Holy Cross Monastery, West Park, NY
At first glance this is not the most engaging section of Luke, nor does it seem to offer much for Lent. But what if we give a second glance...
To start off, we have this somewhat out of character exchange between Jesus and a group of Pharisees. Typically, Pharisees show up in the Gospels to cause trouble. They ask trick questions and try to catch Jesus in legal traps. In a stylistic sense, they are plot foils – Pharisees’ bad behavior shows off Jesus’ good behavior. But these seem to be good Pharisees... concerned about Jesus’ health and safety. They warn him to get out because Herod plans to kill him.
Herod, keep in mind, is one of the most truly dangerous leaders in scripture – perhaps even throughout history. He is corrupt, insecure, paranoid, narcistic and a sociopath, among other things. In Christian Tradition Herod’s father, also Herod, welcomes Jesus' birth by having all the male children in and around Bethlehem slaughtered. This Herod is very much cut from the same piece of cloth. Perhaps the Pharisees can’t stomach Herod either. And by the way, Jesus is not stupid. He knows that Herod wants him dead even without this warning from the Pharisee.
It's entirely possible that the Pharisees are not really worried about Jesus’ health and safety. Maybe they just want Jesus to go away and scaring him seems like a good plan. For most people it would probably work, but Jesus, as they say, is not most people...
Jesus tells the Pharisees to take a message back to Herod. This is odd because nothing in Luke’s Gospel, or anywhere in scripture for that matter, indicates that the Pharisees work for Herod... Nonetheless, it does seem to validate the notion that Jesus knows that these apparently benign Pharisees are not benign.
“You go and tell that fox...”, meaning Herod, “that I’m not going anywhere” is the message that Jesus sends.
Scripture seems to divide animals between predators and prey. Lamb, sheep, hens, and doves – prey animals, are used to depict the followers of Jesus. Predators – wolves, snakes, lions, and in this instance foxes, are used to depict evil and dangerous people. When Isaiah talks about the wolf lying down with the lamb, it is a vision of predators and prey living together – a vision of God’s Kingdom.
Foxes are small, solitary, and opportunistic predators. So, a fox might hunt a kitten, but even an adult cat is probably safe around a fox. Chickens or hens, on the other hand, are especially welcome on the fox’s dinner plate... and that becomes more relevant in a few moments.
Lions and wolves may be threatening, yet they also command respect. But Jesus has chosen a pretty unadmirable animal to describe Herod. Foxes, like weasels, don’t get much respect... It is surely a careful editorial choice on Jesus’ part.
And what is the message for that fox? Essentially that Jesus is going about his business. Jesus is not frightened of Herod. Jesus knows that death awaits him in Jerusalem, but until then Herod is powerless – like a fox against a larger animal.
The mention of Jerusalem seems to change the tone of the story. Now we have this lament from Jesus: Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to help. Jesus is invoking the Book of Lamentations – the account of the destruction of the City of Jerusalem by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. If you are looking for an appropriate study book for Lent, Lamentations is a great place to start. But for now, let's stay with Luke...
Jerusalem is more than just a great city... more than just the location of the Temple – God's home on earth as it was thought... Jerusalem is the very embodiment, the personification of the people of Israel – God's chosen people. In our modern world I can’t think of any example where a city personifies a people. We could have a conversation about New York City, its strengths and failures, and I don’t think anybody would think we are talking about all New Yorkers, or even all people from Manhattan... But those listening to Jesus are keenly aware that Jerusalem is a stand-in for all Israelites... for them.
Jesus’ meaning is as clear as it is bleak: Jerusalem, and by extension all of Israel, kills the prophets and stones those sent to help. God has tried time after time and in various ways to call the chosen people back to faithfulness. And these calls have fallen on deaf, even hostile, ears. Thus it will be for Jesus. The ears will be deaf and hostile. His calls for repentance will be ignored and he will be crucified.
Jesus wants nothing more than to be able to protect Israel as a mother hen protects her brood. It is a beautiful image; made all the more poignant by the predatory fox, Herod, waiting in the wings. As we’ve noted, the fox is an opportunistic predator, and nothing is a better opportunity than a brood of chicks... Jesus’ brood of chicks... that would be us.
Jesus knows what is coming, and we can feel Jesus’ heart breaking.
Of course, this is not just a story about the people of Israel some two thousand years ago... it is a story about us, here and now, as well.
We are now part of Jerusalem. We are part of God’s chosen people – because God has a radical new way of choosing. Now God chooses everyone. It is one of the simplest and yet most difficult concepts of the Gospel. There are no “unchosen people”. Everyone is chosen.
Even Jesus seems to struggle with how radically inclusive God has become. For example, Jesus can’t see the Syrophoenician Woman in Mark’s Gospel as one of the chosen people. Jesus barely sees her as human until she opens his eyes. The state of our modern world tells us beyond doubt that we are still a long way from recognizing that God choses everyone, not just those who look or think or love like we do.
The brood that Messiah gathers under her wings will be protected not because Messiah is a great and mighty warrior who will destroy the fox, or wolf, or whatever predator you conjure. We will be safe because Isaiah foresees a place and time when the wolf and the lamb can lie down together. Martin Luther King dreamed of a place where all God’s children could play together. Archbishop Desmond Tutu saw that God had a dream, a vision, that all of creation could live together.
It is the vision that inspires religious movements – at our best. It is a vision that we all experience in various times and places. It is a vision that has not yet become fully realized, but neither has this dream, this vision, died. It is God’s vision after all. It cannot die.
A vision of living in God’s Kingdom, Utopia, is one that has a strong pull on the human spirit. It is close... We can practically see it, but we can’t quite figure out how to get there from here.
More troubling, we don’t quite trust God’s radically inclusive vision. Too often we seem to be convinced that we have a better way to achieve Utopia – get rid of all the bad people and Utopia is what will be left. It seems like a reasonable plan. But Isaiah’s vision, God’s vision, is not a place free of predators, of bad people. It is a place where the lions and lambs, the prey and the predators live together.
Hitler wanted to build Utopia. That was his vision. In Hitler’s vision, if you could just get rid of the bad people, starting with the Jews and then the mentally defectives, the Gypsies, LGBTQ+ people, and many more, the result would be perfection... utopia... Heaven on Earth.
In reality, the result was dystopia... Hell on Earth. Scripture tells us without a prophetic vision we will perish. To be without a vision is bad enough, but to have the vision of a false prophet, of a liar or a sociopath, is far worse.
Yet we have voices among us from those claiming to be lovers of Jesus, who want to cleanse our world of the people they conclude God does not like. The problem with that is that God loves everyone.
Here in this time of Lent, of repentance, we must repent of not allowing ourselves to move into that radical, all inclusive, Godly love that envelops everyone. I may not be ready yet to be all-loving, but I can move in that direction. That is part of the work of Lent. We are called to repent of our sins that separate us from God’s boundless love and grow toward a Godlier way of being. Separating ourselves from any of God’s other children is sinful – in this season we are called to repent of our sins and amend our ways.
As we continue this journey with Jesus through Lent... this journey that leads to Jerusalem, to Crucifixion, we can live with the assurance from Jesus that there is no sin for which we cannot be forgiven. There is no way we can lose God’s love. God loves us not in spite of our sins and failures... God loves us – period. Sins and all.
As we grow in the knowledge of God’s unconditional love, we will grow in our own ability to love our siblings and all of God’s creation with fewer and fewer conditions.
This is the work of Lent: to put to rest the ghosts of our past failure and prepare ourselves to rise in glory with Jesus.
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