“The Fox and the Hen”
Luke 13:31-35
What just happened?
Were the Pharisees—that is the religious leaders--really concerned about Jesus?
They warned Jesus that Herod wanted to kill Him.
Why would they do that?
Not only did they not like Jesus; they had been discussing among themselves what they wanted to do to Him for quite some time.
In their opinion, Jesus paid no attention to the Law, and their main mission was to keep the Law as fully as possible.
When Jesus healed a paralytic in Luke Chapter 5, the Pharisees were furious.
When Jesus, on a Sabbath day, healed a man who had a withered hand, in Luke Chapter 6, the Pharisees were ready to pull their hair out.
In Luke Chapter 11, Jesus really laid into the Pharisees hard for being more concerned with the rule of Law than with people.
His defiance of the Law of the Pharisees made Jesus PUBLIC ENEMY NUMBER 1!
We are told in Luke Chapter 11:54 that the Pharisees along with the scribes started to lie in wait to catch Jesus saying or doing something wrong.
So, given Jesus’ troubled history with the Pharisees, and the fact that they would be the ones behind His eventual Crucifixion, why do they appear to be so concerned for His safety???
“Leave this place and go somewhere else,” they warn, “Herod wants to kill you.”
It has been suggested that the warning from the Pharisees is actually a political strategy of Herod.
In other words, the Pharisees and Herod are in cahoots, and they want to drive Jesus out of Herod’s jurisdiction and right into the arms of Pilate and make Him Pilate’s responsibility!
Maybe Pilate can figure out a way of getting rid of Jesus altogether!
Of course, Jesus sees right through the Pharisees “so-called” good intentions.
And He proves it by linking them together with Herod: “Go tell that fox, ‘I will drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’”
Jesus knew that in order to fulfill the will of God, He could not veer away from the path that was set out for Him.
He had to go to Jerusalem to suffer and die—rising again on the third day!!!
In the final weeks of His life, Jesus is moving closer and closer to Jerusalem—the city of David—where so many of the great prophets from the past have been ignored, hated, killed.
Jesus was on His way to this same fate and He knew it well.
And still, He went.
He went because He loves you, He went because He loves me, He went because He loved the Pharisees and even that “Fox” Herod!
A father tells of a situation with his daughter, Sarah, who is sixteen years old.
One night, Sarah is about to leave the house on a date with her older boyfriend.
The father has been worrying about Sarah.
She has been acting out, and is starting to do poorly in school.
He would do anything to protect her, to keep her safe and make sure she makes the most of the life God has given her.
Then, a car is honking its horn out front.
Sarah’s father is slumped down in his chair, exhausted from a fourteen-hour day.
Before Sarah steps through the screen door, her father says: “Remember—curfew is at 12 O’clock!”
His daughter stops at the far end of the living room, turns, and says with an expression that is half sneer, half smile: “I’d like to see you make me get home by twelve!”
The screen door slams behind her and the father knows she is right.
He is powerless to make her do much of anything anymore.
One of our greatest images of Jesus is that He can do ANYTHING!
He can walk on water.
He can turn a couple fish and a few loaves of bread into a feast for thousands.
He can even raise the dead.
Yes, Jesus can do anything!
But one thing Jesus will not do is to make us love Him.
Jesus will not control human will.
And so, in our Gospel Lesson for this morning, we see Jesus give one of His most emotional utterances recorded in the Bible: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!”
Jesus will walk out of a tomb on Easter morning, but He won’t walk into our hearts without permission!
I would imagine anyone who has loved someone deeply and knows that they can’t shelter them from harm’s way understands just a little bit of the pain in Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem.
What pain it must cause God when He watches His creatures go through the screen door saying, “I’d like to see you make me!”
God has blessed us with free-will, and God will not break that covenant.
But Jesus is willing to do anything in order to get our attention, nonetheless!
He even likens Himself to a hen in our Gospel Lesson for this morning.
Out of all the animals that Jesus could have chosen—a whole Noah’s Ark full of biblical metaphors, Jesus chooses a hen!
He could have chosen the powerful eagle of the Book of Exodus, “I bore you on eagle’s wings.”
And there’s a cagey leopard prowling through the pages of Hosea.
God is likened to a lion in other Scripture passages.
But a hen?
What kind of a chance is a hen going to have against the likes of a fox like Herod?
But, in all reality, a hen is the perfect metaphor for Jesus.
You see, in the ancient world fire was an ever-present danger.
Without fire engines, hoses, and fire hydrants it could easily get out of control.
Roman writers during New Testament times speak graphically about fires in Rome’s crowded streets and homes.
The summer of ‘64 brought a fire to Rome that lasted for a week and destroyed half the city.
And although the word “fire” isn’t used in this passage, the powerful image Jesus uses here may well of had it in mind.
The fire, however, isn’t in a city; it’s in a barnyard.
And fire is as terrifying to trapped animals as it is to people, if not more so.
When a barnyard catches on fire, the animals try to escape; but, if they can’t escape some species have a way of protecting their young.
A hen, for example, gathers her chicks under her wings to protect them.
She literally gives her life to save them!!!
This is, indeed, a very vivid picture of what Jesus longed to do for Jerusalem, the Pharisees and even Herod—for everyone!
But at the moment, all He could see were chicks scurrying off in all different directions, and even trying to kill the Only One Who could save them—the One Who was giving His life to save them—calling to them, crying out their names!!!
And this is what Jesus’ death would be about.
Jesus is going to Jerusalem to die, risking the threats of the fox, and taking on the role of the mother hen to the chicks who want nothing to do with Him.
And as the Church of Jesus Christ, we are called to be Christ to our Community.
We are to be the hands, the feet, the “wings,” shall we say, of Jesus!!!
That’s one reason why we must do all we can do to try and bring shelter to those who are hurting, lost, confused, perishing.
Our job, as Christians, is to lead people to the Savior—no matter what the cost.
And so, we are called to love well.
Starting on April 24th and going through August we are going to move our Wednesday evening worship service outside into the park next door to our building.
We are going out to the community.
Every Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. we will offer hot dogs and hamburgers.
We will have activities such as corn hole, horse shoes, ping-pong and different games for children.
At 6:30 p.m. we will have a worship service with songs, testimonies a brief devotion and a time of prayer.
It will be something like a weekly revival.
It’s going to be fun.
It’s also going to take commitment on our part to help make it a success.
I pray we will all commit to coming out to the services…
…even if we don’t like the music or aren’t particularly in the mood.
The reason?
This is not about us.
It’s about reaching our community for Christ.
It’s about seeking to gather the lost under the loving wings of Jesus.
It’s about offering the frightened, lost and scared the stable and loving arms of Christian Community.
The people in this city need to be loved.
And that is what you are good at!
And that is what Jesus calls us to do.
The same goes for the Food Pantry.
It’s about loving people in the way that Jesus loves us.
And it takes work.
It’s not always easy.
But it’s the least we can do for the Savior Who went to the Cross for us.
If we look closely at Jesus hanging on the Cross, His arms outstretched, the span of His reach on that wood may well begin to resemble the loving wings of a mother hen, who longs more than anything to gather up her chicks in a love that doesn’t make sense but is the only thing that will change our world.
“how often I have longed to gather [you] together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings…”
Jesus said that 2,000 years ago, and Jesus still says that today!!!
What would this undeserved love mean for the folks in this community who are struggling so to find meaning in this difficult life?
What does this undeserved love mean to you?
We have a great Savior Who has died for us.
And as persons who live in a modern-day Jerusalem, we are to lead folks to the One Who longs to gather His children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings.
May it be so.
Amen.
