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!

 

 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 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 comments here that today's passage shows first, Christ voluntarily going to His Passion.  Secondly, it displays His great love for Jerusalem in spite of its continual state of rebellion.  Finally, He reveals His foreknowledge of how He will be received on the first Palm Sunday.  

 

Let us note that Jesus' cry, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem" is a lament made with love and sadness, and Jesus also shows His commitment to the mission entrusted in Him, remaining in Jerusalem, "for it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem."  It's quite interesting to think of this image that Jesus has given, of Himself as a would-be mother hen gathering her brood under her wings.  This is a striking maternal image of Jesus that He gives to us directly.  We might take a close look at some historical architecture of Churches to see how it reflects Christ's image here.  Looking at the beautiful and majestic dome of Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom) Church, built in what was then Constantinople (532-537), and minus the minarets added later, we see a very rounded maternal image which reflects Christ's desire to embrace His children as a hen would under her wings.  (See this architectural drawing of the structure.)   This Church was the largest cathedral built in the world for nearly a thousand years, but nonetheless its shape manages to convey the sheltering in the wings of a mother hen, a rounded image with a brilliantly illumined dome that seemed to float above the people.  Interestingly the name Hagia Sophia, "Holy Wisdom," is also feminine in its Greek form, although it refers to Christ Himself.  Why is it important that Christ gives us this picture?  Because it teaches us how our faith works in so many balanced and powerful ways.  Those who would suggest that our faith is merely one of patriarchy would be entirely mistaken, because in Christ's language and practice during His ministry the feminine plays a great role as well.  His love for Jerusalem -- the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! -- is clearly stated here in maternal terms.  It is little wonder that for the Orthodox world, perhaps the greatest image of protector is that of the Virgin Mary, the Theotokos, or "Mother of God."  She is, additionally, considered to be the greatest of the saints, and exalted as the one who exemplifies our faith among human beings.  She bore possible shame and humiliation in her acceptance of her role given by God, protected and sheltered our Lord, and in humility bore the pain that would come as well.  Of course, the whole of the Church and all the faithful is necessary to the faith, and no one is left out. But Christ gives us one of the greatest images we have of what it is to love and care for one's lost children in this image of the mother hen and her brood, and the great desire to protect.  In chapter 15, Luke will also give us the parable of the Prodigal Son, with its image of the father who runs to the returning prodigal.  But let us for today be grateful for Christ's portrayal of His love as that of a hen who longs to protect her lost children, and who will nonetheless stay for the sacrifice He must make at their hands, although they will leave their home desolate.

Your house is left to you desolate

 

 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.  Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.  

 

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.'  Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.  Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers' guilt.  Serpents, brood of vipers!  How can you escape the condemnation of hell?  Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes:  some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.  Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. 

 

"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 chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!  See!  Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'"

 

- Matthew 23:27-39 

 

In our current readings, it is Holy Week, and Jesus has been disputing in the temple with the religious leaders, who question His authority.  On Wednesday, the readings gave us the beginning of Christ's final public sermon, an eight-fold indictment of the practices of the scribes and Pharisees.  Yesterday, we read the next part of that sermon:  "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers.  Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.  Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.'  Fools and blind!  For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold?  And, 'Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.'  Fools and blind!  For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift?  Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it.  He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it.  And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it.  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law:  justice and mercy and faith.  These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.  Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!   Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.  Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also." 

 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.  Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness."  Jesus continues His sermon in the same theme from yesterday's reading (above), the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees.  Here He describes that state of their hypocrisy as being akin to whitewashed tombs.  In this context of hypocrisy and lawlessness we should remember that the earliest teachings of the apostles included the teaching of the two ways:  the way of life and the way of death (see the Didache).  This tradition was also found in Judaism, and so would be familiar to Christ's hearers in the temple.  Surely the association with tombs and dead men's bones and all uncleanness would indicate the way of death.

