Jesus went through one town and village after another,
teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem…
And he said to the Pharisees who seemed genuinely concerned for him
and who warned him about Herod,
“Go and tell that fox for me, … I must be on my way …
Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!…
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.’”
Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem
He is going there on purpose, intentionally
bringing to fullness
what all his preaching and teaching and healing has been about
Everything he does and says is leading to this
We see this message in the readings all through Lent
This is to prepare us for Holy Week
We are being brought to Palm Sunday along with him
when we will join our voices to those in the Story and say,
‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
But what was it that Jesus said?
“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!”
What a heart breaking statement!
Jesus reaching out with love and life and freedom and joy
to those who are at the heart, the center of their religion,
in Jerusalem where the Temple was,
where the priests were,
where the nation’s leaders were,
and ironically the very place where God’s true messengers
bearing revelations of God
are met with staunch opposition.
Why such resistance?
Why such resistance to being gathered together under the wings of Jesus?
Why such resistance to Jesus himself?
One would think that those at the heart of the religion
would be the ones who should most welcome God’s messengers.
But no.
There is a difference between being at the spiritual heart of one’s religion
and being at the heart of the institutional church.
Let me give you an example of this difference.
This summer there will be two significant gatherings of church leaders,
both delayed by COVID, but now finally occurring:
The first is the 80th General Convention of the Episcopal Church
usually held every three years since 1785,
now a year late, July 7-14 in Baltimore.
There will be important issues to address.
The other is the Lambeth Conference consisting of
all the bishops from every diocese
in every country where there are churches in the Anglican Communion,
usually held every ten years, and was to have occurred in 2018.
Mammoth gatherings of the institutional church.
gathered together and, we would pray,
coming within the motherly and inclusive embrace of our Lord Jesus,
instead of for the purpose of holding tenaciously to defined limits.
Lambeth is particularly difficult in attempts to work out
step by step a painful dance between groups of church leaders
caught in the very public place of leadership
committed to positions of belief that have no common ground,
yet trying desperately to solve the issues and bridge chasms
by means of careful navigation
through church polity and theology
and, at times, by the merest lip service to mutual respect,
while those most affected stand at the sidelines watching and largely unheard.
We have a way of getting ourselves into a real pickle.
And one distressing example of pickle juice
is the mistake of trying to make a universal statement on an issue
despite what impact that has at the level of the local congregation.
In the past during some of the polarizing issues
parishioners wanting to withhold pledges, for example,
because of some issue that may or may not be connected to
the life of the parish,
even though withholding a pledge makes a much bigger impact negatively
on the local faith community than it does on the whole denomination,
even leaving friends and fellow parishioners with hard feelings,
too often leading to bitter splits,
while the issue remains unresolved.
One such issue:
Some dioceses in the Anglican Communion have difficulty accepting
that someone could be a bishop
if their sexual identity is other than the standard binary,
let alone whom they may marry and bring with them to Lambeth.
While here in this country we have worked through this theological conundrum
it will take a while, years, globally for it all to finally resolve,
and my guess is that the resolution won’t come through
what bishops decide when they meet together,
but by what happens ultimately in the congregations
where the issues of inclusion and exclusion get worked out
according to the spiritual awareness and wisdom
of people in actual, living relationships.
In other words, time and actual practice will be the deciding factors,
and the ecclesiastical authorities will then write the theology
that matches what the Holy Spirit has revealed in the Body of Christ.
Do you see this?
The Holy Spirit blows like a wind in some pretty unpredictable ways,
always has.
That’s how the gentiles got brought into that gathering embrace of Jesus,
the One who is like the mother hen and her chicks.
The Council in Jerusalem in Acts 15 had to deal with
Peter’s unusual and unprecedented case
of baptizing a Roman centurion and his household.
What if Peter had gone to Jerusalem first for permission
before going to Cornelius’ house?
What do you think would have happened?
How long would it have been before that baptism could take place?
Jump a couple of millennia.
Many of you here can recall a lot of the 45 years of history in the Church
sing the first ordinations of women.
For me personally,
the Holy Spirit had the audacity to call me to the priesthood
some 14 years prior to that actually becoming a possibility
via the institutional church.
For some the way that they hold their theology, their belief system,
does not allow for women to be included
in this aspect of the life of the Church,
but the de facto reality is that women’s ordination
has contributed so much to the Church,
and it sure looks like it’s here to stay.
Jesus is already way ahead of us on that score,
and HE initiates that inclusive embrace.
And we come to see that we have been resisting, even refusing
that loving and gathering embrace from our Savior.
Whether the issue that divides the institutional Church
is sexual identity, color of skin or political party,
or what color candles we use on the Advent wreath,
taking sides over what we think is right or wrong gets us nowhere.
The Holy Spirit, usually working through all sorts of prophets,
leads the way into totally new perspectives.
“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!”
Why does a hen seek to gather her brood under her wings?
Because of impending danger.
The mother bird offers protection to her babies
even if she herself remains exposed to the disaster coming upon her.
Jesus comes to Jerusalem
and stretches wide his arms on the hard wood of the cross,
the worst of all suffering ways to die,
and his arms embrace the whole world.
In surrendering himself to death, he becomes the source of new life.
Lifted from the earth on the cross, he draws all people to himself.
This is the message of today’s Gospel reading.
This is the ultimate prophetic statement from Jesus
matched with his ultimate prophetic action that saves the world.
We are on the way to Jerusalem with Jesus during Lent – Destination: Holy Week
Today as we hear these words of Jesus,
may we recognize that we here are like
small, fluffy, delicate, vulnerable Easter chicks.
May we, not resisting, dash quickly under the wings of Mother Jesus.
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