Second Sunday in Lent
Luke 123:31-35
March 4, 2007

UNDER THE WINGS
by Mary Vance

A few weeks ago when we started planning with the High School youth for this Sunday, the first thing we did was read each of these Scripture passages and talk about them a little bit. I have to say that just jumping into them cold, these are probably not the most exciting passages in the Lectionary. I mean if you ask somebody what is their favorite Scripture, who is going to say, Oh, its that part where Paul says something about their god is the belly and their glory is their shame.

I asked the kids it this Gospel lesson was one they were familiar with and, I’m proud to say they did not act like hypocrites and try to pretend that it was. Its not like our passage last week. You remember, when Jesus went into the desert right after he was baptized. Everybody remembers the story about the temptation in the wilderness when the devil tried to tempt Jesus into exploiting his own greatness for personal gain. And on Ash Wednesday, we heard Jesus railing against the hypocrites who tout their own trumpets so that everybody will know how pious they are. Everybody remembers Jesus railing against the hypocrites too. But this one is not quite so familiar.

To start with, what is going on here with these Pharisees. I mean, everybody knows the Pharisees were the bad guys right? Didn’t they devote themselves to hounding Jesus, trying to trip him up on theological issues. And doesn’t he always criticize them and their legalisms? Everybody knows that. Well, that’s the problem with going by what everybody knows.

Actually the Pharisees are not the bad guys of the New Testament.

They were conscientious protectors of the faith, fighting heroically to maintain the cultural identity of a minority ethnic group in the midst of a dominant culture that was sucking everyone in to the materialistic world of instant gratification. Where the most important thing was to get along and get ahead in the secular world. The Romans were doing a really good job of going around the world and turning everyone into Romans—well Romans who themselves basically had adopted the Greek culture. They were the power house absorbing the cultures they conquered.

But there was this one group of people who managed to resist. It so happens that the members of that group are the descendants of Abraham. God’s chosen people. And the Pharisees were doing their best to make sure they didn’t loose that identity.

For some reason we don’t hear so much about the times when Jesus socialized with the Pharisees or the fact that some of the first Christians were in fact Pharisees. Like Paul, they didn’t stop being Pharisees when they became followers of Christ.

Certainly, this event, where the Pharisees are looking out for Jesus’ safety—is not the one that most often comes to the mind when we hear the word Pharisee.

But they were looking out for him—" Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you." And, I have to tell you, Jesus’ answer has a very Presbyterian ring to it. Basically, he says "Well, Herod or no Herod, I have a job to do and I’m going to do it. I’ve got a schedule to keep and I’m going to keep it."

But then, there is a shift in his tone. he says: 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.' 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!

So, he’s not going to let Herod run him off, but he suddenly remembers that he has to get going pretty quickly now anyway. And that reminds him of what it is that he has to get going to do, and that is not an easy thing to think about.

Now, this little allegory about the hen may be a little more familiar. I remember the first time I actually read the Bible, I was going along being amazed page after page at what I was reading. I had no idea how profound it was, and I was grasping on some level, an understanding that it really is good news for all people. It is all about how much God loves us, about how much we do to try to mess things up and how God keeps on loving us anyway. And one time after another, Jesus reveals wisdom and grace. He says things like "Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. "Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh." [LK 6:20-21]

It was amazing.

But then all of a sudden we read something that creates a mental picture that just doesn’t fit in with that dignified teacher image. I mean, he’s comparing himself to a chicken. What could be less dignified? I can’t think about it with picturing a Disney cartoon.

And certainly what could be less wise? He’s insulting Herod by calling him a fox, but then he calls himself a chicken! The mental image just doesn’t fit.

I remember when I first starting coming to Church. Everything was a little strange to me, but I was surprised that I was enjoying the experience over all. I remember when I first noticed that we usually say a prayer of confession. When Brant said "if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves." I thought he had made it up. I also thought, "Well, he’s wrong about me, I’m not a sinner." Because I myself had been totally absorbed by the dominant, materialistic, individualist culture we live in. I firmly believed that what was important in life was me, and nothing else. Living from day to day, seeing how much money I could make and how much money I could spend. It was fun. I wasn’t in the gutter when I came to Christ. But when I heard about people who were suffering, women and children in Sudan being raped by gangs of military men, and children in our own community who live in squalor without adequate nutrition or health care, I said—"I can’t do anything about it, so its not my problem."

Well, now I know that it is my problem. Maybe I still can’t do anything about it—or maybe I can and I still fail to do it. Either way, this is one of those strange paradoxes about calling myself a Christian. Now I know that I am a sinner, now I care about the fact that people are suffering in the world and it is sad and frustrating. Now I know that I’m not doing everything I can and should because we are all the children of God.

But I also know that the reason I care is because God has shed his grace on me. I know that I have the comfort and security that a little baby chick has under it’s mother’s wings. And with the gift of that knowledge came an awakening of something that was buried deeply within. Now, I know I’m a sinner, but I also know that I’m welcome under those wings because of what God did in Jesus.

A few weeks ago, my brother the atheist was asking me questions about what Scripture passages I used in a funeral service. I told him it was one of the standards for funerals, where Jesus says

In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?

³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. [John 14]

And then Jesus says he is the way and the truth and the life and that no one comes to the Father except through him. My brother said "Oh, I don’t like that passage." I said I know, Christians have misused it so much. Making it sound like a threat or an ultimatum. But Jesus isn’t talking here to unbelievers. He telling the faithful that there is a place for them – here, it’s a house in heaven. In our passage for today it’s under his protective wings. The tone is a little different. Maybe he’s feeling a little more exasperated and apprehensive at this point – maybe he’s feeling more philosophical when he’s talking to Thomas.

But the message is the same. Jesus knows he’s on the road to Jerusalem, he knows there is more healing and teaching to do, but he also knows he is moving on toward the cross. And we know that he is doing that for us. He invites us to move on with him. In a few minutes, we will all be invited to his table. We’ll gather around it and share the Lord’s Supper. Its just one way, one of many ways, that we are able to walk with him. He will walk with us and he’ll protect us if we are willing to let him. And then we will be able to say 'Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord' so that we will see him again.