Foxes and hens

March 17, 2019

Luke 13:31-35

Perception.  Perception is when we translate our observations into thought.  I observe the eye of the stove is red, so I perceive it is hot and therefore shouldn’t touch it.  I observe two people with scowls on their faces speaking loudly to each other and I perceive they’re arguing and therefore should avoid them.  Some perceptions, like these, are pretty cut and dry.  Other perceptions, however, aren’t so easy.  Sometimes our perceptions are premature or wrong. 

So what are our perceptions about this account of Christ we’ve read today in Luke’s gospel?  Let’s look at the facts….

We encounter Jesus in the region ruled by Herod Antipas, which we know is Galilee.  This Herod isn’t the King Herod who built the temple or tried to have the newborn Jesus killed by issuing the decree to kill the youngest of the Hebrew children.  No, this is his son.  This is the Herod who has John the Baptist beheaded, the same who is involved in the crucifixion of Jesus.

So Jesus is in Galilee, and he’s doing what Jesus does.  He’s preaching, teaching, healing people, and casting out demons.  He’s approached by some Pharisees.  They tell him that Herod wants to kill him and he should flee.  He tells them that he has things to do today and tomorrow, and he’ll finish up the third day, to go tell that “fox” Herod that.  Tell him I’ll leave that third day. 

He affirms to them that a prophet won’t be killed outside of Jerusalem, and then begins to lament the city of his demise. 

This isn’t a wordy Gospel lesson, but is full of information and plenty of perceptions.  What did you gather?  What thoughts and opinions have you formed?  What are your perceptions?  The key thing is…are our perceptions good?  Let’s take a look….

First we encounter the Pharisees.  How did you perceive them?  The Pharisees appear numerous times in the Bible so there’s ample data for us to “know” them and interpret their actions based on context.  Right?  I know there’s a literary term for that, but it escapes me at the moment…but you get the picture.  Did you view the warning to Jesus from these Pharisees as a true concern for his well-being? Are they really worried about Jesus’ life enough to risk their own safety to warn him of the impending plans of Herod?

These were the people who throughout Jesus’ life had demanded ridiculous signs of him, and even with the abundant miracles, still refused to believe.  These were the people who tested and ridiculed and looked down on Jesus and his followers.  These were the people who went to great lengths to set Jesus up to be tried and pushed by death.  So, why, then, would they be coming to warn him?  Why in this instance would they set aside the seemingly dark nature to do good toward this man they despised?  Our perception tells us they wouldn’t.  Our perception translates this action by these Pharisees (keep in mind we typically only see them named as a “group” and rarely ever personalized) to be negative, because that’s the framework we’ve been given to view them through.  So if you’re like me, you see their action of coming to “warn” Christ, as not a warning at all because the Pharisees, or “Those people”, are seemingly the crux of Jesus’ ministry. 
You may see their actions as a farce of sorts…a bluff.  Maybe they wanted to run Jesus out of the area.  He was causing their power and influence to weaken as more and more people started to follow him.  They were tired of the status quo being challenged, so they bluffed.  They told Jesus that he had angered Herrod, and he should get out while he had the chance.       

Or maybe you perceived their actions as one of gloating:  “Oh Jesus…you’ve done it now.  Herod’s on his way and he’s going to do the same thing to you that he did to John the Baptist.  You’ remember what he did to John, right?  He cut his head off and put it on display.  You better run while you can!”. 

But, maybe you viewed their actions as true concern…that they were actually concerned about Jesus, and wanted no harm to come to him.  There’s nothing here that necessarily tell us these Pharisees were rotten…and remember that not all Pharisees were bad (Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus were both Pharisees and were friends and followers of Jesus).  

And then how do we perceive Jesus’ response?  First he calls Herrod a fox.  My first thought was “big deal”…until Matthew Henry’s commentary explained exactly how big of a deal that actually was.  When my nephew sees a fox running around my yard, he talks about how pretty they are and I’ll admit they’re fun to watch.  But when Jesus called Herrod a fox, he was implying that he was dirty/unclean, a thief, skulking around up to no good.  It was indeed a bad thing.  So he calls Herrod this bad thing and tells the Pharisees to go tell him I’m not going anywhere.  I’m busy doing my teaching and healing today and tomorrow, and I’ll leave the third day, when I’m done, on my terms. 

I don’t know about you but I perceive that as some serious snark.  But I tend to go to sarcasm, and because of that predisposition, I’m maybe (definitely) prejudiced and bias when I read this sentence.  Maybe Jesus wasn’t throwing shade.  Maybe he had things he needed to get done and he was in a way asking them for help.  Can you hold him off?  Can you just let him know that I’m almost done and as soon as I am I’ll be gone?  Maybe it was an impassioned plea. 

Or maybe it was confidence, because he did know something they didn’t.  He knew that he was destined for Jerusalem, and only in Jerusalem would his life end.  Maybe he had no fear because he knew his life being taken directly by Herrod in this fashion wasn’t the plan and therefore it actually couldn’t happen because of predestined and preordained events?

And with the mention of Jerusalem, the tone of this story changes.  Suddenly, Jesus seems saddened; perhaps by the corruption of the city that was built to be the epicenter of their Spiritual life; perhaps by the evil vein that seemingly feeds the people and their dark nature.  For whatever reason, Jesus seems to lament and acknowledge the loss of a dream:  a dream to gather all of Jerusalem’s children together and offer them protection, comfort and guidance…just as a mama hen cares for her chicks.  But in this instance, Jesus seemingly experiences the death of his dream. 

So what’s our perception of Jerusalem?  As a city that not only rejects but stones the people who are sent to it, my opinion is not a great one.  I perceive it as a place of evil, a place of walls, of cliques, an unfriendly place to be certain.  But Jerusalem was the place of their “church” (if you will).  The place they came to worship.  The place they came to give their offerings to God.  The place they came to seek healing and repair and help and guidance.  The place they sought in their darkest moments. 

Kind of like people do with church today.  Some people are at church every time the doors are open.  Some people come only when something’s going on…like when things get bad.  And in keeping with our theme of perception this morning, how are we perceived…as a whole church, the worldwide church, if you will?  How do people see us?  Are we a place where the weary can find rest, the hungry can find food, the homeless can find shelter?  Are we seen as loving, and caring, and welcoming, and inviting?  When people encounter us as generic Christians, do they immediately think we are someone they can confide in, seek counsel in, be comfortable and unguarded with?  Are we as the church and we as Christians seen as that mama hen, with outspread wings, offering love?

Or are we as the church, as Christians, are we seen as Jerusalem is seen this morning?  Instead of this place and these people of safety and love, are we actually perceived as those who would persecute?  As those who judge, and ridicule, and disenfranchise?  As those who catalog people into the categories of those who deserve good and those who don’t?  When people in need know you’re a Christian, do they come to you or do they avoid you? 

Let’s take it a little further…instead of the perception of the generic Christian, how about the perception people have of you?  When people see you, what do they see?  How do they perceive you?  Who are you?  Are you a person of comfort and refuge?  Are you a person of love and acceptance?  Or, maybe a person of rejection, and ridicule?  A person of hatred and judgement. 

Are you perceived as the hen with outstretched wings offering shelter and care, or are you the fox, filled with bad intentions?  How does your perception of yourself differ from the perception others have of you…and how different are these perceptions to reality?  Tough questions…but, Lent is the time for tough questions….