A Mother Hen's Wings

Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18; Philippians 3:17-4:1; Luke 13:31-35

In ancient times it would have been difficult to imagine the kind of technology that we now have, today. I mean, if somehow, you were able to go back to Jesus' day and tell the people about electric stoves and television sets, they would begin to think that you were crazy or maybe some kind of visionary prophet. And if you told them about the ways people kill other people in the future, they would think that the future is a terrible place, indeed. For back in Jesus' day, people were only killed by diseases, knives, rocks, swords, spears, arrows, and the occasional accident around the home. But, today, people are killed by drive by shootings, drug overdoses, airplane crashes, scud missiles, electrocutions, automobile accidents, train wrecks, and a hundred other things that would have been impossible in Jesus' day.

Yet, even in Jesus' day, just as in our own, people looked to God for protection from the storms of life. And, indeed, the scriptures are full of stories of how God protects God's people. And, yet, it is important to take notice that in our gospel lesson for today Jesus uses the mother hen as a way of describing how God cares for God's children.

There are many Christians who I have met who firmly believe that God will protect them from everything harmful that comes their way; that as long as they are faithful Christians their house won't burn down, their car won't break down in the middle of I-94 during rush hour as they drive through Detroit, they won't get seriously sick, they won't lose their job, get arrested, or go broke. They seriously believe that as long as they are faithful Christians, nothing will ever go wrong.

Are there are quite a few such lucky Christians who have, indeed, experienced little hard ship in their lives! But, pity them when the tornado strikes! Pity them when the river goes through their house! Pity them when something happens that wipes them out! For many will and do go through a very real crisis of faith when something like that happens to them. Immediately, they begin to wonder what they did wrong to deserve such a terrible disaster. They even accuse God of not being there when they needed him the most. Or perhaps they begin the sick kind of rationalization process wherein they say that the disaster, the flood, or the tornado, or whatever happened, was all in God's will; that evil is simply a part of God's plan to make us better, or to teach us something. And, believe me, I have serious problems with this or any belief system which even politely suggests that God is the author of evil.

Instead, I love the idea of looking at God's protection as being something like hen's wings. There is the story coming out of Israel, during the Gulf War. The Scud missiles were falling throughout the country. And, if you remember, the people were frightened to death that some of those missiles might be carrying gas or some sort of chemical that would kill and maim anyone who was so unfortunate to get in the way. Remember how people would hide in their shelters and put on gas masks every time the air-raid sirens went off? Even the news people would scatter and the television cameras would be left running.

There is the story of how in one of the small communities north of Jerusalem the sirens went off and the people living on a communal farm responded by going to their shelter and putting on their gas masks. Unfortunately for them, a scud missile hit their barn and blew it to smither eens. A large chunk of a patriot missile also landed several hundred feet away, destroying a house. Well, the story goes that after the attack the people came up out of their shelter and looked around. The barn was a pile of smoldering rubble. The roof and walls of a house were crushed. But, one image was powerful enough to be remembered by those who were there: The sight of a mother hen and her baby chicks, standing not more than ten feet away from the barn, her wings lovingly spread out, and the chicks huddled together beneath their feathery protection and warmth.

The scud had done its damage. The protection which the United States had provided had done even more damage. But, the simple protection of a mother hen's wings had been just enough.

You know, it is interesting when you think about it, but no where in the Bible is God's protection described as being like something a lion or a bear would provide. And, yet, you would think that if you wanted protection, you'd rather have a lion or a bear, rather than a mother hen, provide it for you. On the other hand, a lion or a bear might also protect you from your enemies just so they can eat you. So, Jesus' yearning to gather Israel around him as a mother hen gathers her chicks under her wings is probably very appropriate, indeed.

Our problem, and the problem of those living in Jesus' day, was that we want something that is more powerful than hen's wings. We want Patriot missiles. We want a comprehensive health care system. We want a completely funded pension plan. We want a strategic defense initiative. We want strong leaders who will always make the right decision. We want 911! We want a strong police force, at the lowest possible price! But, we don't want hen's wings.

The church is like hen's wings. Every week, the mother hen stands there, her feathery wings spread out while the chicks come from the far corners of the barnyard to gather beneath them. Certainly, if a hail storm should come up, the pellets of ice may get through a feather and pelt a chick, or two. But, those protecting, yet vulnerable wings are still there to give comfort in times of pain, as well.

There are few things that can give protection and comfort at the same time. I mean, you can't cozy up to a Patriot missile and feel comforted, especially after it has landed on your house. But, the Body of Christ, the Church, can actually do both. And if it can't protect, then, at least it can offer comfort.

And, perhaps that is one of the most important aspects of the church: While we strive to provide teachings and examples which may help people stay out of trouble, the church is still there for those who've had the worst things you can imagine happen to them, in spite of everything the church and God, himself, tried to do to keep it from happening. While millions of Patriot missile pieces shower down from the sky, the church is still there to comfort those who are afraid and in pain. While the comprehensive health care system falls into ruins, the church is still there to heal. While the Strategic Defense Initiative dies for lack of funding, the church is still there to comfort those who are afraid. While our leaders continue to prove, over and over again, that they are better than most people at making fools of themselves, the church is still here to give courage and strength and forgiveness and grace and hope. And even more, we can seek our security in all sorts of things, and while some may come close, none of them, not any of them, can offer what God offers: eternal life.

In our gospel lesson for today, Jesus called the king of Israel, King Herod, a fox. In those days many of the people thought of King Herod kind of like a Savior. It was King Herod, after all, who represented the autonomy of the nation Israel. They tried to fool themselves into believ ing that because of King Herod everything in Israel was as it should be. He represented the status quo of the nation and was making a good living at it at the expense of those who believed that it was much more important to be faithful to God. While the people paid their allegiance to King Herod, some of them even believing him to be a Savior of his people, Jesus called him a fox and then likened himself to a mother hen who would gather her chicks under her wings. But Jesus mourned the fact that people of Israel, God's little chicks, saw Herod, the fox, as more charming, more captivating, more secure, than their mother hen. And Jesus knew what happens when the chicks get too close to the fox.

There are many aspects of our society that play the role of the fox. Bigotry, ignorance, violence, hatred, greed, envy, lust, jealousy, all these things hide themselves and disguise them selves in pleasant looking things; things that look so good and pleasing. From M-TV to alcohol and drugs, from under-funded school systems to Japan bashing, from Nitendo games to Lottery tickets, from taverns to pornography to the Dejà Vu, from the Marlboro Man to Joe the Camel, we see the little chicks going after the fox, forsaking the mother hen, often to be lost forever.

And Jesus said, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'"

What happens when we stand up against the fox, even in our own society? The Vice President, poor old Dan Quayle, did it several months ago, suggesting politely in his innocent naive correctness that the most effective way to avoid AIDS was to be faithful in marriage and celibate in singleness. He was almost booed off the stage. The press made fun of him. And the gay-rights lobbyists and free love advocates had a field day with their criticism. People do love the fox more than the mother hen! And woe to him who criticizes the fox and reveals him for being the ravenous fellow he is!

Jesus described the state of his nation as "desolate" and that it would continue to be deso late until the day that the people accepted Jesus into their lives. God knows how many of our homes and lives as desolate, even among those of us sitting here, today. And, yet, how quickly that desolation becomes a garden of God's glory when we accept Christ as Lord! Amen.