SERM: Luke 13:31-35, Lent 2, LSB C
The Second Sunday of Lent Hen in the Foxhouse Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ! Amen! In today’s Gospel, Jesus compares Himself to a mother hen: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem… How often would I have gathered your children as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!” Dear Christian friends, In our English language, we have a good figure of speech that we use to describe foolish and dangerous decisions. We say, “Thus-and-such would be like letting the fox into the henhouse.” For example, during our nation’s recent financial crisis, the federal government has been buying and selling banks. Some people might look at our government’s financial reputation and say, “Government involvement in banking is like letting the fox into the henhouse.” Another example: would you hire a convicted murderer to be your babysitter, or a notorious thief to manage your accounts? Probably not. That would be like “letting the fox into the henhouse.” This is a very descriptive phrase, “letting the fox into the henhouse.” Most people know that foxes are notoriously dangerous to chickens, and a “fox in the henhouse” will surely spell disaster for the entire flock. In today’s Gospel, Jesus turns upside-down this phrase, “a fox in the henhouse.” In today’s Gospel, Jesus shows Himself to be the HEN in the FOXhouse. Some Pharisees came and said to Him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” And He said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘I finish My course. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!’” Herod the Fox Jesus did not call King Herod a fox in order to compliment Herod’s good looks, as we might sometimes call a person “foxy.” Jesus called Herod a fox in order to describe Herod’s disposition and attitude toward other people. Herod was as sly, cunning, and self-serving as a fox. Herod could not be trusted any more than a fox can be trusted with caring for a hen. Herod was a vicious enemy with the easy power to kill, in the same way that a fox can quickly and easily snap a hen’s neck in his jaws. And Herod was snapping his jaws, so to speak, at Jesus. As you heard in today’s Gospel, “At that very hour, some Pharisees came and said to Jesus, ‘Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill You.’” Jesus the Hen Why it is important for you to hear Jesus call Herod “that fox”? Because Jesus is the hen! “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,” says the Lord. “How often would I have gathered your children as a hen gathers her brood under her wings.” • In the same way that a hen will spread her wings over her chicks, in order to cover them and protect them from the predator, so also has Jesus spread His wings over you! This is what God has promised you, concerning His Son Jesus: “He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you will find refuge” (Psalm 91:4; Ruth 2:12). This is also why God has given you the Words of Psalm 17, and Psalm 36, and Psalm 57, so that you may pray, “Hide me in the shadow of Your wings, O Lord” (Psalm 17:8. Cf. 36:6 and 57:1). • While a hen covers her brood with her wings, she also offers her own back to the fox. She shields the lives of her offspring by offering her own life as a target for the predator. In the same way, our Jesus also “gave His back to those who strike” (Isaiah 50:6), so that you and I may be protected from those who strike. • Jesus also wants you to know that, when you are under His wing—like a brood would gather beneath the wings of the hen—your safety is unassailable, complete and secure. That is why it is written, “In the shadow of your wings, O Lord, I will sing for joy” (Psalm 63:7). • “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,” says the Lord. “How often would I have gathered your children as a hen gathers her brood under her wings.” Why would Jesus gather you under His wings? Because God has promised you that you will find every form of health and restoration, forgiveness and peace, beneath the wings, so to speak, of Jesus. This is why the prophet Malachi wrote concerning Jesus, “The Sun of Righteousness shall arise for you with healing in its wings” (Malachi 4:2). You the Chick If Herod is the fox and Jesus is the hen, where are you? Jesus wants you to know that you are a chick in the brood, so to speak, hidden under the hen’s protective wing. First Jesus says, “How often would I have gathered your children as a hen gathers her brood under her wings.” Then Jesus adds, “But you would not.” Jesus adds the words, “but you would not,” because there is nothing more defenseless than baby chick. (A chick can drown in its own drinking water!) It is very hard for the persistent sinful flesh to admit, but we are each as weak and helpless as a baby chick. The people of Jerusalem used to “kill the prophets and stone those who were sent to her.” Why? Because the prop
