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 taught, "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 will 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 passage that it shows, first, that Christ voluntarily is going to His Passion; secondly, His great love for Jerusalem despite its continual state of rebellion; and finally, His foreknowledge of how He will be received on the first Palm Sunday (Luke 19:28-44).  

As it draws nearer to the time of the Cross, we find that both the state and religious establishments are bound to be against Christ.  First of all, some Pharisees are warning Him about Herod's intent to kill Him.  Herod is Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee, commonly called King.  He rules for Rome, and is the son of Herod the Great who was responsible for the slaughter of the innocents in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:16-18).  Herod Antipas has already had John the Baptist beheaded (Luke 9:7-9), and we have read that he fears that Jesus is John risen from the dead because of the many signs Christ does.  But Jesus turns His attention away from Galilee and toward Jerusalem, for that is where His Passion will happen.  He gives a dismissive and assertive reply back for Herod ("Go, tell that fox, 'Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected'").  But His real focus, as we note, is on Jerusalem, "for it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem." We note Jesus' lament, "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!'" As my study Bible notes, Jesus' lament is filled with love.  Indeed, this is a stunning reference in that He portrays Himself with a feminine reference in the image of a mother hen who gathers her chicks under her wings for protection, but these children in Jerusalem were not willing.  The religious leadership is unwilling to heed His warnings and prophecies (Luke 11:37-54).  Also noteworthy in today's passage is Christ's reference to Himself as a prophet.  But, like the prophets before Himself, Christ's prophetic role means rejection by the religious establishment in Jerusalem.  Let us note that He remains the Christ, the Messiah, although prophecy is clearly one of the roles He has also fulfilled as Messiah.  So, as the state begins to menace Him, the stage is set, and once again, as we have observed in the readings over the past week or so, we become aware that for Christ it is the light of the Cross that now leads the way toward Jerusalem.  We note the poignant way that passion is combined with love, Christ's wistful regret over the choices of His children as a brood of chicks a mother hen seeks to protect, and also His reference to Jerusalem as "the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her!"  And again, as we have observed so often throughout the past week of readings or so, the drawing near of the Cross and His human death also tells us that Judgment is near, that inescapable time that will come to all of us, about which He has continually warned His disciples and those who follow Him regarding the time of our lives in this world and how precious it is.  Now is the time, in today's reading, as He will head toward Jerusalem, He clearly indicates that His rejection at Jerusalem means for the religious leaders, "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!'"  That time to which Jesus refers is the coming of the Kingdom at the final judgment.  His ministry is drawing to a close, and the time for repentance, due to hardness of heart, is past.  There is no time limit on God's mercy, but there is a natural progression that happens in the  heart through rejection of God, the passing of a point of the possibility for our own "change of mind."  In the eyes of the Church, we may become so hardened to God's truth that we render ourselves incapable of repentance.  Today's passage tells us about God's personal love, expressed by Jesus as that of a mother hen who wants only to care for and protect her chicks.  Let us remember this image, for it is the image of God's love always extended to us, if we are willing.