Belong, Believe, & the Mother Hen - A Sermon for the 2nd Sunday in Lent 2025

GOSPEL: Luke 13:31-35

The holy gospel according to Luke.

Glory to you, O Lord.

Neither Herod’s plotting nor Jerusalem’s resistance to maternal love will deter Jesus from his sacrificial mission.

31 At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to [Jesus], “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” 32 He said to them, “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. 33 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.’ 34 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! 35 See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’ ”

The gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, O Christ.

God always keeps God’s promises.

One of the gifts of clear Alberta skies in winter

is being able to see the stars,

even with the city lights.

When you find yourself outside the city,

by the mountains, or the lake or field,

the stars pop.

It is incredible to think that that night sky we look at

is more or less the same night sky

that God showed Abram.

God invited Abram to count the stars,

if he could,

and so will your descendants be, God promised.

God always keeps God’s promises.

God promised Abram and Sarai

to make of them a great nation,

to make them a blessing.

God asked them to leave their home

and to go to the land that God would show them.

So they did, Abram and Sarai went on this journey

just as God asked,

to a place called Canaan.

I don’t know how many months or years went by,

but Abram and Sarai hadn’t had any children - yet,

and God had promised them children!

But remember, and say it with me…

God always keeps God’s promises.

and God is a mathematician.

God reminded Abram of the promise,

look out at the stars and count them, if you can,

so numerous shall your descendants be.

Have you ever tried to count the stars?

Google tells me that there are about 5000 stars

visible to the human eye from earth.

many of these can’t be seen in the city lights.

Yet there are so many more stars:

there are 200 billion trillion stars in the universe!

That’s a 2 with 23 zeros after it:

it is so many stars that we are not capable of imagining

that number.

That’s how many descendants Abram will have - as many as the stars.

Google tells me that, while it is impossible to know for certain,

there have been approximately 117 billion humans

who have ever existed.

That’s 117 with 9 zeros behind it.

only 14 more zeros

for humans to match the number of stars.

God is keeping God’s promise:

Abram and Sarai had a child - Isaac,

and Isaac and Rebekah had two: Jacob and Esau,

and so on, and so on.

That number keeps on growing today.

Side note:

biblical literalists have tried to use the bible

to decipher the end of the world,

the apocalypse,

and so far every end times guess has been wrong.

I do not believe that

the bible holds some kind of decipher code for the end.

If God always keeps God’s promises:

Maybe the world wont end until Abraham’s descendants

actually reach 200 billion trillion,

Who knows? God does.

I share some of the math with you to say

we simply cannot decipher the end;

we can’t know when the day of the Lord will come.

If it comes down to the math,

the math is too big for our little minds to comprehend

I say we spend too much time trying to see when Christ will return

that we fail to see Jesus right beside us.

(Slide 3 - Believe, belong, become)

It is far more manageable to endure,

to carry on,

to persevere,

to stand firm,

to believe,

when you have a date on the calendar to look forward to.

We can endure the hard Canadian winter

because we know the seasons will turn.

Eventually.

The person who hates their job,

looking ahead to Friday makes Monday seem more bearable.

For you who suffer physical hardship,

the waiting, the in between is the hardest,

things look up when you have a surgery date

or when you know the course of treatment.

Part of the reason we struggled with COVID safety precautions

is that we didn't know the end date,

we didn't know how long we would have to endure.

We can move forward not knowing the timeline

because Jesus is right beside us.

God knows your timeline.

God knows your pain, your weariness.

God is with you.

By grace you can endure.

I can’t tell you how long.

but I can tell you that

when the days feel like Good Friday,

remember the third day;

Sunday is coming.

God always keeps God’s promises.

In this time of upheaval,

rapidly advancing technology,

increased conflicts nationally and locally

political tension and polarity,

religious tension and polarity,

Jesus gives us a vision,

a way forward

amidst imminent threat.

the Pharisees speak the truth.

Herod will play a role in Jesus’ crucifixion.

Herod - and others - want Jesus dead.

The Pharisees are showing Jesus some care here.

Jesus responds in a way that says -

threat or no threat,

I am continuing my work.

Recorded In Luke 4, Just after being tempted in the wilderness,

Jesus tells those at the synagogue

and listeners like you and I

just what that work is.

Reading from the Isaiah scroll, Jesus proclaims

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed me

to bring good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives

and recovery of sight to the blind,

to let the oppressed go free,

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”

Jesus sits down and says,

“Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

We’re going to leave this slide up for reference,

for two reasons:

1. Jesus says; Jerusalem, Jerusalem,

the city that kills the prophets

and stones those who are sent to it!

