Luke 13:1-9, 31-35
If
something bad happens to you, it is because you deserve it
• if your crops fail, it is because you
have displeased God;
• same with illness,
• untimely death,
• any sort of disaster –
• it is because of something you have done,
• it is God’s judgement upon you.
Ever
heard anything like that?
Blaming
the victim was common in the time of Jesus, and it still persists today.
Except,
it isn’t true. When illness or disaster or suffering comes, it isn’t because we
are being judged as more sinful than anyone else. It is not a form of divine
punishment.
It
is easy for us to think that some people are more sinful than we are. There
isn’t a list of sins where some are worse than others; sin is anything that
separates us from God. In the letter to the Romans, Paul writes: all have
sinned and fall short of the glory of God [Romans 3:23 NRSV]
Sin
does a have role in suffering.
• Pilate’s brutal reign was sinful - God
calls leaders to be shepherds, not murder their own people, or line their own
pockets.
• Workers are injured or killed when
profits rate higher than safety
We
want to think that we are immune from seemingly random events; so, it is easier
to say that such events are a judgement from God. But now, as then, cyclones,
tsunamis, workplace accidents and murder are not the fault of the victim.
We
all sin, we all need to come to God, to repent, to turn our lives around.
And
then Jesus tells another story:
The
parable of the barren fig tree turns our attention away from judging others to
looking at our own lives.
It
certainly sounds like it has branches and leaves, it doesn’t sound like it is
dead, just not bearing fruit. If it was dead there would be no reason to keep
it at all.
The
parable is a reminder to us that we need to not only stay alive but to bear
fruit. I wonder how often we are even aware of our lack of fruitfulness, we
appear to be going OK, with nice leafy branches providing shade, strong sturdy trunk
to withstand storms, yet a fig tree that doesn’t bear figs, no matter how
healthy-looking, is just not doing what it was planted for. The tree gets
another chance, and we too get another chance, and another – not because we are
particularly worthy, but because God is gracious and merciful to us.
The final part of our reading:
Jesus,
looking over Jerusalem says:
“How
many times I wanted to put my arms around all your people, just as a hen
gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would not let me!”
The
image of the mother hen is a powerful one.
A
quote:
"If
you have ever loved someone you could not protect,
then
you understand the depth of Jesus' lament.
All
you can do is open your arms.
You
cannot make anyone walk into them.
Meanwhile,
this
is the most vulnerable posture in the world
--wings
spread, breast exposed --
but
if you mean what you say,
then
this is how you stand. …
Jesus
won't be king of the jungle in this or any other story.
What
he will be is a mother hen,
who
stands between the chicks
and
those who mean to do them harm.
She
has no fangs,
no
claws,
no
rippling muscles.
All
she has is her willingness to shield her babies with her own body.”
[Barbara
Brown Taylor Christian Century 2/25/86]
In
the reflecting this week, I have been thinking about the other side of this
mother hen imagery.
Jesus
is like a mother hen, lamenting because the chickens will not come under her
wings.
But
I am not Jesus.
I
am one of the chickens,
and
I confess at times I am one of those chickens who thinks she doesn’t need to be
under the wing.
What
are you like Jerusalem?’ said, Jesus.
‘I’d
like to be a big warm feathery mother hen,
so
that I could gather your children
under
my wings and keep them safe and strong.
But
you wouldn't let me do it Jerusalem.
And
I can’t help you if you won’t let me.” [Spill the Beans]
These
readings take place as Jesus is travelling toward Jerusalem,
he
knows he is unpopular with the religious leaders,
he
knows they see him as a threat to their power-sharing deal with Rome.
But
Jesus continues the journey.
This
morning there are lots of words,
what
I hope you take away from worship this morning,
is
that God loves you,
God
wants you to come and rest in that love
to
find your security and identity in your relationship with God through Jesus
Christ.
