The Message from Sunday,
March 13, 2022Second Sunday in Lent
Luke 13:31-35
Our Scripture begins with a warning to Jesus from the Pharisees that King Herod plans to kill him. It is hard to understand if the Pharisees are sincere or actually believe that Herod is a real threat. In all the Gospels, the Pharisees are largely antagonists in relating to Jesus and Jesus is likewise to them. However, in Luke 7:36 and 14:1, the Pharisees invite Jesus into their homes and in Acts 15:5 we hear that some Pharisees had actually become Christians. So, it is possible that these Pharisees’ may have been sincere about him being in danger.
Because we know that Herod had both imprisoned and executed John the Baptist it is apparent that he has what it takes, to brutally eliminate any threat to the stability of his rule. Whatever the purposes of the Pharisees and Herod, Jesus uses the threat to make clear the nature of his upcoming death as a part of his mission. Jesus is going to die, but it will have nothing to do with the threat of Herod. Rather, his death is the completion of his present ministry. He characterizes this ministry as “casting out demons and curing people of their illnesses”. He points out that both activities are by themselves important in the establishment of God’s kingdom.
To reinforce that Herod has no control over him, Jesus adds that he will be doing these things “today and tomorrow” (verse 32). “Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way – Jesus has three more days to complete his ministry on his way to Jerusalem. Because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem”. This irony of Jerusalem is immense, after all, Jerusalem is “the place that the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes as his habitation to put his name there” (Deuteronomy 12:5). That the city of God’s habitation becomes the seat of such violent opposition to God is part of the ironic tragedy of Israel’s own story, including Jesus’ story.
Then in verse 35, Jesus issues a compassionate and agonized plea. Jesus says this to Israel “how often have I desired to gather your children, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! The use of a mother hen as a protector of God’s children is most interesting as we just heard him tell the Pharisees go tell that fox Herod that I have been casting out demons and curing illnesses - doing my ministry.
There many stories from our childhood of sly and cunning foxes seeking vulnerable chickens. These days we don’t often see mother hens sheltering their chicks. You might see that where folks are free ranging their chickens in their back yard. Chickens these days are hatched in hatcheries where the temperature is controlled. Little chicks are environmentally frail not just because predators seek them.
My oldest brother worked on a vegetable and dairy farm that raised geese. For a time after WWII raising geese was pretty common. One day he brought home a baby gosling that was not growing like the others. The farmer was going to kill it as it would not survive among the healthy geese who would kill it anyway. So, my brother asked if he could bring it home, which he did, and we put it in a box behind the cook stove where it would be warm. The gosling survived but got no larger than a duck. An irony of this goose was that it was hatched by a broody hen as they are very good at hatching eggs, any eggs.
We have this image of a hen being a terrific mother which is true. So much so I remember my mother commenting on mothers or anyone that acted like “old mother hens”. They would be the ones that in her opinion were overly protective and incessantly cautioning their children to the extent they couldn’t do anything that “normal children would do”. If you watch a mother hen with little chicks, she is probably in constant motion and verbally coaching the chicks to keep them close by her. But the fact of the matter is that spreading her wings over the chicks is about the extent of her defense capabilities. Those chicks need to be close by so that she can protect them from an overhead predator that can swoop down and snatch one of them. When she sees the shadow of a predator, she calls them under her wings and guards them with her life. However, she has very little chance of fighting off predators such as a fox.
So, of all the animals Jesus could have likened himself, he chose to be a hen. He could have chosen the powerful eagle of the book of Exodus (19:4). "I bore you on eagles' wings." There is a cagey leopard prowling through the pages of Hosea (13:7). God is likened to a lion elsewhere. "How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings." What kind of chance is this hen going to have against the likes of a fox such as Herod?
Jesus isn’t going to portray himself to be like the God, the prophets of the Old Testament speak of. Jesus is the God that will lay down his life for Israel and all humankind. His protection is for the most vulnerable who suffer because they are relegated to being eternally poor. It is in Jerusalem where the courts of corruption ensure that wealth will remain in the hands of a few powerful men. We find ourselves defenseless against the many Herod’s waiting in the shadows. One of the hardest things in life is loving someone you know you can't shelter or protect.
So, what is Jesus' plan? What's he going to do now? Strangely, his plan is to keep offering the love of a mother hen. Keep spreading his wings. He will offer his life to Herod on our behalf. He will follow us into the darkness we have chosen for ourselves, over and over again. He will place himself between that darkness and us. And if you look closely at this man hanging on the cross, his arms eternally outstretched, the span of his reach on that wood will begin to resemble the loving wings of a mother hen, gathering up her chicks in a love that doesn't make sense but breaks our hearts if we look long enough.
As he hangs there with wings nailed to a tree, he cannot make us love him. Cannot make us accept his love. But his desire for us is there. Always, eternally there. "How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing."
He said that 2,000 years ago. He says that today. There is one little thing that Jesus needs of us. One thing that he desires but cannot or will not control. He desires our will. Our proud, defiant control over our own destiny. To relinquish that is both the hardest and the sweetest thing we'll ever do.
Would you pray with me: Gracious creator God, as we move closer to the mountain Golgotha, we realize that your son has invited us in so many ways to be the owner of your love. That we may know love in the many lessons of Jesus and in his submission to give his life as the sacrificial lamb. Help us to understand the meaning of Jesus’ life through the meekest and most vulnerable of your creatures on earth. May we follow his path to a peaceful world, in the footsteps of your embodiment - Christ Jesus - Amen
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