As A Hen Gathers Her Chicks

“As a Hen Gathers Her Chicks”

Matthew 23:37

Jesus has just returned to Jerusalem for the last time. It won’t be long before He is arrested and crucified. His sorrow for them was overwhelming and He took a moment to express His love and compassion for His people in a unique and interesting way.

Matthew 23:37 In this verse, I believe we can describe 4 qualities of the love Christ has for us.

1. IT IS A SHELTERING LOVE!

Anyone who has ever been to a farm that has chickens hanging around has seen how a hen protects her chicks. There they are in the yard pecking at the ground, catching a cricket or pulling up a juicy worm seemingly without a care in the world. Mother hen clucks occasionally and the little chicks going Chirp!Chirp!Chirp! Then, a dog gets close or the shadow of a hawk comes by and that hen clucks out an alarm and flaps and the little chicks take off toward her. She fluffs up and a dozen chicks scoot up under her. And late at night when it’s cold and windy they make it over to the nest and they all disappear under the shelter of wings where it is warm and safe. She is their shelter from a cold and dangerous world.

I remember as a little boy there was no place in the world that I felt more secure than in my mother’s arms. Certainly, I felt that my Dad was the strongest, bravest person in the world and he always took care of us, but in the middle of the night when I had a nightmare it was Momma I wanted. When I was sick or hurt she was the one who comforted me. When my feelings were hurt and needed reassurance it was Momma I went to.

Notice that as Jesus is weeping over the city it is this kind of sheltering love that He speaks of. It is a desperate kind of love. He saw the suffering of His people. Pain. Despair. Hopelessness. Loneliness. It was a world of danger, sin and death. Jesus so much wanted to share His love with them, to protect them, and to save them and He wept for them.

Things are not so different today. It is still a harsh world we live in. We go through our lives and when things get really bad we want Momma to turn to. Maybe you’re here today suffering and needing to be sheltered and loved. Maybe your Mom is no longer with you and you miss her greatly. Or maybe your Mom was never around or just didn’t seem to care. I want you to know that Jesus is here for you and He cares more than you can imagine. He wants you to crawl into His lap and let Him hold you and shelter you when you’re scared or hurting.

2. IT IS A SUFFERING LOVE!

Many Springs we had ducks that made nests and lay there eggs in our yard. They’ll make them in bushes, tall grass or just in corners of the fence. When our kids were little we had a duck that made a nest in a tuft of tall grass and laid her eggs. The kids would get excited as each day we’d walk out and check on her and feed her some bread. The day we discovered her ducklings were hatching we noticed fire ants were crawling all over her. She was covered with them and she was shivering in pain, but would not leave her ducklings. She chose to suffer intense pain rather than leave her little ones. We ended up moving her and the brood and cleaning off the ants and most of them lived. But, she would have stayed there until she was eaten alive rather than abandon her little ones.

As a pharmacist, I see all types of Mothers come into the pharmacy. When children are sick you really get to see what kind of Mother a woman really is.

Bad Mother- comes in dressed stylishly, but complaining that her kid kept her up all night...how much the doctor cost.. how much the medicine cost.. She feels inconvenienced by her child’s illness.

Good Mother- comes in with no makeup, hair is a mess, has grape popcicle juice on her right shoulder and her child’s throw-up on her left shoulder. Her child is crying to the top of his lungs and she never complains about the price because her child is worth it whatever the price. With a nurturing smile she tells him “it’ll be alright honey, we’re almost home.”

That’s the kind of love that Christ has for us! He has a Suffering Love

Isaiah 53:2-5

this is a prophetical description of how Jesus chose to suffer for us.