The Rev. Joseph Farnes
All Saints, Boise
Lent 2C
It wasn’t until a clergy meeting this past week that anyone had pointed out to me that Jesus calls Herod a fox, and then compares himself to a hen, and don’t foxes kill hens? Jesus is fully aware of the violence that will be inflicted upon him. He is not taken by surprise; the Pharisees who are trying to help Jesus are not telling him anything he doesn’t already know (though it is good to have examples in the Gospels of Pharisees being human and caring, instead of just being caricatured as “the bad guys”).
My experience with hens is awfully limited, but from what I’ve seen, I don’t think a hen is just a passive, helpless creature. Hens can be affectionate – some even like being petted and held! – and they can be very protective of their chicks, too, and that protective energy can be awfully fierce. Chickens are not passive! In early medieval symbolism, chickens were symbols of military bravery because a chicken would fight against something bigger than itself. Chickens were not … chicken.
If Jesus is comparing himself to a mother hen, what does that mean?
Sometimes, I think, we imagine Jesus meek and mild and passive because we aren’t sure what to do with a ferocious mama hen Jesus. We aren’t sure what to do with the Jesus who can criticize Jerusalem and its leaders because what if he looks at *us* that way? What if mama hen Jesus turns to *us*, pulls down her mama hen glasses and says, “You need to knock that off and start acting right.” For some that would be intolerable. It would cause such distress that they would circle and cycle into all sorts of negative thoughts.
If we grew up with a fear that love was conditional, then we might panic. We might start to think that Mama Hen Jesus pulling down those glasses was a sign that we were no longer loved, that we were being rejected. If we experienced deep betrayal, we might feel that suddenly the curtain was pulled back – that the love we thought we saw was a lie, and what was underneath was contempt for us.
We bring our life experience into our relationship with God. From a psychological standpoint, our childhood view of our parents or parental figures can influence how we relate to God, and then our experiences since then can influence that, too. Do we feel secure in love – that even if we mess up, our parents, our spouse, our friends, and our Mama Hen Jesus can be mad at us and *also* still love us deeply? Or do we feel anxious, needing constant reassurance, hypervigilant for the first sign of anger? Or do feel avoidant, avoiding others because we’re not sure we’re lovable?
And so when Mama Hen Jesus is calling out Jerusalem and the powers that be, or when Jesus is getting snippy, or when Jesus overturns tables and chases money changers and merchants out of the Temple with fiery zeal, do we find ourselves afraid? Do we start to feel distressed, panicky? We might rush to reassure ourselves, or seek reassurance from others that Jesus is only love, could never be angry, is only meek and mild and long-suffering and forgiving.
We should pay attention to what makes us feel that inner distress, that inner panic. Maybe our inner sensors need to be recalibrated – maybe it’s time to learn that someone who loves us can also be mad at us, that mad is momentary and love is forever. Maybe it’s time to let ourselves feel complicated, even intense emotions without having to react right then – maybe it’s time to let the ripples on the surface of the pond rock the boat without us fearing that a tsunami will capsize the boat.
It takes courage to do that. It takes courage to recognize that our inner sensors might need to be recalibrated because it means trusting that we’re going to be ok, and that our sensors will take time. It will take time to recalibrate because we can only work on that recalibration when stuff happens. It’s a moment of “oh, wait, I’m fine, I’ll pay attention to my breath.”
We need to have that courage to be around Mama Hen Jesus’ fierce energy because we absolutely *need* Mama Hen Jesus. We need that fiery and fierce energy in our spiritual worldview.
This past week some of you may know about the West Ada School District teacher who got in trouble for having an “Everyone is Welcome” sign in her classroom because somehow welcoming all children is “partisan” and “charged.” Well, it is sure charged – charged with Mama Hen Jesus energy! Mama Hen Jesus would 100% gather all children under those Mama Hen wings to welcome them, protect them, teach them.
But then we need to think about that same Mama Hen Jesus energy looking at the folks who think that welcoming all children is an unacceptable message. That energy isn’t going to be felt as nice, sweet, meek and mild, now is it? That energy is going to feel very different. Those Mama Hen glasses are going to come down and it’s going to be a message of “You better knock that off and do right.” We as Christians who read and cherish the Bible and the Gospel stories about Jesus know that the whole point of Mama Hen Jesus pulling down the glasses and speaking sternly is about getting a change of behavior. It’s not rejection, it’s not hatred, it’s not demonizing. That’s the way of the world, not the way of Jesus. No, Mama Hen Jesus wants all of us, every one of us, every one of them to knock that off and get gathered under those Mama Hen wings with all the rest of Mama Hen Jesus’ beloved little chickens.