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.'  Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets."  Again, here are more associations of their hypocrisy with death, but this time the accusation is one of continuation in the way of the murderers of God's servants, the prophets, those who bear the word of God into the world.   

 

 "Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers' guilt.  Serpents, brood of vipers!  How can you escape the condemnation of hell?  Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes:  some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.  Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation."  Jesus speaks directly to the scribes and Pharisees as those who continue in the ways of the ones who killed the prophets, but this time it is  a prophecy of persecution of those who will come in the name of Christ, and also a prophecy of what is to come upon this generation.  Some teach that Zechariah, son of Berechiah was the prophet at the time of Joash the king (2 Chronicles 24:20-22), but others, including Fr. Stephen De Young, say it refers to the father of St. John the Baptist, who, according to tradition, was also murdered in the temple.  When Jesus uses the epithet, "Serpents, brood of vipers!"  He's using images of demons, and so is associating the behaviors of the scribes and Pharisees, and those whom He's calling their fathers, with the work of evil.

"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 chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!  See!  Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'"  My study Bible comments here that God's deepest desire is the reconciliation of God's people, yet most do not want Him.  This desolate house Christ describes is a reference both to the temple and also to the nation itself.  My study Bible points out that "house" can be used to mean "family" or "tribe" (see Psalms 115:12, 135:19).  It says that both the temple and the nation will be without God's presence once Christ departs.

Jesus' words in today's reading are so serious that they should give everyone pause.  What He says is the depth to which we may hold responsibility for actions that may be politically motivated, but that in effect harm the prophets of God.  There is a powerful thread of bearing responsibility for our failure to recognize the consequences of what we do when we act against the power of God, against the Holy Spirit.  Prophets come into the world as those who do not fit easily into a social construct or way of thinking.  They are those who call those in authority, or the practices of a whole society, back to God when they have strayed and practice that which is not acceptable in the sight of God.  Of course, the responsibility for such practices also depends upon the extent to which such people should "know better," their spiritual understanding and education.  But in this case, in this great indictment of the scribes and Pharisees, Jesus is speaking to people who are steeped in the entirety of Jewish spiritual tradition and in the Scriptures.  He is speaking to those who not only know the prophets, but also claim, "If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets."  They are entirely familiar with the activity of the Holy Spirit throughout the spiritual history of Israel, and so, their rejection of Christ carries with it the responsibility for the denial of what they see in His ministry.  This is an extremely powerful example for ourselves today, because we have our own knowledge of the power of God, the Holy Spirit, the ministry of Christ, and of all the saints that have come in His name since.  We are aware of what our teachings tell us about compassion and faith in God, and about holiness itself.  These are things that this passage calls upon us to take seriously, especially in terms of our own blindness to them when they may be present to us in our own lives.  For we all bear not simply a responsibility for our spiritual capacity to hear and see such things, but also our lives are blighted by such blindness and deafness.  There are ways in which we are diminished and lessened, even when we are blind to spiritual truth.  For, possibly like these men to whom Jesus directs His criticism in Matthew's chapter 23, when we do feel the effects of our own rejection of holiness in our midst, it might be in a way that has eluded our awareness -- a course that may be too late to change.  Even the destruction of Jerusalem and its terrible violence would seem on material terms to simply be part of the force of Roman might and military.  But Christ here connects that outcome with the long line of rejection of God's work, and more to come that He foresees.  Let us be alert to what God seeks for us to see and to hear today.

Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers' guilt. Serpents, brood of vipers!

 

 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.  Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.'  Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.  Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers' guilt.  Serpents, brood of vipers!  How can you escape the condemnation of hell?  Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes:  some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.  Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

"Oh 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 chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!  See!  Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'"

 

- Matthew 23:27-39 

 

In yesterday's reading, we continued with Jesus' final public sermon (read the beginning in Wednesday's reading).  Jesus said, "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers.  Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.  Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.'  Fools and blind!  For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold?  And, 'Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.'  Fools and blind!  For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift?  Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it.  He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it.  And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it.  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law:  justice and mercy and faith.  These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.  Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.  Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also."

