Lent 2
Philippians 3.17 – 4.1
Luke 13.31-35
©Suzanne Grimmett
Foxes and chickens are a bit of a sensitive topic with me. You will all be aware how much I love having a flock of chickens around the property, but late last year unfortunately a tragedy occurred. “A fox in the henhouse” is a saying about the destruction of the vulnerable and that is certainly what happened. Of course, the expression also refers to allowing someone to achieve power and control in situations where they can exploit and harm. When we hear Jesus refer to Herod as ‘that fox’ we may not know exactly what he meant in the context, but we do know it isn’t good, and is likely to refer to someone dishonest, exploitative or cunning. Why, in the face of that meaning, would Jesus draw on another animal metaphor as his response, choosing a creature that would stand no chance against the cunning fox? Surely if Herod is a fox, Jesus might choose instead to say how he longs to protect his people as a lion prowls the city gates…or a wolf gathers the pack? But no, Jesus tells us he is like a mother hen gathering her chicks in the face of that fox. And we all know what the mother hen does when a fox breaks in and threatens her chicks.
She dies.
So we should not be surprised when in the opening sentence of today’s Gospel reading we hear;
At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to Jesus, ‘Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.’
These words should still make us sit up and wonder what Jesus has just done or said that would prompt such a warning from the religious leaders. As Jesus laments over Jerusalem, the city that ‘kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it’ we might ask why his life and teaching had come to be such a threat to those in power? We sense that Jesus is setting his face resolutely towards the same violent ending that so many prophets before him had met. This wandering Rabbi who teaches and heals has come to be such a threat to the powerful that crucifixion looks like an answer- why?
This warning comes at a particular moment of Jesus’ teaching- “at that very hour”, says the text. Here the lectionary lets us down and we do not hear what Jesus has just been saying. When we go back to the previous verses we can see clearly in Jesus teaching about ‘entering through the narrow door’ what has enraged the religious and political authorities;
There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. People will come from east and west and north and south and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.” (Luke 13: 28-30)
These threats to Jesus’ life come straight after a teaching that questions privilege and upends established power. The last will be first, and the first last. The divine response to the exploitation of the foxes of this world is not to follow the same path of seizing power through coercive violence but to walk the way of the cross, a way of powerlessness. The prophetic word of the incarnation is that this surrendered way of Jesus is truth and life. To worship a crucified God is to put faith in the great reversal of power, the dethroning of the strong man and the putting to death of domination and control as the ruling powers of heaven or earth.
JR.R Tolkien in his epic work, The Lord of the Rings, makes a central theme of this great power reversal found in Christianity. You know the story; a fellowship which includes some of the least likely heroes are set against the merciless power of the dark lord Sauron who has created one ruling ring to give him absolute power over Middle Earth. Most believe that if they had the ring, they could then fight force with force, terror with terror, coercive might with coercive might. This ring has almost by accident come into the possession of Frodo, a most humble hobbit who is then supported by the fellowship in his quest not to use, but to destroy the ring. Gandalf the wizard counsels this way that many would see as folly saying;
Well, let folly be our cloak, a veil before the eyes of the Enemy! For he is very wise, and weighs all things to a nicety in the scales of his malice. But the only measure that he knows is desire, desire for power; and so he judges all hearts. Into his heart the thought will not enter that any will refuse it, that having the Ring we may seek to destroy it. If we seek this, we shall put him out of reckoning.[1]
As we know, Frodo and his companions do succeed in destroying the ring and bringing peace through the sacrificial road of throwing away power. In our world though, it is easy for us to see in the daily news where power is being abused and violence perpetuated. It is easy to hear in the language of the famous or powerful the kind of beliefs that would put them in opposition to the way of the cross. Elon Musk for example, said recently that empathy was the weakness in Western civilisation.[2] He elaborated by suggesting that empathy was like a bug in the system that could be exploited. While that reveals a lot about someone like Musk who currently is having immense influence in US politics, such examples of the rhetoric of power can leave us feeling even more helpless to change things. Perhaps Tolkien’s famous story of a small hobbit who takes the downward path may speak to us still in such times.
This cross-like path is the way to which we are called despite how many would despise such a path or consider it a weakness. Lent is a season for discerning more of what that looks like, what changes are ours to make, and how we might set about living differently. The gentleness of the image of Jesus as a mother hen gathering her chicks helps us see more clearly the God who longs to gather us away from abuses of power and violence and find the way of peace. To find this road means we need to be free from self-centred interest and recognise the power of being gathered to one another, away from the individualistic life. No one can love their neighbour when curved inwardly upon themselves, only seeing the world from the point of view of their unmet needs and what others can do for them. Enemies of the cross of Christ are those preoccupied with their own status or power, and even those who simply make their own lives and needs the constant focus of their attention. Gluttony is a word used in Philippians and may seem an outdated term normally associated with food, but it can be anything that motivates an insatiable, self-interested appetite focussed on self-fulfilment at the expense of others. Of these St Paul writes, ‘their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame.’ I suspect Paul would find much to condemn in consumerist culture where everything can become a commodity and the truth can be distorted to serve greed.
The good news is that the crucified and risen one is with us as we live in such a world but seek to not be conformed to it. As we set our face to the downward path we will be strengthened for the journey, always offered the grace we need anew for each day. The Spirit is active in the world, giving us the courage to turn from self-interest and throw away power so that others may have agency and dignity. The Christ who longs to gather the lost, disheartened, wandering and weary still calls to us, spreading her wings over those who would choose a gentler way.
+Amen
[1] J.R.R Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring, 2nd edition, (Boston: Houghton Mifflan, 1967) 282-283
[2] https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/elon-musk-empathy-quote/