At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” He said to them, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’ Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
Luke 13:31-35
My sermon from the Second Sunday in Lent (March 13, 2022) on Luke 13:31-35.
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A couple of years ago, I was leaving the church office through the door facing Pascack Road when I noticed something through the window. I had already pushed the push bar all the way down but I stopped before I opened the door. Sitting at the top of the steps was something small and fuzzy. It had two large pointy ears, a small pointed black nose, two deep eyes, and fur colored red, gray, and orange. I stopped in my tracks and stayed perfectly still. And when the little baby fox started to sniff around, I knew it had no idea I was there. The little guy – or gal – looked like a stuffed animal that had come to life. It was small, fluffy, adorable, and just waiting to be hugged. The fox explored the area for about ten minutes before walking away. And while I almost went “awww,” I also knew one of its parents had to be nearby. The next day, at about the same time, I was heading out the same door when I spotted something that made me stop. Sitting at the top of the steps was an adult fox staring at me. We don’t see many foxes out here in suburban New Jersey but the reservoir across the street provides a place for them to live. Foxes are predators, spending their days hunting rabbits, birds, and mice. But every once in a while, a fox will attack a pet or even a person. Foxes can be quite handsome but they’re also sly, cunning, clever, and we imagine them to be pretty untrustworthy. We even have a proverb about not letting the fox guard the henhouse. Foxes hunt and kill because that’s what they’re designed to do. And in our reading from the gospel according to Luke, a group of Pharisees go out of their way to tell Jesus that a “fox is after you.”
Now we might wonder why the Pharisees told Jesus that King Herod was after him. Our Bible often describes the relationship between the Pharisees and Jesus to be pretty conflicted. In the decades after Jesus’ death, the writers of scripture used the Pharisees as a foil to Jesus. Yet the Pharisees were, when Jesus began his public ministry, just one of the many different flavors of Judaism. Their religious leaders were known as Rabbis which is what Jesus’ followers called him too. Jesus was engaged in an active conversation with other faithful Jewish people about God’s call for their lives. The Pharisees weren’t the ones who had political power and while they might have disagreed with Jesus about certain things, we also have plenty of stories where Jesus and the Pharisees shared a meal with each other. The motivation behind those meals is sometimes up for debate but I wonder if their relationship to each other is similar to our relationships with different flavors of Christianity. Being a Lutheran Christian is a bit different than, say, being a Roman Catholic Christian or a Coptic Christian. And while we do have a history of fighting against each other – using an unholy amount of war, oppression, and violence – there are moments when we chose to be for each other. Today’s story seems, to me at least, to be a moment when a group of Pharisees chose to be “for” Jesus. That doesn’t mean they followed him or that Jesus followed them. But I think they saw in each other a kind of faithfulness that, while different, could be respected. The Pharisees weren’t big fans of King Herod because he helped oppress the Jewish community. He had political power because Rome gave him that power. He, and the rest of his family, used force and violence to stay in control. And even when he was glitzed out in the finest clothing and following the religious traditions of his people, Herod often chose to rule by fear. He was a fox, always ready to hunt.
So when the Pharisees said “Herod was near,” they were, I think, truly afraid. They were afraid for Jesus, for those who followed Jesus, and for themselves. Herod wouldn’t discriminate against who got caught up in the violence he caused. The Pharisees knew Heord could attack at any time and for any reason. Herod wanted those around him to feel as if there was a fox sitting on their front steps watching everything they do. And when you live in that kind of environment, it’s difficult to live life to the fullest because there’s this fear overshadowing you. It’s a fear that makes us second guess who we are, what we say, and what we do. It’s a fear that doesn’t let us be authentically who we are because we’re scared everything could be taken away. It’s a fear that makes every moment uncomfortable, drawing our focus and energy away from the life God wants us to live. This kind of fear is a powerful motivator which is why some create their own fake fear to further their own agenda. Yet there are those who spend every moment of every day making sure what they say and do doesn’t lead to violence. That kind of life is exhausting because you never know exactly when the fear will be realized. It’s a fear that is sometimes hidden within families that no one else sees and it’s a fear I see lived out among my friends and colleagues with kids who are trans as they gather together piles and piles of documents to show that their kid is really their kid. At any time, their greatest fear can become realized because of the choices others make. Foxes can be anywhere but I’m not sure if God designed us to cause others that kind of fear.
Which is why, I think, Jesus responded in the way he did. He didn’t tell the Pharisees they shouldn’t be afraid or that they should choose faith over fear. He didn’t brush aside what Herod could do or invite everyone to run and hide. Instead, he named Herod as the fox he was and gave them a message to share. Jesus told them to tell his story and the life he chose to live. He was going to keep being Jesus: casting out demons, curing the sick, and bringing wholeness to those in need. He was going to center the stories of those who lived in fear because of the actions of others. Jesus was going to bring good news to everyone in harm’s way even though he was well aware of what we do when God’s love shows up. He wasn’t going to let the lies we tell and the fears we spread limit his story. Instead, in the words of Rev. Jennifer Moland-Kovash, Jesus said: “Go and tell that fox that I’m busy – bringing good news to those who need it, being the hands and feet of God in this world. Go and tell that fox that I’ve got better things to do in this world than huddle in the corner waiting to die. God and tell that fox we’re busy living, but when the time comes, we’ll [always] be under the wings of Jesus.” Jesus doesn’t let the fox center their story at the expense of those longing for God’s love. And that’s because, through baptism and faith, we all have a new story to tell. We live in a world full of foxes yet we don’t have to be one or let foxes tell us who we are. Instead, we get to live into the promises of God and do the living God wants us to do. The good news we bring into the world is that something other than this is possible. That doesn’t mean things won’t be hard or we’ll never be afraid. But we can, together, decenter our fears and embrace the new life we’ve already been given. Jesus has already gathered us under his wings so we, with him and through him, get to do the living God wants us to do.
Amen.