"Jerusalem, Jerusalem! …..! How many times I wanted to put my arms around all your people, just as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would not let me. (Luke 13:31-35).
I read an article some time ago about twin hippopotami born in a zoo. A local celebrity was asked to come up with names for the two babies. The only hitch was that the mother hippo wouldn’t let anyone close enough to determine whether the babies were male or female.
The babies paddled or walked just under their mother and no one wanted to upset the hippo mother. Mother hippos can get very agitated if there is any threat to their babies and no one was prepared to risk tangling with an animal built like a truck.
The mother hippo didn’t mind the as long as people stayed at a distance on the other side of the fence. She continued to care for her babies: feeding them, protecting them, keeping them close to herself and away from danger. And the babies, untroubled by their nameless state, didn't stray from their mother. As young as they were, they still knew a good thing when they saw it. Why should they stray?
Chickens don't stray far from mother hen because they know that when danger menaces them, or a cold night threatens their lives there is no better place to be than under the protection of the hen's wings. They know that mum provides food, protection, warmth, and nurture.
They rely on their mum to watch over them while they are so small and helpless. This kind of protection and nurture is nature’s way of caring for the young. For a chicken to stray from the protective wings of mother hen’s would be contrary to nature’s plan.
Coming from Africa it is my observation, that it’s so throughout the animal world and it doesn’t matter if we are talking about baby hippos, kittens, puppies, chickens or any other animal, it seems that the young have sense enough to stay close to their mum. That also applies to human babies and toddlers. God created families so that offspring can receive protection and nurture.
But when it comes to people and God as their heavenly parent - that's another story. Only human beings exhibit the unnatural behaviour of turning away from the love and protection of the God who made them. Offspring in the animal world know where their protection and nurture comes from and don’t stray far from their mothers, but it’s a different story when it comes to God and his children.
I believe that one of the most impassioned speeches of the New Testament are Jesus words that we find in our text today from (Luke 13).
"Jerusalem, Jerusalem! You kill the prophets, you stone the messengers God has sent you! How many times I wanted to put my arms around all your people, just as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would not let me!"
Edwin’s story: Just as the scene in the Gospel Jesus is looking at people who really need what he has to give. They’re caught up in a stressful world, filled with anxiety and despair, searching for meaning and purpose in life. Here Jesus is offering them everything they need.
And yet, says Jesus, the children have strayed: they have killed the prophets and stoned those sent to them. They rejected his love. John writes, "He came to his own country, but his own people did not receive him" (John 1:11). As a mother hen spreads her wings over her brood, so God would spread his protective wings over his people.
But what chickens and kittens would not do - could not do – God’s children have done: we have counted the love and protection of God as nothing, choosing instead to go our own way. How could such a thing be? How could people created in God’s image have been so unnaturally rebellious as to turn away from the warm wings offered to them?
Forty years in the wilderness those wings had protected them from the dangers. Those protecting wings saved them from one enemy after another. Those wings that came with a promise, "Even though a mother should forget her child, I will never forget you" (Is 49:15). Hard questions eh! But harder yet is this question: How could we do such a thing? How can we behave so unnaturally as to stray from the protecting love of God?
How many times has God said about us, " O! how, I wanted to put my arms around you, just as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would not let me!" At times even the strongest among us desperately feel our lack of security. What is it that leads us away from our God?
What is it that causes us to leave the warmth and security of God’s protective wings, to say "no" to all that our God wants to offer us? What is it that causes Jesus to say of us, " O! How, I wanted to put my arms around you but you would not let me!"
This text today tells us two things (amongst others).
Firstly, it reminds us of the power of sin. I know that this isn’t a popular subject for some and others might say, "Oh no, here we go again talking about sin." But the reality of the fact is that it is our sinful nature that causes us to reject God’s love. Sin has the power to take control of our lives and distorts what is true and what is false.
The people of Jerusalem had rejected the prophets, God’s messengers, because they could not see that prophets were speaking God’s Word to them. They had been blinded and become confused because of sin. If you may recall the graphic scenes after Rodney King was beatings by police officers. The riots, and the main ham that followed in California, wanton destruction, wholesale looting, people breaking into stores, stripping them bare of their merchandise, and laughing as they did it.
And all the time reporters were there with TV cameras rolling, interviewing the looters. One interview showed a man who had broken into a music store.
As he came out carrying a box, a reporter shoved a microphone in front of him and asked, "What did you take?" He answered, "I took some gospel cassettes & CDs. I love Jesus. Praise the Lord, alleluia!"
See how sin had blinded this man. He couldn’t see that he was stealing and that was wrong. Sin blinds us to that fact. God wants to help us, protect us, guide us, and comfort us; he wants to be like a mother hen and fold his wings over us, but we won’t let him. Our pride, our over inflated view of ourselves, own strength and ability blind us to the fact that we need God’s help.
The fact that we need God’s help is shown
How often Jesus must say to us, "O! How, I wanted to put my arms around you, just as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would not let me!" This text reminds us that God speaks so clearly to us about his love for us, yet on a daily basis we are like a chicken who strays away from God and all that he can do for us.
The second thing that this text tells us is that Jesus loves us more than we can imagine. Otherwise why was he so upset over Jerusalem? Passionately Jesus lamented. Jesus would have said exactly the same about us! "O Montreal, O Montreal...How many times have I wanted..."
How many times do you suppose Jesus looked at the crowds and saw them as sheep without a shepherd? How many times do you think he was filled with compassion as he saw their need for love, forgiveness, healing and purpose in life? "How many times...," he said times have I wanted to put my arms around you "
God is unchangeable so also is his love for us. No matter how far we have wandered from him; no matter how deep we have sank in distress; no matter how far into the far country we have gone, Jesus loves us. He will never leave us nor forsake us. He continues to love you and me even when we’re not very lovable.
Jesus doesn't want us to go alone. No self-made men and women. No individualists who don’t want anyone else’s strength, just there own. We are just a brood of helpless baby birds hidden under our Saviour’s protective wing. He calls us again and again to duck under his wing, to find shelter and safety under his outstretched arms.
Those arms were extended on the cross bearing our sin. They extended over us in our Baptism. They extend over us when the sign of the cross is made and the pastor declares God’s forgiveness for all our sin. His arms extend over us in Holy Communion as Jesus feeds us his own body and blood. The psalmists sums everything up like this,
He will keep you safe from all hidden dangers …He will cover you with his wings,
you will be safe in his care; his faithfulness will protect and defend you. (Ps 91:3,4)
How precious, O God, is your constant love!
We find protection under the shadow of your wings. (Ps 36:7)
Rev. Samuel King-Kabu
March 4 , 2004