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

In yesterday's reading, 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 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."  Herod is the tetrarch of Galilee.  This is an overt sign that state power wishes to interfere with the ministry of Jesus, and we have already been told about the beheading of John the Baptist (3:19-20, 9:9).  Cyril of Alexandria comments that this warning by the Pharisees comes just after Jesus speaks about judgment, and warns the people that without entering through the "narrow gate," that judgment will not go favorably.  Jesus has explicitly said that "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," which is language frequently aimed at the leadership, and particularly the Pharisees.  Jesus' reply to their warning about Herod is a rebuke:  He will continue casting out demons and performing cures "today and tomorrow."   Moreover, on the "third day" His work will reach its ultimate fullness.  There is a play on words in the Greek; Jesus says that He "completes" the cures and exorcisms He performs today and tomorrow.  This word in modern Greek can mean "conclude" as well.  But the same root forms the verb for "perfect" -- to bring something to its ultimate point of fullness.  He also makes it clear that His departure for Jerusalem, and leaving Galilee, is His choice for the ultimate perfection of His ministry on the "third day."

 "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 tells us that there are three things confirmed here in Jesus' statement.  First, He is voluntarily going to His Passion.  He also displays His great love for Jerusalem despite its continual state of rebellion.  Finally, He expresses here His foreknowledge of how He will be received on the first Palm Sunday.

Even as Jesus has not yet departed Galilee, He expresses His awareness of what will happen in Jerusalem.  Actually, if we look closely at His words, He is describing what must happen in Jerusalem.  He neither concedes to the Pharisees nor to Herod, but nevertheless Jerusalem is where He must go for His Passion.  It's important that we note also that Jesus' language about Jerusalem is expressing His love for it, as heart and center of God's people.  Quite notably, Jesus gives us an unusual maternal image of Himself, as a hen who would gather her brood under her wings.  He says, "How often I wanted to gather your children together."  In that phrase, how often, we can read Jesus speaking as the Lord of the Old Testament, the One who sent the many prophets and others to Jerusalem who were killed and stoned there.  With this language, Jesus also gives us the understanding that His warnings and stern rebukes are made out of love, because He desires those whom He loves to come to Him, through that "narrow gate" He spoke of in yesterday's passage.  This is a question of a love that wants what is best for its wayward children, but does not countenance that which is ultimately destructive, and cannot force a returned love.  What we read then is a kind of excessively painful heartache that is carried by our Lord for His children who do not love Him back.   It is certainly a part of the Cross and His Passion, and it tells us that whatever it is that breaks our own hearts in this world, Christ Himself -- even as Son -- knows full well.  There are those who would ask if God feels pain, and I think that we can point to this passage and read the expression clearly in Jesus' statement regarding those whom He loves, to whom has repeatedly been sent those who would call them back.  It is a lament of loss and desolation, for He knows the conclusion is one of rejection.  What is harder to bear than the rejection of those whom we love?  In chapter 7, we are given the story of the sinful woman who was forgiven much (7:36-50).  He then tells the woman, "Your faith has saved you."  We know that Christ's love is so strong that His forgiveness is endless.  But where our own love and faith is not returned, and communion is broken, even God's love cannot reach.  These passages seem to tell us that the key to all is trust, a communion of little child to parent.  All discipline, any rebuke we read, is made from love.  In Revelation 3:19, the Lord says, "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.  Therefore be zealous and repent."   Our relationship in Christ will always be one of constant learning and growth, our own point of perfection far ahead on that horizon of "fullness."  Can we trust in His love?