How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!

 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 what 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 from 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!'"  It seems there are some Pharisees who wish to help Christ, and have Him avoid death at the hands of Herod.  But Jesus has different ideas.  He knows what the time is, where He is going, and why.  My study bible says that today's passage shows first of all that Christ is voluntarily going to His Passion.  Also, His great love for Jerusalem is clearly expressed here, despite its continual state of rebellion (O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her!).  Finally, Jesus reveals His foreknowledge of how He will be received on the first Palm Sunday (Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!).   To be perfected is also a way of saying "complete."  He is speaking of the completion or fulfillment of His mission of Incarnation, the consummation of His life.  It comes from the word for "end."

What we note in today's reading is the compassion and love with which Jesus views Jerusalem.  This is despite the fact that Jerusalem is the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her.  Jesus gives us a wonderfully protective maternal image of Himself, so that we may understand our almighty God as the one who wanted to gather Jerusalem's children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings.  This is an image of love, of Mother Church.  It is one that may inform us also of the ancient understanding of Mary as protectress, just as she nurtured and protected her child, Christ, in the world.  It also gives us a powerful understanding of the inviolable free will with which we human beings are endowed by God.  The Son Himself has come to the holy city, and though it is His deepest desire to take Jerusalem under his wings, Jerusalem refuses, was not willing.  There is nothing He can do but profess His love and desire in this motherly and wistful image of loss.  He is sad for Jerusalem, whose house is left desolate.  The teachings we get from Jesus' words today are clearly reflected in His parable of the wicked vinedressers, which will appear in Luke's chapter 20 (20:9-19).   Jesus speaks not only as human being, but as Lord, when He links the killing of the prophets and the stoning of those sent to her with His statement, "How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!"  The desolation that is left is that this visit of the Son will be the final effort of messengers sent to her.  Our Lord does indeed grieve for those who are not willing to respond to God's love.  Whatever else we take from this story, we may take that understanding.  God goes to the Cross, to suffering and death, God suffers from our rejection, God suffers for us.  Let us understand this love, and how free our God has made us, with choice to receive or to reject.