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Luke 13:31-35
31 At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” 32 He said to them, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. 33 Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’ 34 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! 35 See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
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“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!”
Friends, the last year we have seen and felt that death is around us. You know what I mean. Whether it is the physical death of someone we love or the end of a relationship, both have been experienced in life lately. This includes wives, daughters, husbands, sons, parents, grandparents, sisters, and brothers. They died, and that hurts us, unbearably so at times. Even the South Bend community lost students to death due to car accidents and even murder. And Indiana lost three children to death as they got out of their bus. Death is around us, and death comes with pain and heartache. And it’s so crushing, it feels like our breath is taken out of our bodies, but yet still we cry to God.
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!”
In the last month, our own country was hit by even type of weather possible. I’m sure the world felt the same. Blizzards in the west, storms in the east, tornadoes in the middle. And I’m not just talking about light weather. Part of our country experienced avalanches and hurricanes, and other parts experienced flooding and wind so fierce it ripped buildings apart. They were mudslides and earthquakes, and even polar vortexes. And we all felt that, and those experiencing homelessness felt it even worse. So we make small talk about it; we talk about this “crazy” weather, but then we remember the lives lost in it, and we cry to God.
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!”
And then in the last week, 50 people were shot down and killed in two Christchurch mosques in New Zealand, and at least 34 others are still in nearby hospitals being treated for their injuries, some critical. And while the majority of the world grieves for the deaths of people they do not know in this terrorist attack, others seem to look past it, as the victims are Muslim. And for some, apparently death does not matter when it is a Muslim person who is murdered, which makes my heart break even more because we fail to see the image of God in all people, and so I cry out and you cry out:
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!”
I witness these stories of death in our own lives by natural causes and accidents, across the country due to weather, and across the world due to terrorist attacks; and I understand why Jesus was the first to cry out:
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!”
Today, from the Gospel of Luke, we read five verses; just five verses. And it’s not a well known passage, but I’m sure you all know its context. Jesus is currently telling parables and healing the sick. Typical Jesus, am I right? While he is doing this, this warning comes to him: that Herod has plans to kill him. And let’s be clear, as I said, Jesus is telling parables and healing the sick, which I would argue are acts of love and mercy, but in those acts, his life is threatened. So it’s really no question when Jesus responds in the way that he does: he becomes frustrated, probably both angry and sad, and laments over Jerusalem for the threat against his life for doing acts of love. And because there is a threat against his life and because it’s not his time yet, Jesus leaves Jerusalem to continue his ministry: to tell parables and to heal the sick. It is also at this time that Jesus states he won’t return to Jerusalem until the people cry out, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.” Those words might sound familiar, as those are the words spoken as Jesus rode the colt into the holy city of Jerusalem, as people waved palm branches and shouted, “Hosanna! Hosanna!”
So in the second Sunday of Lent, Jesus leaves Jerusalem, to which he will return as we wave our palm branches on Palm Sunday, four weeks from now. A full-circle journey, a journey that we are on as well.
But what really strikes me in this passage is Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem. Hear it again: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!”
As I prepared for this sermon and as I read commentaries and explanations of this passage, I came across this story about a hen:
“After a forest fire in Yellowstone National Park, forest rangers began their trek up a mountain to assess the inferno’s damage. One ranger found a hen literally petrified in ashes, charred to the bone. It was perched statuesquely on the ground at the base of a tree. Somewhat sickened by the eerie sight, he knocked over the bird with a stick.
When he struck it, three tiny chicks scurried from under their dead mother’s wings. The loving mother, keenly aware of impending disaster, had gathered her offspring under her wings. She could have left for safety, but she had refused to abandon her babies.
When the blaze had arrived and the heat had scorched her small body, the mother had remained steadfast. Because she had been willing to die, so those under the cover of her wings would live.”
Beautiful story, right? This story is gold for preachers. This story is gold for parishioners. Jesus compares a hen covering her offspring with her wings to his own desire to gather his children under his arms. And this story is exactly that; a hen that was willing to die for her children, in the same way that Jesus died for his children, for us.
But then I noticed something, each commentary had minor but different details to the story. In one commentary it was a hen and in another it was a robin, and in one story, this all took place in in Yellowstone National Park and another took place in a barn. Even the ranger became a farmer at some point.
So being the faithful preacher that I am, I figured I would find the original story to use as the beautiful, uplifting symbolic illustration on how great this hen is and how this hen represents Jesus.
That is until after a quick and easy google search, I found out this story was made up by preachers to be a beautiful, uplifting symbolic illustration for their sermons. Then I realized that most pastors preach from the pulpit that lying is bad unless it’s for the sake of creating a really good story for a sermon.
So this story is made up, and I apologize to those of you who thought this story was poetic or beautiful or sacred or inspirational, because I did too. And then it wasn’t.
But! In my google search for the hen that protects her offspring in the fire, I found pictures and videos of hens protecting their offspring from other things. In one video, there was a hen with her wings outstretched with her chicks under them as rain poured on her, the mother. In another video, a hen chased a cat away. Then there was others video of a hen chasing away a dog… and a hawk… and even a small child, that one was hilarious, but still fitting for today’s symbolic illustration.
And then it hit me, while looking for Jesus through one story, Jesus came to me in unexpected stories. Which then made me realize this passage is complicated and short but yet as easy as one, two, three:
One – God comes to us.
Two – Sometimes we resist when God comes to us, through our own acts or through the acts of the world.
Three – God still comes to us.
And in step two, when we are resisting that love, that’s where we hear the voices of lament, either Jesus’ or our own. And that’s okay because although it hurts which causes us to lament, it’s part of the three step process and God will still come to us.
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!”
Friends, we experience death every day, like a disaster of flames and smoke choking us out, and we cry, “How long, O Lord, how long?”
But Christ is there with us our lament, crying with us while sheltering us.
I leave you all with this, the opening and closing words of a reflection on this passage written by my friend and colleague in ministry, The Rev. Allie Smith:
“Gathered beneath the sheltering wings of God; protected behind the strong shield of God; washed by the tears of our grieving God … People of God: take heart in this moment. God, your God, is working for your life and salvation. God, your God, is bringing you home. Beneath God’s mothering wings: even in death, you shall live.”
Thanks be to God. Amen.
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