Jesus The Mother Hen
(Free Version)- The Second Sunday in Lent- Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18; Philippians 3:17-4:1; Luke 13:31-35
You can find this week’s readings here. If you are looking for more, I encourage you to check out our paid subscriptions. This week, the “Deep Dive” includes much more illustrative material.
Last Sunday, we heard Luke’s account of the temptation of Jesus in the desert. We were challenged to identify the ways in which we are tempted to turn our allegiance away from our true calling and to put our eyes on other things. We are often afraid of our needs going unmet. We desire to do something spectacular. We want power and control.
Our question today is: What is God’s posture when we fall away? How does God look at us when we are unfaithful?
Our faith is not built upon our ability to be faithful. Being a Christian is not about our ability to hold on to our Christianity. Being a Christian is, first and foremost, about the faithfulness of God. It is about the one who walked through the bloodline for us, and who takes on the farmyard fire.
Just as God responds to Abraham’s doubt with his faithful presence (Genesis 15:1-12,17-18), this is his response to our doubt. He is with us even when we cannot see. God invites us to wrestle with him, to argue with him, but his response to us will never be convincing truths. His response will always be nothing but Himself.
Paul reminds the church (Philippians 3:17-4:1) that, because of the cross and resurrection, those who are in him have a new citizenship, a better story. During Lent, as we are aware of our failure, those places where we have been enemies of God, allowing other agendas to get in the way of this new citizenship. We are to live in anticipation of Easter. We are invited to be a garden of the resurrection in a country of death.
God grieves for us when we go astray. He knows that this is not best for us. He knows that the best life is lived in him. Like a hen who covers her chicks in a barnyard fire to protect them, Jesus shelters God’s people with his mothering care.
What are the things that do last in a fire? In 1 Corinthians Paul says that three things will remain in God’s new world…faith, hope, and love. Whatever we do in this life that is connected to faith, hope, and love…those things will last.
There is something deeper going on in Jesus’ picture of the farmyard fire. You see, hens have a very specific instinct. In a fire, the hen’s instinct is always to protect her chicks. When this happens, and the fire has run its course, you will find a dead hen with live chicks under her wing.
Jesus is using this image to describe his upcoming death. Jesus offers himself for us. He takes the judgement, the fire, the destruction of sin and death upon Himself. He longs for us to come near to Him, to know that great love, to cling to him in faith, and to root our hope in him, and not to run away. This is the way of our God. He is the one who gives his life for his children.
This is the story that we are part of, the God who gives His life. Here’s the beautiful thing about that story: as people who live in the way of Jesus, we are invited to go into a world of farmyard fires, as students, professors, husbands, wives, parents, engineers, nurses, graphic artists, and pastors.
We enter a world that is scattered and freaking out. And we are called to gather, to nurture, and to protect, and to embody this kind of self-sacrificial love. What might it look like to be a person of this kind of story? A person of faith, hope, and love today?