How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! -Luke 13:34
The Gospel is not always comfortable. It can challenge us. Convict us. It can clash with “conventional wisdom” and the “accepted ways of doing things.” Not everyone in the first century welcomed Jesus’ ministry. Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes, Elders, Politicians, and others pushed back against Jesus’ teaching, his healing and casting out of demons. He was derided because he dared to dine with tax collectors, prostitutes, and sinners (and ate with his detractors too). He was criticized for reaching out to those other people rejected.
The resistance to Jesus’ message and ministry that has been building throughout Luke’s Gospel seethes through this week’s lesson. But, Jesus does not respond with anger. He responds with deep sadness. He laments that the leaders of God’s people just don’t get it. He yearns to gather them under his wing like a protective hen, but they won’t allow it. He longs for all people to experience and share the Reign of the God of love, and to turn back to the One who offers forgiveness, life , and healing. Yes, even the likes of the Pharisees. But he knew that wasn’t going to happen. He knew he was going to Jerusalem to die.
The Gospel is not always comfortable. It can challenge us. Convict us. It can clash with our own “conventional wisdom” and “accepted ways of doing things.” Like the people of the first century, we can resist Jesus’ message and ministry, rationalize our way around it, reject its implications and sow division rather than the kind of love, forgiveness, life and healing Jesus teaches.
Though all too frequently we wind up having to live in the damaged houses we build, Jesus never abandons us. (Am I glad about that!) Jesus continues yearning to gather us like a hen gathers her brood. And that is grace. Jesus goes to the cross at the hands of our all too common human propensity to hate and divide, and on the third day finishes his work by leaving the grave alive.
Today, we are all invited to confess our brokenness. We are called upon to admit our shortcomings, bad choices and horrible decisions. We acknowledge our harsh words and inability to really listen to one another. And then we are drawn again into the arms of our loving mother hen, who breathes life into us and opens our eyes so that we might truly see Jesus’ compassion and mercy for us and for the whole world. And then, filled with this gift of new life, we can proclaim with joy,
“Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!”
Peace,
Bishop Mike
Thank-you for reading. I invite you to join me in praying for the reconciliation of Christ to heal all the broken places in our lives.
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