St Paul’s United Church Sunday, March 4, 2007

Jesus Our Mother Hen – Rev. David Mundy

Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18 Philippians 3:17-4:1 Luke 3:31-35

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Our children are all young adults now. I’m not quite sure how or when that happened. A minute ago they were dependent on us for their every need. Now, well, now not so much. Next month we will reach a momentous milestone in our family. All three of them will be twenty or older.

Because they are all at university or college, my bank balance tells us that they are still “under our wing” and yet independent at the same time. We have accepted that transition for the most part but as all of you with grown children know, you never stop being a parent. I would like to think that I am a fairly supportive dad. I stay in touch through email and chat on the phone and come up with the cash when necessary. We go to movies and for walks, which I always enjoy.

This said, Ruth is a much better “mother hen.” In addition to the long telephone conversations she “talks” with her fingertips and keyboard on MSN, as well as with her thumbs doing text messages on the cell phone. Actually her cell phone ring is a song which begins “S.O.S., Please, somebody help me!” which couldn’t be much more appropriate.

When we go to visit, I figure it’s a nice idea to take them out for lunch. So does Ruth but it never stops there. There are boxes of food and other provisions which seem to fill the car. This is all gratefully received. Last term I watched one of them hug a big package of toilet paper as though it were a long-lost friend. Ruth seldom seems frustrated by all of this. It is just the practical expression of a mother’s love that both baffles me and impresses me. And at the risk of buying into certain stereotypes I think women generally are better at this than men. When someone gets a little demanding no one says “Who was your father last year?”

Do you notice the phrases I have used in this reflection: under our wing; flown the coop; mother hen? This is a lot of clucking about chicken imagery as I speak of parental love this morning.

Today is the Second Sunday of Lent and we hear about Jesus in the city of Jerusalem, which in the gospels is often associated with controversy and danger. Jesus was from Galilee, in the north of Israel, and it was the area where he taught and healed with somewhat less antagonism. From what we can gather that’s where Jesus spent most of his ministry, but when Jesus traveled to Jerusalem he caught the attention of far too many adversaries.

In this story the Pharisees come to Jesus with the warning that Herod, the Roman-backed ruler is out to get him. It’s difficult to tell whether they are genuinely concerned for his safety or if they are like the nasty messengers in the schoolyard telling some hapless kid that the bully is coming to lay on a beating.

If Jesus is supposed to be afraid he certainly doesn’t show it. In my reading he is defiant, calling Herod a fox, a creature that is cunning but not noble. And he describes himself as a prophet who will speak the truth in God’s own good time. If we used an image from the barnyard, Jesus the prophet is the rooster who is going to announce the dawn of a new day, even though the scent of the fox is in the air.

Then Jesus changes the imagery dramatically, describing himself as a mother bird, a hen who wants to protect her chicks on the nest by spreading her wings for cover. It is tender and protective and powerful, all rolled into one. And it is surprisingly feminine.

I went looking in the commentaries, as I am inclined to do when I want to support my preconceived notions and there is almost no recognition of this unusual picture of Jesus. Perhaps it is because men write most of them. You might be surprised to hear that this imagery of the shelter of God’s wings shows up often in the psalms. Listen:

Guard me as the apple of the eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings 17:8

How precious is your steadfast love, O God!All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings. 36:7

Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge;in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, until the destroying storms pass by. 57:1

Let me abide in your tent forever, find refuge under the shelter of your wings.61:4

...for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy. 63:7

The difference with Jesus is that he describes himself as the protective mother bird.

Jesus our Mother Hen. You haven’t heard that one very often through the years, have you? Saviour, Friend, Teacher, and, yes, even Prophet. But a mothering figure is not one we promote in the church. While we have seen the stained glass windows and preaching stoles portraying Jesus as the Good Shepherd with the flock all around it is unlikely that you have ever been surprised by Jesus as the Good Hen with wings around a brood of chicks.

Since this is the only place in the gospels or any other book of the New Testament where we find this image for Jesus, it might be worth our while to consider what it means for us. Would you agree that because our United Church has focussed so strongly on issues of social justice ever since its inception in 1925 we have leaned more toward the prophetic Jesus, the rooster on the fence who says what needs to be said and calls us to action?

In so much of the preaching from our pulpits over the years, and in our official pronouncements and campaigns, we have attempted to be at the forefront of justice issues, even when doing so has been costly in terms of public perception. Our activism is so worthwhile, for the most part, but it can become tiring. The message is “get out there and change the world. Make a difference. Give more. Love your neighbours and shovel their sidewalks while your at it!”

Sometimes, though, we need to know we are loved and accepted. We need to know within us that Jesus loves us and enfolds us. Along with Jesus the prophetic voice in our lives, we need Jesus who knows us by name and cares for us.

In some other denominations Jesus seems to be portrayed as a buddy or pal in what can be a rather cloying and sentimental way. That’s probably not what we want, or we would be in those churches rather than here. Just the same, it is essential for us to feel that when life gets hard, as it sometimes does, God is not some distant entity but as close at hand as a parent’s love. It’s hard to imagine anyone not needing that loving and personal presence.

Recently I was in a meeting with a group of my colleagues some of them “freshly hatched” into ministry, others who have been at it long enough that we may soon be made into soup! Although we had gathered for a specific task, we ended up in a very personal discussion about the challenges of our roles and the loneliness often involved in our work. It became quite clear that while we had an agenda it was important that we listened to one another for a while, not to grouse and complain, but to be mutually supportive and to know that God was with us.

One of our “oldy goldy” hymns assures all of us “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the bible tells me so . . . ”

Those of us who are “oldy goldies” remember that the words which follow used to be different from the ones we find in our hymn book now: Little ones to him belong, they are weak but He is strong.

They were probably changed so that children aren’t portrayed as being weak. Maybe we shouldn’t have altered them. Because we are all children of God and at times we are weak or vulnerable or uncertain about the way forward. The Good News is that Jesus loves us and sustains us. Jesus is our Mother Hen who will fiercely guard us, no matter what takes place in our lives. I have heard that after a fire hens have been found on a nest dead and singed, yet when they are lifted off the chicks are safe beneath. I’m not sure if this is true but it is a powerful image of parental love.

I don’t have much experience on the farm, but we used to canoe a lot in Northern Ontario and we would come upon families of loons out on the water. If we came too close, the response of the males would be to swim toward us and spread their wings while they hooted loudly. Meanwhile the female would encourage the chicks up onto her back so that she could carry them to safety.

Together, in worship, we can remind ourselves that we are not alone in our struggles or our triumphs. We can become a flock of sheep or chickens or whatever metaphor we would like to use. We might be a goofy bunch, challenged to find our direction at times but Christ will not abandon us. At the risk of being irreverent, the movie Chicken Run comes to mind and the hapless bunch who plot their escape. In community we are moving forward.

One last thought today. Our children come home from time to time and open the fridge door to revel in the amount of food which is there and which someone else has paid for. They aren’t bashful about dropping broad hints about their favourite meals, knowing that mom will probably comply.

This morning we will come to the table and at least symbolically we will be nurtured and fed as a family of faith. The bread is homemade! As we share in this meal we will be strengthened to be in the world and to simply be ourselves as the new creation Christ can let us be, through his love. The promise is that we won’t go away hungry.

Christ is our Mother Hen and we are gathered under the protective wings. Thanks be to God!