Lent 2: Protection from The Fox
Psalm 118 19-29, Luke 13: 31-35
About 600 years before the time of Jesus, the Greek story-teller Aesop, told this story:
There was once a cockerel, settling himself down to sleep, safe in the branches of a tree. Just as he was starting to nod off, a fox came along and looked up into the tree, at the cockerel, far too high up to be caught for dinner.
“Have you heard the wonderful news?” said the fox
“Peace has been declared across the animal kingdom. We are no longer enemies, but friends. Come and down to me and let’s celebrate our new friendship.”.
But the cockerel appeared to be looking intently into the forest beyond the fox.
“What are you looking at?” asked the fox.
“I see some dogs coming this way. They must have heard the good news of peace in the animal kingdom. We can all celebrate together!”.
The fox immediately started to run away “I have just remembered somewhere I need to be… goodbye”,
The cockerel chuckled, settled his head into his feathers, and fell asleep in the safety of his tree.
Aesop’s fable works because we all know that the fox and chicken will never be friends – and it’s good to see the sly old fox outwitted.
Jesus uses those same stereotypes when he is warned by the Pharisees that Herod wants to kill him. “Go and tell that fox that I am about my work”.
Herod was the puppet ruler of Galilee, always careful to keep on the right side of the occupying Roman army. He was Herod Antipas, a son of Herod the great – his father was the one visited by the Magi.
Herod Antipas was the ruler who had John the Baptist beheaded for criticising Herod’s marriage to his half-brother’s ex-wife.
I’m sure the Pharisees didn’t waste any breath trying to defend the reputation of Herod Antipas – ‘that fox’ – murderous, dangerous, scheming.
So Jesus, in this encounter, is the chicken: the hunted, the endangered, the vulnerable.
Yet he doesn’t sound like it.
“It is impossible for a prophet to be killed away from Jerusalem” says Jesus – and that is his goal. He is not interested in his own escape and safety, but his work to save others.
“How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings”.
Jesus is concerned with the protection of others, not himself. He is engaged in what might look like very un-chickenlike behaviour. Herod may be a typical fox, but Jesus is a very un-typical chicken: giving his life for the salvation of others.
To underline what his work is, as he goes to Jerusalem to face the suffering which he knows is to come, Jesus says of the people of Jerusalem
“you will not see me until the time comes when you say, 'Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord’.”
Jesus is using words from Psalm 118 – which we read earlier – but it is hard for us to hear those word without immediately thinking of Palm Sunday. As Jesus entered Jerusalem at the start of what we call Holy Week, the crowds welcomed him with palm branches and shouted “blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord”.
Jesus will soon enter Jerusalem in plain view, not hiding or seeking safety – and begin the chain of events which will lead to his death..and ultimately to his resurrection.
Two thousand years later we read these words of Jesus and wonder what it means for us.
On the one hand it is another story which shows us Jesus deliberately facing suffering and death – one of those stories which helps us, in Lent, to make sense of the journey of Jesus from teacher and healer in Galilee to someone who dies a criminal’s death in Jerusalem.
But more personally, I think this story helps us when we feel like the foxes are everywhere and we are the chickens, facing a dreadful threat.
You don’t have to watch much news to see foxes at work in our world – living for greed, violence, power – and we might feel like chickens, not knowing which way to turn for safety.
Or in our personal lives, we might sometimes feel hemmed in by the foxes of worry – about heath, about family, about our sense of purpose.
When we feel that we are the chicken in the story, what can we do?
Listen to what Jesus says “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord”.
Jesus, the one who longs to care for the chickens of this world, reminds us that he is the one promised by God, through the Psalmist, who will bring rescue and salvation and a love that lasts forever.
We know those words are used by the crowd on Palm Sunday – and we use those words “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord” often, in our prayer of thanksgiving at communion. Jesus, the one who brings us safety and salvation, offers to come to us in the bread and wine of communion as we remember all that he did for us in life, through death, and in resurrection life.
Jesus is the one blessed with eternal life by God the Father, who offers us that same life and blessing when the foxes surround us. Feeling like a helpless chicken? Be blessed by the protection of Jesus, who lays down his life to save all who need his help.
The astonishing thing is that those who know the protection of Jesus can be inspired to live lives of discipleship which can offer protection to others.
One amazing example of this is given by Martin Luther King. In his autobiography, he expresses the same sort of bravery and resolve that we hear from Jesus.
In March 1965, King led three peaceful marches from Selma , Alabama to the State Capital Montgomery, protesting for the right of black people to vote. On Sunday 7th March the protestors were beaten back by police with batons – some even died.
Before setting out for another attempt at crossing the bridge on Tuesday, March 9, 1965, King told those gathered, “I say to you this afternoon that I would rather die on the highway of Alabama than make a butchery of my conscience. I say to you, when we march, don’t panic and remember that we must remain true to nonviolence. I’m asking everybody in the line, if you can’t be nonviolent, don’t get in here. If you can’t accept blows without retaliating don’t get in the line. If you can accept it out of your commitment to nonviolence, you will somehow do something for this nation that may well save it.”
These words have been described as the words of a man who knows that to be safe with God does not mean safety in the world. They are spoken by a man who knows Christ and follows his non-violent path to peace and justice.
But I recognise that we are not all called to be Martin Luther King as we follow Jesus Christ.
Even so, there are ways in which as followers of Jesus we can be part of offering protection and nurture to others in a word of snarling foxes.
Some of us know about how to offer real-life protection to the vulnerable – through caring for family members; through nurturing life in our work; through speaking up for those who are not often listened to; through praying for those for whom life is most difficult.
We can all know ourselves protected by the love of Jesus, and then we can join with Jesus in offering protection to others from the foxes of this world, so that one day the whole world may live in peace.
In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Comments