Protected Brood

I am sure you are a person who likes to read. A person of books, you are probably also one who likes stories on the stage, or the screen. As we absorb a drama, we often encounter elements of the story that work on two different levels. Something takes place in the scene on the literal level, in the live-action, which speaks also to a larger picture.

We observe something like this in Gospel narratives as well. On the Second Sunday in Lent, coming up, we will hear, in the Gospel According to Luke, Jesus lamenting the tendency of Jerusalem to miss the mark of God’s intentions. Some Pharisees came to warn Jesus of the malicious intentions of Herod Antipas the tetrarch, against him. Jesus does not dispute the danger but turns the focus on Jerusalem, the place that has classically spelled trouble for prophets and servants of God. It is a lament that reveals the tender desire of God to gather the people of the Holy City protectively underwing. When Jesus speaks here, he speaks not as a local rabbi of the moment, but as an observer through history: he speaks from his overseeing, divine vantage.

Some Pharisees came and said to Jesus, "Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you." He 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. Yet 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.' Jerusalem, 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! See, 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.'" (Luke 13:31-35)

The Pharisees who warn Jesus, think they are directing him away from harm. However, on an overarching level, they are opening the scene for Jesus to declare himself the center of God’s saving drama in the Holy City. Jesus is not preoccupied with sidestepping the treachery of Herod Antipas. In effect, he announces his role as Suffering Servant, recapitulating the persecution that prophets through the ages have endured in this sacred region. Jesus’s suffering will fulfill this prophecy in a consummate, saving way.

The figures who warn Jesus are operating on one level, and the Savior is operating on the level of God, yearning to save the whole human family. The Pharisees are looking here to protect Jesus, the rabbi. Jesus is looking to shelter Jerusalem, indeed, all humanity from the ravages of sin and death. This Lent, travel with Jesus, your Protection, through the wilderness. Run to him. He is operating on a whole different level. Stay close, like a chick scurrying under the wing of the mother hen.