & will bend over backwards to please as many people as He can. Obviously nothing could be further from the truth.

Jesus wasn’t --as some seem to see Him-- a young man with His head in the clouds floating around trying to enlist people into His imaginary kingdom.

In this passage some Pharisees come to Him saying Herod was making death threats against him. They must have thought it would be an interesting “news flash” for Jesus. They probably thought He’d be spooked by hearing Herod wanted to kill him. They may have even thought He would tell them to tell Herod He’d be happy to do anything he suggested; that He’d rush to Jerusalem & maybe make things easier for Himself. The motives of these Pharisees are suspect because in truth they’ve been the ones responsible for pumping Herod full of suspicion concerning Jesus. What they told Herod about Jesus being a threat to his earthly power was nothing but a pack of lies.

Hell would have frozen over before Jesus would have been afraid of anyone, certainly not a wicked heathen like Herod. Jesus responds with these words; “go tell that fox that today & tomorrow I’m healing the sick & casting out demons & on the third day I’ll finish up.” The word fox isn’t a complimentary term nor was it meant to be unnecessarily harsh. I think we see the real Jesus here. A little later we see Him heading toward Jerusalem & lamenting that they had rejected Him. So we know that we don’t have a case-hardened Jesus. But when it came to His work, He didn’t play around. Jesus was saying; & I’m paraphrasing here,

Go tell that fox that ---I will drive out devils & heal people today & tomorrow & on the third day I will reach my goal. Luke 13:32--NIV


Go tell that fox I’m working on my schedule not his.

Go tell that fox there’s no chance I’m going to restructure my life out of fear of him.

Go tell that fox I’m taking no detours in my plans because of him.

Go tell that fox (& I’m still paraphrasing) I’m fully aware of what awaits me in Jerusalem, after all isn’t that the city where all the prophets have been slain?

Go tell that fox there are some things I MUST DO before my earthly ministry is complete. Vr.33

Go tell that fox (in essence) that I’m not naïve of the dangers I face. I can read the future, but he can’t, & I can say with total authority when I’ll be in Jerusalem.

There are five things I see in this short story that are very powerful to me;

1. Jesus is still running on schedule.

You & I, much like Herod, don’t know what’s going to happen five minutes from now but Jesus was well able to tell Herod without fear of failure, exactly what would transpire in His life for the next three days. Jesus was right on schedule & arrived in Jerusalem to face Herod.

We don’t have to wonder if we’ll see Jesus again or if He’ll return for His Bride because when the time is right He’ll appear just as He appeared in Herod’s court.

2. Nothing Jesus starts is ever left unfinished.

He had a goal He strived for on earth & He also has a goal in each of our lives. If we cooperate with Him He’ll complete the work He has begun in us.

3. Jesus feared no man or woman & neither should we.

Herod wasn’t able to shake Him because He never allowed fear to influence Him. His admonition was always “Fear not” & he lived by that creed. Fear is powerful because it’s a form of faith. When we fear, we don’t really doubt a good outcome, we believe in a negative outcome.

4. This story tells us that nothing Jesus says will fail.

Jesus’ words were infallible & so is every word that God was spoken.
Not one jot nor tittle will ever pass away from God’s Word & His promises.-Matt.5:18


5. Many have opposed Jesus but their names are in the dustbin of history & Jesus lives on.

Jesus did finally meet Herod in Luke chapter 23. The Bible says Herod was thrilled to see Jesus because he’d heard so much about Him & wanted to see Him perform a miracle. Of course Jesus never used His miraculous power in that way & He refused to speak a word to Herod. Herod became so angry he told His soldiers to put a beautiful robe on Jesus & they mocked Him.

Then Jesus was sent to Pilate to be judged. I think we could safely say that Herod the old fox was “out-foxed” that day in his own court but the meeting is tinged with sadness. Sadness because Herod met Jesus, the one who was sent to die for him & all of mankind, & he never knew whom he met.

He missed the hour of his visitation.

Blessings,

John