The holy gospel according to Luke (13:31-35)
31At
that very hour some Pharisees came and said to Jesus,
“Get away from
here,
for
Herod wants to kill you.”
32Jesus
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.
33Yet
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.’
34Jerusalem,
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!
35See,
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.’”
The gospel of the lord.
-----
Today begins with the threat of death. In a concerned move compassionate
Pharisees come to warn Jesus of threats to his life. King Herod, who’s already had John beheaded, has shifted his
focus now to Jesus. Jesus may not
be calling Herod out explicitly the way John had, but as Jesus goes about his
ministry, it challenges Herod and those in power. Jerusalem is the seat of power, the Washington, DC of first
century Palestine. It is the place
where the powerful gather, decisions are made, and lives and communities change.
It is from there that the warning for Jesus comes. And so it is no wonder that Jesus calls
Herod, the powerful and shrewd ruler, a fox. I can just hear Jesus’ tone of challenge, “Go and tell that fox for me.” And here is where the hen takes on uncharacteristic
bravery. Instead of hearing of the
fox and then fleeing into hiding, Jesus, the hen who knows danger is coming,
tells the dangerous fox to just hold up a bit. Knowing the power and danger Herod possesses, Jesus is not
intimidated. His life and even
death will be on Jesus’ terms, no one else’s.
Jesus counters the threat of “that fox,” Herod, pointing out
that he’s busy. Jesus has got work
to do before Herod can fulfill his threats. Jesus is “casting out demons and performing cures today and
tomorrow, and on the third day [finishes the] work.” It is then that
Jesus finds himself in line with those who lead movements and speak God’s truth
to those in power.
Four years before he was assassinated, Martin Luther King,
Jr. spoke of his own death, saying, “Well, if physical death is the price that
I must pay to free my white brothers and sisters from a permanent death of the
spirit, then nothing can be more redemptive.”[1]
Archbishop Oscar Romero spoke up for the poor and oppressed
in El Salvador during the military dictatorship of the 70s and 80s, also known
as the “dirty war.” He also knew
there was a good chance he would be killed, having received several death
threats already. Just before his
assassination, his response to them was to say, “If God accepts the sacrifice
of my life, may my death be for the freedom of my people. A bishop will die,
but the Church of God, which is the people, will never perish. I do not believe in death without
resurrection. If they kill me I will rise again in the people of El Salvador.”[2]
And
with that same assurance, Jesus foretells his own death, saying, “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.’ 34Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to
it!”
Not
only is Jesus still busy with the work of ministry but the place is wrong. Herod won’t kill Jesus outside of
Jerusalem because Jerusalem is the place where earthly power clashes most
directly with God’s power and truth.
Jerusalem
is the city known for killing the prophets and apostles, those “sent”
there. So Jesus will not be killed
outside of Jerusalem. While
usually the hen is the one fenced in, it’s like Jesus, as the hen, is fencing
in Herod, the fox and dictating where he can and cannot hunt.
Even
as Jesus laments over Jerusalem, yearning to gather the city and all its
inhabitants under his wings, Jesus is gathering and protecting those outside
Jerusalem. Jesus puts himself
between the fox and the people from whom he is “casting out demons and
performing cures.” Jesus protects
the downtrodden and oppressed, those most vulnerable to abuses of power, knowing
that ultimately the fox will kill
this hen.
Jesus
sets the terms of his death and even as he sees Jerusalem and the cross on the
horizon, he yearns for all of God’s people to gather under the protection of
his wings. He yearns for all of us
to gather, to seek refuge in his wings.
That is the work he still needs to do before he goes to “that fox”
Herod, before he joins with martyrs throughout time who know that their mission
is more important even than their life.
But
Jesus will eventually go. Having
done his best to gather and protect the brood, Jesus will set out to face the
fox. Along the way a parade forms
with coats and palm branches. And
people gather to shout hosannas and cry out “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord,” extolling
the one they want to be their military avenger—the hunter ready to kill the
fox,
forgetting that Jesus is no hunter, he is not even the rooster who goes on the
attack to fight.
Jesus is
the hen,
who puts the chicks’ safety first
and heads to a show down without a fight.
There
are no odds in his favor in this showdown. Jesus will lose because he is unwilling to lose the humanity
he chose when he came to join us. Jesus
will lose because he will not kill.
He will not let his humanity suffer or fail in that way. Jesus will lose because he will remain
whole even as his body is torn apart.
Jesus takes on our flesh and spreads his arms wide on the cross like the
hen gathers her brood and Herod, the fox, wins this battle.
Because
in a battle between fox and hen, death will always come for the hen. What comes next, though, is the battle
for life. The battle that claims ultimate
victory—over all the power and powerful that Herod and Jerusalem represent;
and over death itself.
Because
there is more to life than death and more to faith than fear. The ultimate absurdity becomes the
ultimate victory as the hen is in control, determines the timeline and the
setting, and then calmly walks into the slaughter that will not actually end it all with the fox. The hen faces the fox and though the
fox wins, the hen is the ultimate winner “on the third day” as Jesus once again
spreads his arms wide to gather first the women and then the rest of the
disciples under his wings.
Thanks
be to God.
[2] Found at https://www.facebook.com/romerocenterministries/?target_post=10151565518853582&ref=story_permalink
from Romero Center Ministries post March 24, 2013
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