“On that very day some Pharisees came, saying to Him,

“Get out and depart from here, for Herod wants to kill You.” And He 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.’ Nevertheless I must journey today, tomorrow, and the day following; for it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem.”

Perhaps, in the words of Jesus you, as I do, can hear strains of the cultural and rhetorical device used in our community when responding to a meddling “messenger”:

“You go tell Felicia, I said come say it to my face . . .”

Ok, so Jesus didn’t say that. Don’t mind my “eisegesis.” This passage tracks one of several tense moments in which the Pharisees seek to control, threaten, and corret the Lord. Here, they threaten the full force of the state upon the life of Jesus if He doesn’t get out of town. Claiming to speak for Herod—maybe they did—these religious elites signal their intent to use whatever powers at their disposal to neutralize this wildfire in Jesus.

“Jesus’ words show no deference to the political authority inherent in Herod’s status,” writes Esau McCaulley, in “Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope.”

“He calls him a fox. This is not a compliment. To be called a fox in Jesus’ day meant being considered conniving and deceitful” (p. 56) The fox, was deceptively destructive, (see Nehemiah 4:3; Song of Solomon 2:15), (Andrews Bible Commentary, p. 1376), and Jesus having seen the treachery against John the Baptist, and knowing the role Herod would play in His own suffering and crucifixion, rightly called it.

Notice Jesus answering as He did John the Baptist when he sent message from prison in (Matthew 11:3), listed all the liberating and life-giving stuff He would keep doing until He left this planet as the risen Savior! His eyes wide open. His mission would prevail. His sense of sacrifice and purpose, so intertwined, propelled Him forward.

That said, Jesus observed that the leaders and teachers, drunk with unholy power woudl indeed reject Him, as they had rejected the prophets before Him. Sardonic, but true nevertheless, where else would He go to die but Jeruselam where the professors of favor were actually purveyors of persecution.