Luke 13:31-35
31 At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, “Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.”
32 He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’ 33 In any case, I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!
34 “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, and you were not willing. 35 Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
You’re a Chicken
“You’re a chicken.”
It’s not the most flattering compliment someone could pay you. Being a chicken usually means you’re afraid, you’re flighty, you’ll run away at the slightest sniff of danger. There’s even the classic children’s story about Chicken Little who is paranoid that the sky is falling because an acorn fell from a tree.
Being called a chicken is not a compliment… unless Jesus calls you one. Then, it’s the greatest comfort we could ask for.
In our Gospel Lesson for today we heard Jesus say to the city of Jerusalem, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem… how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings.”[1] It’s one of the most gentle, tender expressions of love in the animal kingdom! Like I told the little ones a minute ago, a hen will even sacrifice her own life in an attempt to save her chicks.
But as beautiful as that self-sacrificing love can be, it is only necessary if there’s a great danger. Hens won’t commit hara-kiri if a cloud covers the sun, or an acorn falls from a tree. That kind of self-sacrifice is only necessary if there is a very real possibility of death. In this case, there was.
At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, “Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.”[2]
This isn’t the first time that a man named Herod wanted to kill Jesus. You might remember that “Herod the Great” tried to kill Jesus shortly after he was born, when the wise men from the East came to worship him. That was this Herod’s father. It turns out that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
This Herod, Herod Antipas, was little, if any, better. He stole his brother’s wife. Was seduced by his niece/step-daughter and convinced to behead John the Baptist on a whim. Later, he did conspire against Jesus with Pontius Pilate, he martyred the Apostle James and persecuted the fledgling Christian Church.
Herod was not a good guy. The threat that the Pharisees brought to Jesus was very plausible. But it was also curious, considering the source.
The Pharisees were not Jesus’ friends. They were his enemies. In fact, by this time, we know that they were already plotting to kill Jesus. In Mark’s Gospel we find out that they were even plotting with the Herodians, i.e. the supporters of Herod.
It’s really difficult to take the Pharisees’ words as a genuine warning out of concern for Jesus’ well-being. Some people think that the Pharisees in Galilee, where Jesus was at the time, were just sick of him and wanted him go somewhere else. Other people suspect that there were more sinister motivations – that by getting Jesus out of Galilee in the north, he’d go to Jerusalem in the south, where the Pharisees would be much better equipped carry out their plot and actually kill him.
Whatever the Pharisees’ intent – whatever Herod’s threat – Jesus was undeterred. He was determined to stay where he was for now, and then to go to Jerusalem where he would face certain death, when the time was right. He even broadcast his itinerary, which is not a smart move, by the way, if you know that there are people who are trying to kill you.
But this whole episode only serves to underscore the fact that although Jesus is about to compare himself to a mother hen, he is no chicken. Jesus is not afraid. Jesus is not able to be intimidated or blackmailed or coerced into giving up his mission. Jesus is unflinchingly fearless and faithful to his purpose.
Whereas I am a chicken. Maybe you are too.
We don’t know why the Pharisees gave Jesus this warning, but it really doesn’t matter because it betrays an underlying assumption that the Pharisees had about Jesus and about humanity in general. The assumption is that when presented with two options – one easy and the other difficult, one breezy and the other scary – we’re going to pick the easy, breezy one. We don’t like the idea of doing the difficult, scary things.
Maybe there’s a conversation you need to have that you’ve been putting off because you’re afraid of the conflict it might cause. Maybe there’s a temptation in your life that offers you immediate happiness and pleasure with little to no effort right now, but it would require you to ignore God’s will and to do something that he doesn’t ever want you to do. And so, even though God promises greater gratification later, you still opt for the immediate release now.
We can’t even blame the devil in those situations. It’s a problem in our hearts. We’re chickens! We’re scared to do the hard work that we should be doing now, and yet, at the same time, we’re afraid to be patient and wait for the blessings God promises later.
That’s why Jesus laments for Jerusalem:
“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, and you were not willing.”[3]
I’m realizing as a parent that your child doesn’t always appreciate the steps you take to keep them safe. The door to the 400-degree oven gets opened for a second and he makes a b-line straight for it. You grab him up in your arms to keep him from burning his tiny little hands, but he gets so mad. He tries to push you away and peel your fingers off him so that he can go and play in this mysteriously magical place that’s suddenly available for a little amount of time and may never open again. He has no idea how bad it would be if he got what he wanted.
Ain’t that the truth?
God’s desire is and always has been for us and our safety, but as Jesus says here, “You were not willing.” It’s so easy for us to get distracted by the new and shiny, the immediately satisfying things. It’s so easy for us to get discouraged to take the long, hard road of obedience and patience, to wait on the promises of God to be fulfilled (if they ever come to fruition the way we envision in our lifetime).
We can be so much like chicks who have no idea how near the fox is, how dangerous the situation, how safe we’d be under the wings of our Saviour. We can be so unwilling to be so “restricted.”
But Jesus never stops desiring you.
That’s what gave him the determination to go to Jerusalem despite the hatred of the Pharisees, despite the powerful people who were plotting his demise, despite the fact that even those he came to save would praise his name on Sunday but shout for his crucifixion by Friday. Jesus was determined to be your Saviour.
That’s the kind of love he has for you. It’s a self-sacrificing love. It’s an unrequited love. It’s an unconditional love. It’s like the love a hen has for her chicks. She stretches out her wings to save her brood, in much the same way that Jesus stretched out his arms to save you.
Jesus would go to Jerusalem. Herod would have a hand in his death. The Pharisees’ plot would be successful. All the threats they used to try to intimidate him into giving up, would be carried out. But Jesus was unflinchingly fearless and faithful to his purpose, because he is full of tender love and compassion for you.
By putting himself in harm’s way, by going to the cross for crimes he did not commit, Jesus was sacrificing his life so that you could live. He died to pay for all your sins. Even though there are times you are too scared to do the right thing, Jesus staunchly did the right thing for you. Even though there are temptations you are too weak to say no to, Jesus was strong enough to be vulnerable and weak for you. Even though you can impatiently, impulsively leap at the opportunity to indulge in forbidden pleasures and sinful habits, Jesus resolutely and deliberately endured the pain of the cross because he loves you.
You are a chicken, in every sense of the word. And so am I. We can be scared and distractable and weak. Normally it wouldn’t be a compliment to be called a chicken, but when Jesus refers to you as the chicks he longs to gather under his wings, it’s the greatest comfort in the world, because there’s no safer place we could be.
You are a chicken. Stick close to your hen. Stay close to Jesus, just as he promises to be with you. There are real dangers in this world of ours. There are foxes and tigers and bears, oh my! The devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. It is no laughing matter.
But in Christ, we are safe. In him we find the comfort of forgiveness for when we fail. But in him, we also find the inspiration to imitate his determination to do the right thing, no matter how hard or scary it might be.
You’re a chicken. You’re God’s child. And so am I. There’s nothing I’d rather be. Amen.
[1] Luke 13:34
[2] Luke 13:31
[3] Luke 13:34