The Rev. Joseph Peters-Mathews is the vicar of St. Hilda St. Patrick. The sermon for Sunday, March 13, 2022 was preached based on the manuscript below as a response to Luke 13.31-35. Neither audio nor video was captured.
Pharisees come to Jesus as he’s on his way to Jerusalem,
but he’s not there yet.
They warn him —
not always being his adversaries,
and their relationship not always being adversarial –
that Herod is looking to kill him.
We’ve seen this Hero before,
Herod with the family tree
that is more of a tumble weed;
Herod who was fascinated with John the Baptizer
until he wasn’t;
Herod who has been fascinated by Jesus,
but isn’t any more,
and is ready to kill him.
Rather than run or seek to escape,
Jesus reminds his followers
what he told his parents when he got lost at the temple –
he has work to do.
As we move closer to Easter,
and further into Luke’s narrative,
today we’re getting some good foreshadowing.
“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.
Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day
I must be on my way.’
Luke has not yet recorded Jesus being in Jerusalem,
and the narrative unfolding takes more than three days
for Jesus to get to Jerusalem,
where he will finish his work.
Yet we hear already that on the third day,
Jesus’ work will be completed
when he overcomes death and the grave at Easter.
“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!”
Even not having ministered in Jerusalem yet,
Jesus has a concern for the city.
Even not having ministered in Jerusalem yet,
Jesus is offering time for repentance.
These five verses from Luke are almost obscure
with Herod the fox, a destructive force,
and Jesus lamenting over Jerusalem
yet offering a call to change nonetheless.
I think that offering of repentance and opportunity to change
is why we hear this passage in Lent
when we try to cut back on anything
that gets between Jesus and us.
As we hear Jesus giving Jerusalem and his followers
the opportunity to change their hearts and behaviors,
Jesus and the Church invite us to plumb the depths of our souls
and wonder about changing our hearts and behaviors.
Our liturgies for this season give us stunning specifics
for ways we can reflect on ourselves.
On Ash Wednesday we confessed:
the pride, hypocrisy, and impatience of our lives;
our self-indulgent appetites and ways,
and our exploitation of other people;
our anger at our own frustration,
and our envy of those more fortunate than ourselves;
our intemperate love of worldly goods and comforts,
and our dishonesty in daily life and work;
our negligence in prayer and worship,
and our failure to commend the faith that is in us.
How often when it’s time to confess,
can we think of nothing or think only of
enormous failures and faults
or small petty things?
Do we think about the impatience of our lives
or our anger at our own frustration?
Do we regularly think about and confess
our negligence in prayer and worship?
How often do we
keep the Good News we’ve found in Jesus
and experienced in this local commons of St. Hilda St. Patrick to ourselves
rather than share the faith that is in us?
While Jesus’ interaction through the gospels
are full of sass — including today —
there’s also a regular voice of tenderness.
“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!”
How often have I desired to gather your children together
as a hen gathers her brood under her wings,
and you were not willing.
Despite the history of God calling for repentance and turning of heart,
despite the way prophets have been treated and stoned and killed,
God hasn’t given up.
As one of our eucharistic prayers puts it,
“[W]e rebelled against you, and wandered far away;
and yet, as a mother cares for her children,
you would not forget us.
Time and again you called us to live in the fullness of your love.”
Even as he laments over Jerusalem
and says that he’s leaving it to itself,
“See, your house is left to you…
See, your house is abandoned by God”
Jesus says he’ll come to Jerusalem and when he comes
the people of Jerusalem
will proclaim that he is coming in God’s name.
Even as Jesus laments over Jerusalem,
he doesn’t truly give up.
There’s always another chance,
always opportunity to turn hearts, minds, and behaviors.
Even as he laments over Jerusalem
Jesus wants to protect his people as a hen protects her children
particularly when there’s a fox stalking about
looking to bring destruction.
That’s what the Church reminds us of, too,
as we continue our Lenten journeys.
No matter how infrequently we reflect on and repent of
our anger at our frustration or our impatience
Jesus wants to protect us as a mother hen protects her children
particularly as there are foxes stalking all around
looking to bring destruction to our lives and world.
As we heard on Ash Wednesday,
“This season of Lent provided a time
in which converts to the faith were prepared for Holy Baptism.
It was also a time when those who,
because of notorious sins,
had been separated from the body of the faithful
were reconciled by penitence and forgiveness,
and restored to the fellowship of the Church.
Thereby, the whole congregation was put in mind
of the message of pardon and absolution
set forth in the Gospel of our Savior,
and of the need which all Christians
continually have to renew their repentance and faith.”
The whole congregation was put in mind
of the message of pardon and absolution
set forth in the Gospel of our Savior,
and of the need which all Christians
continually have to renew their repentance and faith.
“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!”
Though we turn away, and our love fails,
God’s love remains steadfast.
Again and again, God calls us to return.
Through prophets and sages God has revealed God’s righteous Law.
In the fullness of time God sent God’s only Son,
born of a woman, to fulfill God’s Law,
and to open for us the way of freedom and peace.
There’s always time for us to repent and return to the Lord.
This Lent,
may we be found willing to let Jesus gather us under his wings
clearing away those things that separate us from him
so that we might more fully and joyfully greet him
at his resurrection.
Amen.