 

 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.  Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.'  Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.  Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers' guilt.  Serpents, brood of vipers!  How can you escape the condemnation of hell?"  Earlier, Jesus told the parable of the Wicked Vinedressers, in which the vineyard owner (representing God) sent many servants to ask for the fruit of the harvest (the prophets sent to Israel).  Finally, the wicked vinedressers, who've leased the land, decide to kill the son of the owner (representing Christ) when he is sent to them.  Here in this part of Christ's final public sermon, Jesus links the leadership of His time with the leaders who murdered the prophets, declaring they are in the same lineage as those who were partakers in the blood of the prophets.  Their hypocrisy is condemned by Christ as it is covers staggering sins, which they are about to extend from the past murder of many servants/prophets into another terrible murder of the Son.  He says to them, in this context, that they take upon themselves the sin of the past by extending it into the present, "Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers' guilt." 

"Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes:  some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.  Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation."   Here Jesus clearly links the parable of the Wicked Vinedressers to the prophets, wise men, and scribes which are to come in His name, affirming their responsibility for the continued persecutions begun in acts against the murdered prophets of the past.  In Jesus' words, they are all linked from the same impulse and in the same lineage.  The murder of Abel was the first murder, and was done for spiritual envy (Genesis 4:1-15), the reference to precisely which Zechariah Jesus names is disputed in the tradition of the Church.  Some of the patristic teachers say this was the prophet at the time of Joash the king (2 Chronicles 24:20-22), and others say it refers to the father of St. John the Baptist, who according to tradition, was also murdered in the temple.  At any rate, we are to understand from Christ's words the whole chronicle of martyrs, from the first murder to the last prophet murdered, the guilt of which is cemented by future acts in which they will kill and crucify, scourge, and persecute those sent in Christ's name, so that all these things will come upon this generation.

"Oh 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 chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!  See!  Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'"  My study Bible comments that God's deepest desire is the reconciliation of God's people, yet most do not want God.  The desolate house refers both to the temple and to the nation itself, for house can be used to mean "family or "tribe" (see Psalms 115:12, 135:19).   My study Bible adds that both the temple and the nation will be without God's presence once Christ departs.

There is an interesting concept which Jesus expresses in today's reading that should give us pause to think.  He refers to all the unjust murders of the past -- and specifically those martyred for reasons of faithfulness to God, especially servants of God such as the prophets and others -- as contained also within such acts going into the immediate future.  In other words, the continuation of such types of acts incurs the collective guilt of the precedents.  This is something we need to think about, as our faith does not nominally hold anyone responsible for the sins committed by others.  But at Jesus' words we need to think.  If we would collectively mourn and rue terrible acts of sin through the murder of innocent martyrs, servants of God, of the past, does that not give us a responsibility in terms of the things we ourselves do in life?  Should we mourn terrible injustices of the past, and yet move along to commit the same sorts of crimes?  Here, Christ is speaking of crimes committed precisely because a servant of God (such as a prophet) is sent with a message from God to the people, calling people back to God.  He extends that to the servants (I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes) whom they will also persecute and murder.  If they understand and mourn the terrible acts of the past, if they mourn the murder of the prophets of the past and claim they would not do such things as their ancestors have done, then what culpability will they have when the do the same?  Of course, it is Christ Himself who knows what is going to happen to Him at the end of this very week through which we're reading in the Gospels.  He knows they plot against Him, and that He will go to His crucifixion.  But here, He does not mention Himself.  Instead He refers to those whom He will send whom this leadership will also persecute, scourge, and murder.  It should, at the very least, give us pause to consider that when we do something similar to that which we have condemned in others of the past, we take the responsibility of that past crime upon ourselves.  It is the greatest act of hypocrisy to condemn an injustice of the past, especially one implying such serious understanding as committed against one who bears a message of God, but to engage in the same oneself.   Christ's words should teach us about our own acts of hypocrisy, to weigh our decisions in light of what exactly we would join in condemning of the past.  For the same temptations and evils, as Jesus Himself points out here, come in the future.  God will continue to attempt to reach us, and we will be faced with similar choices about message we don't like to hear, and the temptation to respond with hatred against the messenger, even the spiritual envy of Cain for one who was favored by God for his sacrifice.  Let us weigh the options of repentance and sin, and think about Christ's words, for sin continues, and our options remain the same. 

