O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!

 Christ Pantocrator/Logos (Deesis - Supplication), detail, Hagia Sophia

On that very day some Pharisees came, saying to Him, "Get out and depart from here, for Herod wants to kill You."  And He said to them, "Go tell that fox, 'Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.'  Nevertheless I must journey today, tomorrow, and the day following; for it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem.  O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her!  How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!  See!  Your house is left to you desolate; and assuredly, I say to you, you shall not see Me until the time comes when you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'"

- Luke 13:31-35

Yesterday, we read that Jesus said, "What is the kingdom of God like?  And to what shall I compare it?   It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and put in his garden; and it grew and became a large tree, and the birds of the air nested in its branches."  And again He said, "To whom shall I liken the kingdom of God?  It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened."  And He went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem.  Then one said to Him, "Lord, are there few who are saved?"  And He said to them, "Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.  When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open for us,' and He will answer and say to you, 'I do not know you, where you are from,' then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.'  But He will say, 'I tell you I do not know you, where you are from.  Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.'  There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out.  They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God.  And indeed there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last."

On that very day some Pharisees came, saying to Him, "Get out and depart from here, for Herod wants to kill You."  And He said to them, "Go tell that fox, 'Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.'  Nevertheless I must journey today, tomorrow, and the day following; for it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem.  O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her!  How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!  See!  Your house is left to you desolate; and assuredly, I say to you, you shall not see Me until the time comes when you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'"    My study bible says of today's reading:  "This passage shows (1) Christ voluntarily going to His Passion, (2)  His great love for Jerusalem in spite of its continual state of rebellion, and (3)  His foreknowledge of how He will be received on the first Palm Sunday."

Jesus' lament over Jerusalem tells us of His great love for the people.  All of His recent warnings about Judgment, about the signs of the time, have been stark admonitions given out of love and the deep longing to save.  He knows what is going to happen when He reaches Jerusalem, and He knows what the Passion will hold.  Nevertheless, He laments -- not for Himself, but for the people who are going to reject Him.  We are given a maternal image of Jesus here:  a hen who gathers her brood protectively under her wings.  Some people associate a partridge with this portrayal of Christ from His own example (a partridge is a bird with large broods, her chicks near her at all times).  Whatever way we look at His teaching and analogy for His feelings, we must read love and care, and a willingness to sacrifice for those whom He loves.  His lament is for those who will put Him to death.  Nothing can change His love.  He envisions a house desolate as a result, and it is a devastating understanding.  So profound is this love that Jesus gives a very maternal, literally feminine image (mother hen) of His desire to care for His children.  It turns us back to the understanding that in God there is no gender, and in a truly god-like person we share many characteristics that are assigned to both genders as distinctive.  The courage of this picture of the protective mother is usually assigned as a "masculine" trait, but Christ calls each of us to both "masculine" and "feminine" virtues.  Finally, in the image of the mother hen we must see a vision for the Church.  Jesus remains this great maternal image in that it is His Church that is to be the shelter for all of us together.  Protective, maternal, and nurturing, the Church is supposed to be the gathering place for each of us, with all of our uniquenesses and differences, every charism.  If you look at the architecture of the ancient church of Hagia Sophia (Saint Sophia, or more truly Holy Wisdom), you will see its broad round dome.  Although the church was staggeringly impressive in its conception, beauty, size, and interior decoration, the message is clear from the architecture:  it's a great broad sheltered gathering place, the feminine image of the mother that gathers her children in the humble image of a dome.  To the Greek Orthodox, Holy Wisdom is Logos; the feminine word Sophia (meaning "Wisdom") is also a name of the One we call the Son.  The icon above is Logos - Christ Pantocrator (Almighty), the risen Lord who is the Son.  Again, there is no gender in God as the Persons of the Trinity (that's in contrast to His Incarnation as Jesus, a male human being).  In modern photos of the Hagia Sophia you will see also minarets built by Ottoman conquerors who for a time converted the Church to a mosque.  (There are modern day calls in Turkey to once again turn it into a mosque.  It is currently a museum.)  These minarets stand in stark contrast to the conceived architecture of the Church.  It gives us an idea of the Protection of Christ, a concept so important to the Church from its earliest centuries, wherein the beautiful mosaic of Christ as child with Mary also becomes yet another icon of protection.  In all of these images, we get the sense of Christ's love, mirrored also in the images of His human mother, Mary, and the love and protection she expresses for her child, and for so many Christians, as the one who prays with us.  In my icon page, you can see several example of this loving gaze.  Let us remember Jesus' own words describing His lament over His children who will lose by refusing what He offers, what He brings to the world as gift, pure grace.  It's a lament for the whole history of Israel, the people of God, to whom also have been sent prophets.  Let us not forget the dignity in His protection, His lament, His great love for each of us.  Protection in the context of this reading is above all else a spiritual protection, something He conferred on His disciples.  It doesn't mean our worldly lives are perfect; for martyrs life provides great challenges, and we are all called to "witness."  But this protection works within, for the integrity of our souls and our understanding of ourselves, the unity of love we have with God, in Christ.