The Mother Hen

 Can chickens fly? …

I’ll come back around to answer this question.

 

While writing this Gospel, Luke may very well have been praying or singing Psalm 91.

You who live in the shelter of the Most High, who abide in the shadow of the Almighty, will say to the Lord, ‘My refuge and my fortress; my God in whom I trust.’ For he will deliver you from the snare of the hunter and from the deadly pestilence; he will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and defense. -Ps 91: 1-4

The Psalm describes God’s shelter, or being shelter by God, as being covered by wings. Pinions – that is the outer part of a bird’s wing including the flight feathers. Enfolded in the faithfulness of God’s wings, the persons collected find refuge, fortress, and deliverance; a shield, a defense.

 

I wonder if Luke was experiencing a sense of instability in the world around him. I wonder if he had anxiety. The world at his time was filled with political posturing, Roman aggression, economic troubles, increased taxes, religious disputes, escalating violence, and growing discontent. When I read the Gospel of Luke, I wonder if some of what I feel today – or the how ‘we’ feel – was what Luke felt. Did he feel troubled by the chaos in the world around him? Remember in this Gospel one of his favourite phrases is ‘Do not be afraid.’ Often writers write as much to themselves as for their audience. Today’s text speaks to me as if Luke took great comfort from an image he knew from the Psalms and wanted to share that comfort with others. God will cover you will his pinions and under his wings you will find refuge.

 

Yet here, Luke understands that taking refuge under God’s wings does not mean that the struggles encountered in the world, or the turbulence in society disappears, rather it changes him and his ability to live in that world. Luke, in his telling of the gospel, describes a lost society where because people were ensnared – to their own will or to the will of others, there were ever more who were forgotten by the same. The forgotten were marginalized whether poor, widowed, orphaned, hungry, sick, or demon possessed. A significant group from the general population had turned away from seeking refuge in God. God’s vision of creation was far from being created and lived. We hear this in Luke’s story in the words of a frustrated – grieving, lamenting- Jesus, 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 takes great comfort under God’s pinions and refuge in God’s wings. It is from that faithfulness and strength of God’s, that he can write truth about power. It is no mistake that Luke calls Herod a fox; a shrewd choice of language. The Pharisees would agree. Herod was a fox. In an act of resistance, the pharisees approach Jesus, as a mother hen – offering a warning to protect that which they know too also be in opposition to, or counter to, the way of the fox. Luke begins this story with the Pharisees coming to warn Jesus of Herod’s intent to kill him. Unlike the Sadducees who were in cahoots with the authorities, the Pharisees separated themselves from Rome and its culture, recognizing the dangers of Roman Empire and its rulers who continually incited chaos and used violence towards the occupied territory and its people. This is represented in calling Herod a fox, there is no gospel in this statement. However, the gospel is found in the completion of the metaphor, Jesus as a hen gathering her brood under her wings -Lk 13: 34

 

The next two weeks Luke continues sharing the Gospel with stories told to the disciples and other followers, Jesus speaking to a brood of chicks. Under the wings of a mother hen, the chicks stay warm, growing together until they are big enough and feathered enough to fend for themselves. While in Jesus’ care the disciples hear parables – we will hear parables- that reflect God’s patience, God’s forgiveness, God’s grace, and God’s unconditional love. It is important for this mother hen time.

 

I feel this sanctuary on a Sunday morning as God’s pinions wrapped around us. We gather, together, to stay warm, to grow big enough and feathered enough to fend for ourselves. While here, I also feel like a mother hen gathering us and having specific stories to share to protect and strengthen us to face the foxes.  

This time is important. It is important to take refuge over the next few weeks because in our journey through Lent we know that a shadow is cast over the earth, over the human story, over the Incarnate One.

We are going to need the shield and refuge of stories reflecting God’s patience, forgiveness, grace, and unconditional love. We do not want to get caught being chickens running around with our heads cut off – a people without hope, wandering aimlessly, forgetting who we are, marginalizing others. These are serious times. We know…

Time is coming when the fox does kill mother hen and the chicks scatter. The hen is dead and buried.

Time is coming when from a sealed tomb, the rock is cracked open, and new life will emerge. The hen will rise.

Time is coming when the chicks will seek refuge in a locked upper room, mother hen returns with open wings ‘peace be with you.’

 

Can chickens fly? Technically yes. They can fly 10-12 metres and a little higher than an average human can reach. For all intents and purposes, the answer is no. Chickens are not really gifted with the ability to fly.

But a bird that can’t fly has much to teach us about the strength of being present. This inability to fly grounds the hen. Farmyards are not full of chickens all in a tizzy trying to fly. Chickens are content staying close to mother earth and to their chicks. A mother hen’s wings can collect and protect approximately 12 chicks – although there are instances where full sized hens have taken on twice that. There wings give protection and warmth. If there is no safe place to take refuge when a fox appears, a mother hen will gather the chicks under her wings and hunker down. The hen will not move, giving her life in protection of the chicks if necessary.

 

Jesus did not fly away from the fox. Jesus did not leave the disciples.  

God did not fly away from humankind. God chose to become and remain Incarnate. Present.

 

Bonhoeffer wrote in Discipleship –

And in the Incarnation the whole human race recovers the dignity of the image of God. Henceforth, any attack even on the least ... is an attack on Christ, who took the form of man, and in his own Person restored the image of God in all that bears a human form. Through fellowship and communion with the incarnate Lord, we recover our true humanity, and at the same time we are delivered from that individualism which is the consequence of sin, and retrieve our solidarity with the whole human race. By being partakers of Christ incarnate, we are partakers in the whole humanity which he bore. We know that we have been taken up and borne in the humanity of Jesus, and therefore that new nature we now enjoy means that we too must bear the sins and sorrows of others. The incarnate Lord makes his followers the siblings of all humankind.

Can chickens fly? More pointedly do you fly? When times get tough or too much do you (and your will) fly away, or do you ground yourself and taking refuge under God’s wings remain present. Partaking in Christ incarnate do you open your wings, gathering the chicks around you and bearing the sins and sorrows of others. Protecting, warming, with patience, forgiveness, grace, unconditional love, to death and beyond.

 

As Luke ends this story may it be true of us - blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.