Go Back and Tell ... Part 3

Luke 13:31-35 At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” And he said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course. Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.’ O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’” 
This response from Jesus is far different that the others we have looked at.  Here He is responding to a group of people who were not seeking to follow Him, but to make Him fail.  They have been talking to Herod, trying to make Jesus look out like a trouble-maker, and come in a sense with Herod's backing; they are speaking for him based on what they have told him.  So, when Jesus tells them to "go and tell that fox..." He is rebuking them in the process.  in other words, before they go and tell, they need to shut up and listen. His rebuke is more to them than Herod, as Jesus outlines their history of persecuting the prophets.  The message they needed to be able to speak was "blessed is He who comes in the name of The Lord!" Until they could go and tell that, they were better of going away and shutting up.