SERM: Luke 13:31-35, Lent 2, LSB C
Sermon for the Second Sunday in Lent (At the Baptism of Ava Rianne Gideon) Counterintuitive Jesus Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ! In today’s Gospel, Jesus heads in the opposite direction the other people in this Gospel hoped and expected He would go. According to logic and intuition, did not seem right and good that Jesus would go to Jerusalem and to the cross. But Jesus insists on acting counter-intuitively; He goes against logic and intuition. “The third day I finish My course,” He declares. “I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.” Dear Christian friends, Whenever I take the bridge across the lake to Osage Beach, I inevitably suffer an inner conflict along the way. This conflict always arises at the same location on the road, and I always have the exact same struggle every time I arrive at that spot. It is that first traffic light after the bridge. My brain tells at me that I need to turn right in order to get to Osage Beach. The sign on the road, however, tells me that I must turn left in order to get to Osage Beach. That sign (which I dearly despise) and the left turn that it demands of me are both counterintuitive. That is to say, the directions do not make sense to me. They go counter or against my intuition, my natural thinking, my sense of direction, and my deepest gut feelings about the correct way to turn. Intuition tells me to turn right, but the road sign speaks counter-intuitively. That sign forces me to ignore my brain. I must trust what the sign is telling me and turn left, despite what I intuitively want to do. Some Pharisees came to Jesus in today’s Gospel. They had a very clear intuition about Him, that is, a very clear sense of what they thought was best for Jesus to do. “Get away from here,” they said to Him, “for Herod wants to kill you.” Intuitively, these men thought Jesus would want to save Himself from harm. But Jesus responds counter-intuitively. Contrary to what these men naturally think, contrary to their native sense of direction, contrary to their deepest gut feelings, Jesus goes the opposite road they think He should travel. They said to Him, “Get away.” He said to them, “Go and tell that fox [Herod, I’m not going anywhere], ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course… I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.’” If these Pharisees were in the car with Jesus, they all would be screaming “Turn right!” in the same manner that I want to turn right when I get to the stoplight at the end of the bridge to Osage Beach. Counterintuitive Jesus turns left. “I must go on My way.” If Jesus had listened to these men, we would all damned. Jesus must act counter-intuitively for you and for me and for our salvation. It seems natural and reasonable that any man would want to avoid harm and danger, but Jesus acts contrary to reason. The harm and the danger awaiting Him in Jerusalem were precisely the point. Suffering and death were the purpose of Jesus’ incarnation by the Holy Spirit and birth of the Virgin Mary. Counterintuitive Jesus against the way the human brain thinks He should go, and in so doing, He secured for you the forgiveness of your sins by dying on His cross for you. Today we have baptized another child. As Jesus acted counter-intuitively in today’s Gospel, so Jesus also acts counter-intuitively here at the baptismal font. There is hardly anything more counter-intuitive than Infant Baptism. That is to say, there is hardly anything in the entire world that operates in a manner that is more contrary to our human way of thinking than Infant Baptism. Infant Baptism is so counter-intuitive, in fact, I will go so far as to say that most people—including most Christians—never even come close to realizing fully the wonder and miracle that Jesus performs here. (Now let me bring that statement even closer to home: Infant Baptism is so counter-intuitive, so contrary to my own gut feelings and my own sense of logic that I am not sure I personally will ever fully realize the wonder and miracle that Jesus performs here.) As it happened in today’s Gospel, so it happens in every Baptism at this font: Here Jesus acts counter-intuitively. That is to say, here Jesus acts in a way that defies and goes against our natural way of thinking. Just think of some of the many ways your brain and my brain so easily miss the boat when it comes to God’s miracle of Baptism: · Some Christians intuitively think that Baptism is most beneficial for children, and now that they have become adults, they no longer need what Baptism once provided. If you think that way, you would be wrong. Baptism is counter-intuitive in that your Baptism is n