These are the words of the prophet Isaiah,

words of the prophet, Jesus

I believe this is what Jesus is referring to.

2. This is what Jesus’ ministry is all about.

I believe Christ’s Church,

you and I are called into continuing

this ministry of Jesus Christ.

But this was a problem;

doing this kind of work,

because not everyone in Jerusalem was on board.

Jesus also responds to the threat

by wanting to gather Jerusalem’s children

and hold them,

protect them,

like a mother hen gathers her chicks.

Why?

Why after this tangible threat

does Jesus go into mama-bear, mother-hen mode?

We have two puppies,

Lady and Ghost.

We welcomed them into our family last November.

We made Bob Barker proud,

taking them to be spayed and neutered,

Ghost was particularly groggy afterwards,

crying and in pain.

We wanted to hold him in his pain,

and to protect him from his sister, Lady,

who is sweet and just wants to play,

but her play will hurt him when he’s recovering.

These dogs are siblings, best buds,

but sometimes they fight,

or get a little too aggressive.

For example,

they might each have a bone to chew on,

but the other bone looks better,

so they’ll steal the other dog’s bone.

When that happens,

we pick them up,

gather them in our arms,

to settle,

to refocus.

It helps them remember they are siblings,

that they belong together in harmony.

Jesus’ desire to gather Jerusalem under her wings,

is pretty similar.

Jesus knows the people’s pain and weariness,

and Jesus knows the threats.

Jerusalem was politically charged.

You’ve got some who do

and some who don’t want to hear Jesus’ message.

It’s not unlike Jesus’ hometown in Nazareth,

where Jesus read this Isaiah scroll.

Not long after hearing this, we read:

all spoke well of Jesus,

and next thing you know,

all in the synagogue wanted to throw Jesus off the cliff.

There were some in Jerusalem who wanted Jesus dead,

this is the threat that the Pharisees share with Jesus.

It is necessary that Jesus is obedient to these words of Luke 4;

those with power and privilege don’t really like Luke 4.

As Professor Matt Skinner puts it,

Jesus wasn’t killed just by a couple bad people,

or just by the authorities,

but there was a climate of opposition to Jesus,

largely controlled by religious people,

by those with privilege,

by those with a lot to lose,

whose traditions are under siege,

whose theologies are under scrutiny.

But there were others in that city

who joined the parade on that first Palm Sunday

  Shouting Hosanna! God save us now!

Blessed is this Jesus,

the One who comes in the name of the Lord.

I can see why Jerusalem was polarized,

I can see why Jerusalem was angry,

and I can see why we are too.

Like Jerusalem 2000 years ago,

let alone Jerusalem today,

we too are politically charged

and plentifully polarized.

We accept some Words of Jesus

and we reject other Words.

We are just like Jerusalem.

It is to that Jerusalem,

and it is to us that Jesus says

“How often have I desired to gather your children together

as a hen gathers her brood under her wings.”

Amidst our anger,

amidst polarity,

amidst rejection,

amidst fear,

Jesus wants to hold you,

all of you,

all of us.

Are we willing?

Are we willing to be held in our Mother Hen’s wings?

Because it wont be just me and Jesus,

Jesus holds it all together:

friend and foe and everything in between,

family and enemy,

Jesus holds together the me

and the 117 billion people who have ever lived,

and the unknown number of descendants to come,

and the loon and the leopard and the lilac,

let alone the Lutherans.

God doesn’t just hold the Lutherans,

God holds all.

Held in our Mother Hen’s wings,

Held In Jesus’ arms

There is no one to fear,

In God’s stronghold there is none to be afraid,

for we are one,

regardless of which side of the polarities

we find ourselves.

We all find our shelter

behind our fierce Mama Bear,

who takes us all in,

those who like Luke 4 and those who don’t.

God, our Mother Hen will comfort Her chicks,

and she’ll be ferocious to protect them.

You don’t mess with Mama Bear when her cubs are nearby.

That’s how much Jesus loves Jerusalem,

that’s how much Jesus loves you.  

thats how much Jesus loves all.

May you endure, stand fast, and believe,

trusting that God always keeps God’s promises.

knowing that Jesus, our Mother Hen, comes for you.

May we trust that Jesus, our Mother Hen,

comes for you,

and in the wings of Jesus,

there is room for Lutherans, Loon, leopard, lilac

and everything in between.

May we believe in the Jesus who gathers us,

and believe that the way forward

is belonging under God’s wings.

Thanks be to God. Amen.