How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! John 13:34b
Recently it was pointed out to me that hens are so fiercely protective of their young that rather than run from predators, they will circle their chicks with their large wings, and use their bodies as barriers between their offspring and whatever comes to harm it. As has been pointed out by many writers before me, most in our present culture only see the hen as an egg machine or the main course at Sunday dinner, but it has long been the symbol of fierce and determined motherhood.
Our Lord in this passage is speaking to the people of Jerusalem just before His own death. He reminds them that this is, “the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!” He tells the citizens, but also us, that he wants to shield us and stand in the way of all that would harm us. But even the holy city turns away, rejecting the good God sends to it. And we, even believers, often think that the prophet is crazy and cannot have anything to offer. I know I have frequently met the need for God’s love with a redoubling of faulty faith in my abilities figure out what I assume is a better way.
When we reject God, we do not merely reject an idea or the person of Christ. We reject the gifts of grace and goodness. We reject our own greater good for a false sense of safety. Perhaps it is true that many are lost, not because they want to go to (or put themselves through) Hell, but because they don’t want to go to Heaven. This is faith: to choose the liberty of what may seem to the world an invisible protector over the “sure thing” of human intellect.
Father God, may we always be aware of your presence and willingness to take us in. May we always be willing to allow your wings to encircle and protect us. In the name of Christ Jesus, Amen.
