The Chicken and the Fox
March 16, 2025 Lent 2
My boyfriend Brad lives out in Day Valley in a lovely cottage on a nice piece of property. The owner, in addition to several dogs and cats, has six chickens that have the run of the yard. Each one is named, and they are pretty spoiled. I will say they help to fertilize the beautiful garden, even though you must watch your step. They lay lovely eggs and get along quite well with all the animals. Every evening, the chickens are rounded up into the chicken coop to keep them safe from any predators like foxes or bobcats. Chickens are natural prey of foxes. Listen now for God’s word as you decide why I told this story before reading our passage. READ Luke 13:31-35
Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. And Jerusalem is the place where prophets are killed. For ten chapters Jesus journeys toward his destiny and death, much like we are journeying with him through Lent. But this is more than a travelog to Jerusalem, instead this shows Jesus’ intention to fulfill God’s purpose as he willingly travels to the city that will take his life. Travels towards Herod who wants to kill him. Interestingly it is the Pharisees who warn Jesus of Herod’s murderous intent. I always thought Pharisees were part of the establishment, why are they helping Jesus? Maybe because Jesus has been causing so much trouble; teaching “the first shall be last” and the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed that grows exponentially. How would that play with Rome? Then Jesus calls Herod a fox. Some want to say he is sly like a fox, but I would not. Herod oversees Jerusalem, but like the fox, there is danger of entrusting someone who is a threat to the very thing they are supposed to safeguard. It would be like saying, ‘The fox is in charge of the hen house.’ A fox will prey on the young of others. And Herod has already shown his ruthlessness by killing John the Baptist. Herod is the fox that wants to prey on God’s only Son.
Yet it is the beautiful image of a mother hen protecting her chicks that has always captured my attention. First it shows the love and care of a mother, an image that the feminist in me loves, especially when it is an image used repeatedly for God. The psalmist writes, “Hide me in the shadow of thy wings.” 17:8, “Oh to be safe under the shelter of thy wings.” 61:4, “Under his wings you will find refuge.” 91:4. Each speaks of the protective wings of God. So when Jesus longs to comfort Jerusalem, he used an image widely understood, “I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gather’s her chicks under her wings.” But the people of Jerusalem are unwilling.
In the Psalm the protection is under God’s wings, here it is Jesus who longs to shelter us under his wings. When danger appears, Jesus yearns to protect us like a mother hen.
Mother hens are fiercely protective of their chicks. “Have you ever seen a chicken hawk go after its prey? (It’s a lot like a fox, only it flies) The old mother hen is often aware of the presence of the hawk in time to gather her chicks under her wing. With a furious fuss she squawks till her brood is safe by her side. She fluffs out her wings and protects them with her own body. The chicken hawk dives and the old hen turns her body toward him and cocks a wary eye without moving from her children. The predator comes in again for the kill and the mother spreads her wings even wider. A third time he dives only to be thwarted by the determined self-sacrifice of the mother hen. She is too big to be a target, and the chicks are too safe to be seized, so he flies away” (Sermons.com, Brett Blair).
In life there are times that are more threatening than others. That is why the chickens at Brad’s house have free-range of the yard during the day, but are gathered into the coop at night. It is similar to Jesus talking about timing, his healing and casting out demons today and tomorrow. Caring for the people of Jerusalem even when his life has been threatened. Jesus knows it is not his time yet, so he moves on, undaunted by the threat and steadfast in his curing and saving. He signals that he knows his death is coming by quoting the phrase that the people will shout when he finally enters Jerusalem, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.” We will be saying that on Palm Sunday.
We know what comes next, Jesus’ death on the cross. Yet sometimes it is hard to see love in the crucifixion. Seeing Jesus in pain, watching the disciples abandon him, seeing the cruelty from others, how is that loving? But when I think of Jesus desiring to gather us, God’s children, like a mother hen gathers her chicks, I feel the love, protection, care and self-sacrifice.
One of my favorite writers, Barbara Brown Taylor, puts a fine point on this analogy. She writes, “What Jesus will be is a mother hen, who stands between the chicks and those who mean to do them harm. She has no fangs, no claws, no rippling muscles. All she has is her willingness to shield her babies with her own body. If the fox wants them, he will have to kill her first” (Sermons.com, Mickey Anders).
The fox, Herod, wanted to kill Jesus and ultimately does. After Jesus finished his teaching, healing and mission he arrives at Jerusalem. But did you notice what Jesus said, “on the third day I finish my work” alluding to the part of the story that exudes love, abundant love. Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. I don’t mean to take the thunder away from Easter, but the journey is filled with hidden easter eggs of meaning. Like “Your house is left to you” (35). You are not protected by my care, it is up to you to protect yourself and your family, because you were unwilling to receive my care and protection. A mother hen only has one life to give for her chicks. Jesus gave his only life for all of us to have eternal life.
In British Columbia, a fellow by the name of Ike tells the story about his Grandpa’s hen house which burned to the ground one day. Ike arrived just in time to help put out the last of the fire. As he and his grandfather sorted through the wreckage, they came upon one hen lying dead near what had been the door of the hen house. Her top feathers were singed brown by the fire’s heat, her neck limp. Ike bent down to pick up the dead hen. As he did the hen’s four chicks came scurrying out from beneath her burnt body. The chicks survived because they were insulated by the shelter of the hen’s wings” (Sermons.com, Richard J. Fairchild). That is the power of the shelter of wings. That is a mother hen’s love. She died protecting her offspring. We are the chicks, that Jesus wants to protect, the children of God, Jesus desires to gather under his wings.
“One of the hardest things in life is loving someone you know you can’t shelter or protect. (Yet here Jesus is) offering the love of a mother hen, spreading his wings. He will offer his life to Herod on our behalf. He will follow us into the darkness we have chosen for ourselves, over and over again. He will place himself between that darkness and us. And if you look closely at this man hanging on the cross, his arms eternally outstretched, the span of his reach on that wood will begin to resemble the loving wings of a mother hen, gathering up her chicks in a love that doesn’t make sense but breaks our hearts if we look long enough” (Sermons.com, Frank G. Honeycutt). Amen
