Ever hear a fox scream? It’s not pretty. I actually think foxes are cute, but their screams are terrifying. When you hear their screams you would think it would belong to a more fearsome creature than a little fox.
Calling someone a “fox” in ancient Jewish culture implies that that person is not only sly but also that person is not as big of a threat as they appear to be or as a big of a threat that people think they are. This is deeply insulting for people like Herod who did indeed possess a lot of power and who did pose a threat. At the wave of his hand, he could have anyone killed just like he did to John the Baptist. But this did not bother Jesus. While Jesus acknowledges the power that Herod has, he knows that Herod is not all-powerful.
Herod identified as Jewish, but his family’s lavish lifestyle did not gain him much favor among the Jewish people. Especially since the majority of Jews struggled to put food on the table for their families due to an unfair tax system imposed upon them by the Roman Empire, which only benefitted the wealthy class. It’s safe to say that while Herod proclaimed he was for the Jewish people and acted out of Jewish teachings, his actions – specifically his willingness to side with and work for a corrupt government – showed otherwise.
Jesus makes it clear he’s got a tight schedule for the next few days. He has people to heal and demons to cast out so he can’t be bothered with empty threats. He knows what he needs to accomplish in the next few days and neither Herod nor the Pharisees can keep him from Jerusalem.
Jerusalem is the heart of Judaism. It’s where the Temple is located (the Dome of the Rock is now where the Temple of Jesus’ day once stood). Many Israelites would travel hundreds of miles to Jerusalem for the Passover each year. Passover was a time for Israel to remember how God freed them from slavery in Egypt. While Jerusalem is a holy site, it is not a perfect one. The city had a history of killing and torturing its prophets such as Jeremiah, Zechariah, and Amos. The average Jew, however, did not want to see Jerusalem in this way.
Many did not want to acknowledge the dark spots of Jerusalem’s past because they didn’t want to taint their holy image of Jerusalem. But the problem was that it was only an image. To deny any part of history is to miss the opportunity to make the present and the future better.
While the Israelites refused to acknowledge Jerusalem’s violence against her own prophets, Jesus did. In doing so you can hear the pain in his voice. He implores: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem…how I long to gather your children like a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!”
It’s easy for us who have 20/20 hindsight of history to judge those who didn’t believe Jesus when Jesus walked among them. People of Jerusalem: “How could you not believe him? He’s standing right before you in the flesh?” I think, however, that if Jesus stood among us today, we too would have a hard time believing him. This is because what kept the citizens from Jerusalem from believing in Jesus can keep us from believing in him today.
Greed had infiltrated Jerusalem. The Temple was supposed to be a place of prayer and worship, but we see later in Luke how Jesus overturns the tables of merchants in the courtyard of the Temple, who were profiting off of the poor who just wanted to make a faithful sacrifice at the temple. In doing so Jesus also incriminates the leaders of the Temple for allowing this to happen. The people who were supposed to be leaders and servants of God’s people are now oppressors of God’s people.
Then there’s the issue of power. Prophets in the Old Testament who called out Israel’s leaders for for abusing their power were stoned. Stoning was meant for those who break God’s law. Ironically those in power twisted God’s law to stop the very people God sent as messengers. Notice that it’s the leaders and the insiders of the religious community who are responsible for the corruption in Jerusalem. Those with authority used it to secure their own profit, whether it was for money or power, instead of taking care of God’s people, which is what they were supposed to do all along. Those who professed to be God’s people acted against God. This was shown in their mistreatment of others. This can and does happen anywhere.
Beth Moore is a popular Christian author and speaker. While I don’t agree with all of her theological views, I appreciate her passion for others to know Jesus Christ and to know the Bible. I’ve used some of her Bible studies and have found them helpful. Moore found refuge at her local Southern Baptist Church as a young girl growing up in a dysfunctional home where she was abused. As an adult she proved herself to be a dynamic and knowledgeable Bible teacher whose speaking events and book sales became a financial juggernaut. That is until she spoke out against the powers that be.
When a troubling expose came out about how numerous Southern Baptist churches covered up sexual abuse cases against women by prominent pastors and ministry leaders, Beth Moore, a survivor of sexual abuse herself spoke up and spoke out. That’s when the backlash came. The backlash worsened when Moore spoke out against politicians who bragged about sexual exploits with women. Moore was confident that the leadership of the SBC would join her in her criticism given their response to Bill Clinton’s infidelity in the 90s.
