Sunday, March 17, 2019 - 9 AM

A Fox in the Henhouse – Luke 13: 31-35 Bascomb UMC / 03-17-19 / 9AM & 11AM Focus: The provision/protection offered to us by a loving, self-sacrificing God Function: To trust only in God’s sacrificial salvation through Jesus Christ, so we may continue Jesus’ mission no matter what the risks. 5 Purpose Outcomes of the Church: Worship, Fellowship, Discipleship, Evangelism, Service Luke 13:31–35 (CEB) -- Sorrow for Jerusalem 31 At that time, some Pharisees approached Jesus and said, “Go! Get away from here, because Herod wants to kill you.” 32 Jesus said to them, “Go, tell that fox, ‘Look, I’m throwing out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will complete my work. 33 However, it’s necessary for me to travel today, tomorrow, and the next day because it’s impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’ 34 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who were sent to you! How often I have wanted to gather your people just as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. But you didn’t want that. 35 Look, your house is abandoned. I tell you, you won’t see me until the time comes when you say, Blessings on the one who comes in the Lord’s name.” (Music plays – “Highway to the Danger Zone”) As we move deeper into the Lenten journey with Jesus we are getting closer and closer to……..The Danger Zone. We describe them in different ways….computers put up firewalls to protect our data, in football the offense tries to get into the… (red zone). Or we say you’ve now entered someone’s “sphere of influence.” For instance, countries extend their borders out into the sea for 12 miles, if you come closer, you may enter the combat zone. And today, we see that Jesus may have been relatively safe in Galilee, but as he is carrying out his mission setting his face toward Jerusalem he is entering the danger zone. Have you ever played the game of tag called the Fox and the Hens?…….Who does the chasing? (The Fox) - but Jesus has been visiting town after town, making his way toward Jerusalem – toward the Danger Zone. Here is Jesus from Peter’s perspective. Peter has had an interesting relationship with Jesus (here he is looking up at Jesus). Peter has now declared in one moment that Jesus is the Messiah and yet, when Jesus tells them that Jerusalem is the Danger Zone - where the Son of Man will undergo great suffering, be killed, and on the third day (there’s that three day statement again) be raised, Peter becomes Satan the tempter – No, Jesus, NEVER. But it was necessary that the cup not pass….for our sake Jesus must enter the danger zone. Add to that the tension between Jesus and the religious authorities over petty laws and Sabbath rules and Jesus is truly in the danger zone, closer and closer to Jerusalem – into the sphere of influence of Herod the Great’s son: Herod Antipas. The “here” of the Pharisees’ warning “Get away from here” indicates that Herod Antipas (who killed John the Baptist) intends the same for this next threat - Jesus. Herod’s father, Herod the Great was fearful over a new “King of the Jews” (remember from Matthew’s gospel?) - He searched for the baby when the Magi betrayed him and decided to kill all male babies under age 2 in Bethlehem. Luke introduces us to Herod Antipas back in chapter nine: Herod the ruler heard about everything that was happening. He was confused because some people were saying that John had been raised from the dead, others that Elijah had appeared, and still others that one of the ancient prophets had come back to life. Herod said, “I beheaded John, so now who am I hearing about?” Herod wanted to see him Luke 9:7-9 (CEB). If you get called to the principal’s office, you never think “they are finally going to give me that student of the year award” NO – you figure you’re in trouble. Jerusalem was the center of political AND religious power in the area. The real animal with power was (the eagle) Rome. They dominated by force and by fear. Herod (that fox) only ruled because Rome allowed it. And therefore, the religious authorities accommodated Rome. They were comfortable with the arrangement. Jesus is BOTH anti-political and anti-religion. His mission is all about another kingdom. For Jews and Christians, God is sovereign. Caesar (any government of power) is always secondary. Our emphasis should be on divine intention as opposed to human wisdom. The OT prophets commend this ethic as a way of life: He has told you, human one, what is good and what the Lord requires from you: to do justice, embrace faithful love, and walk humbly with your God Micah 6:8 (CEB). So we, like Jesus and the prophets before him, speak out for those who have no voice. Protect the weak, feed and clothe the poor, free the slaves, and welcome the alien. We take up the mission of Christ. Our sovereign God calls each one of us to a larger community. We trust ourselves to God alone and we are responsible for each other. Did you realize that Christians were considered atheists