| Sunday, March 17 | Read Luke 13: 31-35 |
“How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing.” (v. 34)
Mother God
Pharisees confronted Jesus, warning him to leave Jerusalem because Herod wanted to kill him. That set off a reply from Jesus, who attempted to set them straight about why he was on earth – and in Jerusalem – at this time. They were trying to be helpful, but they did not understand who he was. They did not believe. They did not have faith that Jesus was God incarnate.
There is a very touching, yet woeful, statement within this detailed rebuke from Jesus —a statement that resounds throughout the centuries to those of us who think we know what needs to be done to make things right. Jesus tells the Pharisees that he longs to gather all God’s children as a hen would, to protect them, to encourage them, to speak to them. We are those children God wants to mother, but so often we are not willing to be gathered under God’s wings. We think we can do it ourselves; we think we have it all figured out; we think we alone can help when the true help always comes through God.
This reluctance to “let go and let God” describes me perfectly. I see myself as one of the Pharisees, panicked because of what I have heard about Herod’s intent. This Jesus is a nice man. He does not deserve to be killed. I want to help. And so I blunder with good intentions through life instead of turning to God. I do not see; I do not listen to God, even when God is right in front of me. I do not take refuge under God’s almighty wings where I could hear God’s voice instead of my own.
I am working on this and will continue to do so through the Lenten season and beyond. I have pockets of time where I do collapse into God’s wings and miraculously find peace—and answers. My mantra is, “Be still and know that I am God.” This mantra is teaching me peace and love and hope.
May we all be touched and moved by Jesus’ words this Lenten season: “How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing.”
God wants to gather us. Are we willing?
Anita Dorf
[Yesterday |Lenten Index | Tomorrow]