Instead, prominent pastors and leaders in the SBC and beyond attacked Beth Moore for being too “liberal,” “too woke,” and “a false teacher.” One prominent pastor simply declared that Beth Moore should “Go home.” All because she spoke for those whose voices had been silenced. For those who had been abused. And what Beth Moore said threatened their power and influence.
As much as the Bible tells us who God is, the Bible also speaks truth about who we are. Herod, the Pharisees, and others who claim to be for God and for Israel, were really just about greed and power. But let’s be honest. This same hunger for greed and power exists in each of us.
We live in a world obsessed with status and power. Even in the most mundane of places. In the workplace, an individual slyly takes credit for the work of another employee. In churches, people slyly push their agendas for the hiring of the next pastor, how mission money should be spent, or what color the new carpet should be in fellowship halls.
This is why in our denomination we have checks and balances to ensure that no one person or one group holds all of the power. But as much as that helps it’s not perfect and there are still struggles for power.
At the end of the day we all want to retain as much power as we can because power gives us a sense of worth. A sense of importance. A sense of who we are and what we do matter. Power means that people actually listen to us and validate our contributions. To lose power in any areas of our lives, our work places, the places where we volunteer, and even our own families, we fear becoming obsolete. We fear becoming cast aside and no longer valued by others.
The danger is that we become driven by fear instead of by Christ’s love. As John reminds us in 1 John 4:18: “Perfect love drives out fear.”
But it can be scary to submit to God’s perfect love for all in Jesus Christ. God’s love holds us together, but God’s love sheds light on what we try to keep hidden. While that process is humbling and downright hurtful, it’s necessary because we will then be brought back to Christ. Christ, not our need for power, is back at the center.
This is why Jesus says he longs to gather Jerusalem to him as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. Just as little chicks find security and protection under the wings of their mother we too will find the same in Jesus Christ. In Christ, we find rest from the fear that we are losing power. In Christ, we know we are valued for who we are and not for the power we hold. In Christ and only in Christ is the security we all crave, but mistakenly feel we have to fight for. Christ knows we need him, but he wants us to know this for ourselves. Just as he implores Jerusalem to come back to him he implores us to do the same.
Those who raise chickens know that chicks have a greater chance of survival if they stay close to their mother. Not all chicks run to their mother in times of danger. Some become paralyzed by fear or try to save themselves from any lurking predators. A mother hen, however, is not fast enough to gather all of the chicks back into the shelter of her wings. The chicks have to stay close or return to the hen for protection.
Time and time again we stray away from God and therefore we easily forget who God is and who God says we are. We forget that Christ has determined our worth by willingly giving his life for us. The further we are from God the easier it is to fall back into the fear of losing any power that makes us feel valued.
Despite Jerusalem’s (and our) unwillingness to accept the refuge and security that only Jesus can offer, Jesus still willingly goes to Jerusalem to give his life on the cross. Nothing was going to stop Jesus from arriving at the cross – not even the most powerful people such as Herod or the Pharisees could get in his way. Our unwillingness to return to Christ does not undo what Jesus has accomplished on the cross. The resurrection has already happened.
The resurrection of Christ is always the last word. But this doesn’t mean words of repentance should not be said.
Many of us fall into the trap of thinking we are following Jesus, but instead we are following voices that proclaim to be for Jesus, but are anything but Christ-like. We need to be able to tell the difference. Herod was a politician who proclaimed he was for God’s people, but his actions showed he was more in line with an Empire that secured his own power and status in the world.
My hope for this Lenten season is to go to God’s word to learn more about God. Not to the social media influencers, politicians, and political pundits who say they are for and with Jesus. We need to go to Jesus himself who we learn about through God’s word. To go anywhere or to anyone else is to turn away from Christ. Lent is a time to repent. Repentance means to literally change direction. I can’t think of a better time than Lent to reflect upon whether or not we truly are walking in the way of Jesus by learning where Jesus walked, who he walked with, and why he kept walking to the cross as shown in God’s word.
We’re all in danger of following a Herod. We’re all in danger of seeking to secure our power before anyone or anything else. The way to avoid that is to constantly come back to Jesus, who is our protector and in whom we find shelter.