and un-patriotic in Rome because the Emperor was an object 0f worship. The single greatest concept that Thomas Jefferson and the American Baptist Denomination gave us was the separation of church and state. Not to protect the fox from the hens, but the hens from the fox. The church should be protected from the government we don’t need to protect the government from the church! Jesus trusted the mission to God above. Jesus practiced a missional form of anti-politics know as self-sacrificing love for neighbor. That is the message Jesus lays out for us! So notice that when Jesus calls Herod a fox, he also picks an animal for himself (well, or God) and Jesus chooses……(an eagle? a lion?) NO, a hen!? Come on Jesus, where is the biblical precedent for that? Not the mighty eagle of Rome, or even the Lion of Judah. Compared to any of those, a mother hen does not inspire much confidence. No wonder some of the chicks felt safer with the fox. This is the small chapel on the slopes of the Mount of Olives called Domunis Flevit. This is supposed to be the place where Jesus wept over Jerusalem. The current chapel was built in the shape of a teardrop, it has a magnificent view over the Temple Mount of Jerusalem (pause). On the altar is a rare picture from the 7th century. There are So MANY renderings of Jesus, the Lion of Juda, or Jesus, whose lifts you on eagle’s wings…. But this may be the only rendering of Jesus as a mosaic of a hen and her chicks. No doubt that’s what it is…the words from Luke 13 are clearly around its edge. In the mosaic the hen has its wings spread wide to protect its chicks. Naturally, spreading wings wide puffs the chest out making the hen appear so vulnerable. Jesus won’t be king of the jungle in this or any other story until the final return in the last days. And that is the way of Jesus. Turning every single one of our human ideas and conceptions upside down. Which should we choose? Lion or hen? First or last? Vulnerable or victorious? Throne or cross? Jesus surprises us every time. Did anyone bristle when the devotional guide for LENT called God SHE? How does that attack your understanding of God when today Jesus defines himself as a mother hen who stands between the chicks and those who mean to do them harm? She has no fangs, no claws, no rippling muscles. All she has is her willingness to shield her babies with her own body. If the fox wants them, he will have to kill her first. That’s the amazing God who has claims us. The amazing God who laid down his life for us. The amazing God who told Herod: “Tell that fox that I’ve no time for him right now. Today and tomorrow I’m busy clearing out the demons and healing the sick; the third day I’m wrapping things up.” Not distracted from his tasks, diverted from his aims, but serving, serving, serving - giving, giving, giving. And Jerusalem resists! Do we resist being gathered by the hen because you won’t submit to sacrifice as God’s preferred way? Would you rather trust the strength of your hand and the security of Herod’s force? Jerusalem resists. They even take up arms against Rome and that is the beginnings of Jerusalem’s destruction – AGAIN – over and over they repeat their folly rather than Trust in the Lord! Hey, there may be plenty of threats that come at us from the outside – Compromised Pharisees, Government authorities, Cultural celebrities and more. Thing is, we can see them coming. They may be attractive, alluring temptations, but we can see them coming at us, demanding our allegiance, our worship. Weren’t they swept aside by Jesus in the desert? What gets Jesus in the end was the threat from inside. There’s a fox in the henhouse and it’s not really Herod. “Before the rooster crows 3 times you’ll betray me, Peter.” “Do what you must do and do it quickly Judas.” Jesus attempts to pull all of Jerusalem into a close embrace and that makes it so much easier for them …and for us, to strike at his heart! That was his greater mission – to love those who would hurt him, betray him, deny him. Here is the evidence – his body given for us, his blood, shed for us. His protection over us. The enemy within US would put another God, any God on the throne but a gentle lamb or a mother hen for heaven’s sake…..we are quick to run outside the protective wings of our Savior and our God to seek any other path. Fear and doubt or guilt and shame drive us away from the arms of Christ into other arms. But the table is set for us sinners. Outside the protection of God’s shadow there is no salvation. The world, even the church is still filled with foxes, and hens don’t seem to have a chance. It reminds me of the time Winston Churchill heard France say that Hitler and his German generals would “wring Britain’s neck like a chicken.” Churchill then paused and said, “Some chicken! Some neck!” Take heart. When Jesus returns the first mission will be complete and the Mother Hen under whose wings we have taken shelter WILL be known by another name --- the Lion of Judah! SERVICE OF HOLY COMMUNION