The Second Sunday of Lent
March 16, 2025
Read: Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18; Psalm 27; Philippians 3:17-4:1; Luke 13:31-35
I’ve been talking to chicken farmers. They tell me Jesus got it right in his description of a mother hen and her chicks. The two are deeply connected. Chicks know the distinctive clucking sound of their own mother. They even know the “warning cluck” that she uses when danger is present. At that point, she fluffs up her feathers and extends them to create a safe space for the chicks under her wings. Through her vigorous clucking and her expanded physical presence, the mother hen is sending a message: Don’t mess with my brood. Even if a predator attacks anyway, the mother hen is prepared to fight to the death for her chicks.
And death is exactly what Jesus has on his mind. He is on a journey to Jerusalem and to the Cross. The journey began in Luke 9 when he “set his face to go to Jerusalem.” He will reach that destination in Luke 19. All along the way, Jesus is preaching, teaching, and healing. But suddenly he is interrupted by a warning from some Pharisees: “Herod wants to kill you; run!”
Jesus’ response to this ominous threat reveals the nature and mission of his life. He will not run away in fear. Rather, Jesus has a message for Herod. 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.’
Herod’s murderous threat is no surprise to Jesus. He knows Herod killed John the Baptist. And he knows full well what awaits him in Jerusalem. But he also knows that his death is not a diversion from his mission. The mission of announcing the Kingdom of God, by casting out demons and performing cures, will find it’s dramatic completion on the Cross and in the Resurrection.
Not only does Jesus have a message for Herod, he also has a message for 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!
Like the prophets before him, Jesus is on a mission from God to gather us all under the safety of his wings. He stretches out his arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of his saving embrace. Like a mother hen, Jesus continues his mission of gathering us to himself. Are we willing? And will we become the kind of disciples who open wide our lives and our churches so that all may come into that saving embrace? Are we willing?
Prayer:
Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of your saving embrace: So clothe us in your Spirit that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for the honor of your Name. Amen.
Bishop Lawson Bryan is a retired Bishop in The United Methodist Church, serving from 2016-2021 as Bishop of the South Georgia Conference. Prior to his episcopal election, Bishop Bryan served as an ordained elder in the Alabama-West Florida Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church.
