Luke 13:1-9
13At that very time there were some present who told Jesus about
the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2He asked them, “Do you
think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners
than all other Galileans? 3No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as
they did. 4Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell
on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living
in Jerusalem? 5No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just
as they did.”
6Then Jesus told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in
his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. 7So he said to the
gardener, ‘See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig
tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?’ 8He replied, ‘Sir, let it
alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. 9If it bears fruit next
year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”
This is the word of the Lord….thanks be to God
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.” 32He 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.’”
This is the word of the
Lord…thanks be to God
A few years ago, there was a
candidate for the office of minister of Word and Sacrament. She was a young woman, fresh out of seminary,
and was being examined on the floor of her Presbytery. She read her faith statement, and then the
time came for questions. And there were
many questions-especially questions about her use of pro-nouns—she had used both male and female pronouns to refer to
God. This caused quite a dilemma, and
noisy and heated discussion and questions began to fly across the room. After some time, a saint, a woman elder,
asked to be recognized and slowly made her way to the microphone. Standing at about 4 feet eleven inches, this
elderly woman said “She might have said God is like a chicken. She could have said God is like a
chicken. But she dinn’t. Now settle down. She’ll be fine, and we’ll all be fine.” And then that saint went back to her pew, and
the young woman was approved to be a Teaching Elder.
This was the text that saint
was talking about.
Jesus refers to himself as
being like a mother hen—a hen who wants to gather her chicks in, under her
sheltering wings, a hen who both protects her children and worries, broods over
them.
In the beginning, when God
began creating the world, the Spirit of God hovered over the waters- the same
word as “broods”. God hovers, God
broods, God worries over us. God longs
to shelter us under her wings.
There are many images,
Scriptural images, to use for God. God
is a rock, 1 Samuel says. God is a
covenant maker, warrior, a redeemer and liberator, says the book of
Exodus. In Hosea, we see God as husband
and lover, in the Psalms, God is likened to a storm, in Job, as a whirlwind. In
the Gospel of Luke, God is compared to a woman searching for a coin, and a
woman mixing yeast into dough. The Old Testament name for God, El Shaddai, can
mean “the breasted God”.
There are many metaphors, ways of describing
God- “God is ‘like’”- because God can never be contained, never be captured,
never be constrained to just one image, just one word, just one way of looking
at or thinking about God. God, who created humans in God’s image, male and
female, is outside of gender assignments and in Trinity, is community and
relationship, yet remains One God. A
mystery that no words can explain.
In the Bible, there are also
animal metaphors for God—lion, leopard, even eagle. Surely any of those would
have been more flattering, more magnificent, than a chicken. There’s a reason
we tell jokes about chickens crossing the road.
But when Jesus compares himself to
a mother hen, it is an expression of love- as one who will do whatever it takes
to protect those baby chicks from the menacing fox. Even to the point of giving his own life in
the hope that they will be spared.
For a hen is no match for a fox,
not really. And yet that is the way of
the Gospel. The upside-down-ness of the
kingdom of God. It is about things that
seem foolish being wise, it is about love sacrificing for others, it is about
being held in the embrace of the One who created us, the One who is love.
The fox is at the henhouse, but Jesus, having
set his face to go to Jerusalem, will not be deterred. “I am casting out demons and performing cures
today, and tomorrow—and on the third day I finish my work.”
Jesus also refers to himself
as a gardener- like God, in the garden at the beginning. But in this parable, Jesus is the gardener
who advocates, who intervenes for us.
Just a little more time, he asks- let me tend this plant, let me take
care of it. A gardener who digs in the
soil, who digs around the plant, gets his hands dirty, who puts his back into
the work. A gardener who calls for more
time for us to turn to him, to turn to God, to blossom and bear fruit.
As our last hymn, we will sing
“Immortal, Invisible, God only wise”- which gives many names and images for
God- Ancient of Days, light, most glorious, unceasing, just and immense. No words about dirt, or manure, or shovels. No words about chickens, certainly. But that is how Christ, God with us,
describes himself. Jesus who spent his
life among the poor, the oppressed, the victims. Not in power, not in castles, but in rural
back lanes and villages and towns. And in the henhouse. With us.
And that is where the image finally
comes home. We enter this story as that brood of chicks who are scattered,
distracted, unable, somehow, to comprehend the very real danger which is
threatening. Jesus' lament over
Jerusalem is also over you and me and this world which all too often does
not turn, does not repent, does not seek shelter in the arms of God. That
too often, we do not say “Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the
Lord.”
So we gather in this season of Lent, knowing fully our need for
repentance. We gather knowing that while God tends us, there are times
when steadfastly refuse to bloom and bear fruit. And it would appear that our
sin is what it has always been: to refuse to receive the love given to us.
Our call is to receive that love, to be in relationship with God and others,
and to live into all the gifts God intends for us.
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