Cry Baby

or - Nobody Here But us Chickens

Luke 13:31-35
At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” He said to them, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’ 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! See, your house is left to you. And 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.’”

I’ve told a few people this great story. After worship on Wednesday, I was home, and my 5 year old was curious about the cross on my forehead. He asked me about why it was there.
A few minutes later he said, “Dad, that cross makes you look smart!”
Yup.
As Dr. No Toll said in response to this insight, we are smart when we admit that we do not know.

I wonder at the metaphors we use, the images we live by.
Just saw a bumper sticker. US Flag, with big letters STANDING TALL.
What if standing tall simply puts you in the line of fire?

You have been sealed by the Holy Spirit, and marked with the cross of Christ forever.

The images Jesus chooses are telling.
Herod is a fox.
No Lion. No Bear. Not a Panther or a Jaguar.
Nothing so noble and ferocious.
Not even a wily Coyote.
A sneaky fox.
Heck, even a Bobcat seems powerful in comparison.

Jesus puts Herod in his place. Remember, this is territory under Roman rule. There is no freedom of speech. No internet, with its mocking of our leaders. If Herod were to hear that insult, Jesus would pay dearly.

Yes, Herod is a fox, and what is Jesus?
This fox defeater?
This adversary of Herod’s?
A Chicken.
No powerful metaphor here.
Fox food.
No wonder we haven’t really done much with this image.
Isn't the chicken a sign of Peter's denial?
Yes, the chicken that crows. Yet, even the Rooster can seem somehow noble.
Or at least loud. . .

The Mother Hen? An odd metaphor. A sad symbol. Anything but regal/powerful/inviting - or victorious. . .
Gathering her brood. Spreading her wings. Protecting and watching over her little chicks. Her best defense in the face of the fox's teeth?
Self-sacrifice.
Herod gets the metaphor of fox.
Us?
Defenseless chicks.
Fox snacks. Chick-filet.

"Perhaps" - suggests ethicist Jim Perkinson in his essay - Learning to Cry, Struggling to See - in the face of the oppression being visited by the powerful, by the foxes of our day, "Perhaps our primary task today [is] learning to weep..."
Weeping Mother Hens.
To quote Dave Barry - that would be a good name for a rock band.
I'd have to add, that I'd hate to have to design the t-shirts for their next tour SUMMER 2007 TOUR SNIVELING CHICKENS!

In our faith communities today, many who take the faith seriously, sadly take themselves too seriously. (We are probably often more similar to them than we'd care to admit.) When we align ourselves with this self important path, our metaphors are too settled. Too aligned with the fox. Too violent. Too prosperous. Too blind to the poor. And if there is any cross at all, it is a quite pretty one, and has never in the remotest way, borne the pain of the world. Unless you consider the pain of the laborers who mined the gold, or. . .

Grace is to be found, in the suffering one. The one who will hear those cries, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord."
Which metaphors will point us to following this one?
The BEAST-devouring-666-defeating-vengeance-wreaking Jesus of strange imaginations?
This surely is not who we encounter here in Luke 13.
The Sniveling Chicken.
Perkinson suggests that a good test would be to ask "the last time we cried, what did we cry for?"

Fellow Lenten travelers
- that cross on your forehead -
makes you look smart.
Or something.
Those tears running down your cheeks, they make you look like you share in God's love for this planet and all its inhabitants in need of salvation. . .