 

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 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.'"   As Herod Antipas is the ruler (tetrarch) of Galilee, this tells us that Jesus, although He has begun to journey toward Jerusalem, is still in Galilee.  It is also quite interesting that there are Pharisees who seek to protect Jesus from the one who rules for Rome.  Jesus' reply is bold; although He speaks in what is no doubt a riddle both to these Pharisees and to Herod when He refers to the third day.   He nevertheless asserts His power against the adversary, the evil one, and that He will complete His mission 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 comments that this passage shows first that Christ is voluntarily going to His Passion, and second it shows His great love for Jerusalem despite its continual state of rebellion.  Finally, on display here is also Christ's foreknowledge that He will be received on the first Palm Sunday with the words "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!" (see 19:37-38).

Jesus speaks of His love for Jerusalem.  In today's reading we're given this extremely interesting, feminine image of Christ as a mother hen, who "gathers her brood under her wings."  This speaks of a tremendous love, a maternal protective love.  It is interesting to understand this image in these words as given to us by Jesus, and also to consider that throughout Christian history the image of the Virgin Mary as protector of the faithful, especially in times of war, has remained strong in both East and West.  For Byzantium, Mary, in a famous hymn, is called "Champion General."  This hymn was composed fter a famous incident in the tenth century, in which enemy armies, encamped and prepared to attack outside the gates of Constantinople, mysteriously changed their minds and simply left.   The city was unprotected at the time, as its army was fighting far away, so the people and religious leaders made supplications for intercession by Mary -- in the midst of which occurred a vision of her at fervent prayer for the Christian city.  In the Battle of Lepanto (which took place in what is now called Nafpaktos/Ναύπακτος in modern Greece) an alliance of Catholic states defended the West successfully against  Ottoman Armies, turning back the tide of Ottoman aggression.  This victory was credited to the Virgin Mary, to whom the Pope had ordered the people to pray for intercession through the use of the Rosary.  There are many other such instances in which the protection of a people has been ascribed to the protection of Mary as intercessor, as one who prays for the people to her Son Jesus.  Noteworthy indeed are the feminine images of protection for defensive victory in battle against a hostile aggressor, that perhaps begin here with Christ's image of Himself as mother hen who would so often have protected the brood of Jerusalem as her baby chicks, but they were not willing.  With hearts far away from Him, Jesus says, "Your house is left to you desolate," an image of emptiness and abandonment.  It suggests to me that, as full or empty as our hearts are with love of God, this is the fullness (or desolation) of our house.  At this stage, Christ has come in a long line of succession of prophets, to call the people back to God.  As Jesus says, Jerusalem is the city where the prophets were killed, and that stones the ones sent to her.  But He is the Son, and another will not be sent after Him.   The desolation to which He refers will manifest in the Siege of Jerusalem, which will take place in 70 AD, about a generation after Christ's crucifixion.  In the modern world, we do not often run across feminine images for protection against an enemy army.  But the whole history of Christianity has given us a different perspective in terms of God's protective and loving nature, starting with the image of the mother hen that Christ gives us here, and continuing until today as Churches East and West still call upon Mary for supplication during times of extreme peril, especially military in nature.  Let us be assured that our strength is in our faith, and the way of desolation is when we abandon that faith, and our hearts are no longer full of love for Christ and the grace and mercy that is His way.  Let us consider in times of trouble where our hearts must be full, so that our home is full and healthy with the promise of life and renewal.