My friends, I speak to you in the name of God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.
One of the things that I so love about Scripture is the way that the writers use common and ordinary images to present biblical truths and teachings. And I note that today particularly in the First reading from Genesis and in the Gospel reading from Luke. And it is so useful to have these images to help us understand powerful and transcendent truths about God who loves us so, God who created all that is — that which is seen and that which is unseen — and after creating it pronounced it all good. God who sets about time after time to redeem and save God's people — from the sin in the Garden, the waters of the flood, slavery in Egypt, the wanderings in the desert — God who never leaves his people alone and forsaken. God, who always had a vision and a plan for the chosen people and for all he has wrapped in the arms of divine love.
So let us venture to the lands, the foreign lands, on which Abraham and Sarah meandered. Lands that they had been led to with words of promise. God said — go from your country to the land I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great, SO THAT (two of the most important words in scripture) you will BE a blessing. And, so off they went into lands of waiting. Lands they wandered with doubt and shrugged shoulders. Lands in which they anticipated what may be ahead. Lands where they also experienced resignation and skepticism as they waited for this great thing that God had promised to do.
And into those wanderings, God came to Abraham again (Abram as he was known then) and said "Look up! See the stars! So many shall your descendants be. That is ahead of you. This is who you are and this is who you will be. Look." What an image! And Abraham, like any of us, said "WHAT?? How do I know this is real? How do I know you will really do this?"
And then God did an amazing thing. God entered into Abram's doubts, into Abram's questioning, into his wonderings and into his deep sleep and God made a covenant with Abram and in that covenant Abram's identity was grounded. Covenant life, living in relationship with God, a relationship that God created and offers us, not as an exercise of God's power. But as a demonstration of God's love and care for God's creation. Love and care that extends for all time.
And then, in the fullness of time, Jesus — very God of very God — became human and dwelt among us. All of that divinity contained in a wee one, a baby who grew into boyhood and into manhood — increasing in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and with people, the Scriptures tell us.
In recent weeks here we have considered Jesus' baptism, his temptation in the wilderness, his first sermon, and his transfiguration. We have seen the growth of his ministry among the people — as he taught them, touched them, healed them, loved on them, ate with them.
And it is in the midst of this that we encounter today's Gospel reading, a time when Jesus was in Galilee, making his way through the towns and villages, journeying toward Jerusalem, some 90 miles away, knowing full well what was waiting for him there. And on the way as Jesus is doing what Jesus does —casting out demons and healing people -- some Pharisees come to warn him that Herod wants Jesus dead, as dead as Jesus' cousin, John whom Herod has killed.
Herod, that "fox," as Jesus calls him. What an image! "Fox" associated today and also then with cunning and viciousness and destruction. Herod, intoxicated with his own view of his importance. Herod, persistently posturing to maintain his thin hold on power and authority — authority that could be removed in a moment by Rome. Herod, that "fox" who ruled with cunning and viciousness and cruelty. The Pharisees tell Jesus to leave, run away, get out of Dodge, head out on a different course.
Jesus knew Herod the fox. And he knew that the fox had the entire Roman army behind him. And he also knew that he had to take a stand, even if he wouldn't survive it. But he also knew that, in the end, the only way to overcome the hard power of an empire, of the ruling elite (and all those who benefitted from it at the expense of others) was to take a stand for the soft power of love -- diametrically opposed to the "foxiness" of Herod.
Upon hearing their warning, Jesus' response is unequivocal — you go tell Herod, that fox, that I'm doing what I'm doing and nothing that he can threaten will deter me. He can threaten me all he wants. I'm going to Jerusalem — and it is there that the real work will happen.
And then we hear these words from Jesus — Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often I would have gathered your children together as a mother hen gathers her brood under her wings. What an image! Can you hear the longing of Jesus to gather all together. Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem. . ..
Barbara Brown Taylor writes this:
If you have ever loved someone you could not protect, then you understand the depth of Jesus'
lament. All you can do is open your arms. You cannot make anyone walk into them. Meanwhile, this is the most vulnerable posture in the world — wings spread, breast exposed — but fyou mean what you say, then this is how you stand ...
... Jesus won't be king of the jungle in this or any other story. What he will be is a mother hen, who stands between the chicks and those who mean to do them harm. She has no fangs, no claws, no rippling muscles. All she has is her willingness to shield her babies with her own body.
Jesus calls to us too to gather beneath his wings — a place of safety and protection and comfort — together — away from the foxes of the world -- those who pound their chests, each seeming to shout louder than the other guy, cultivating fear and distrust, promising individual prosperity — for some, that is — foxes who would seek to devour our very selves. The antithesis of the way of love.
No, our mother hen opens his wings and stands exposed to receive us within his embrace. An embrace founded upon covenant promises made to Abraham centuries earlier — you will be my people and I will be your God. I will make a great nation of you — as many as the stars in the sky. And I will do this SO THAT you may be a blessing to others. You see my friends, we are gathered together in the embrace of our Savior and then like Abraham we are sent to be a blessing to others.
