Like a mother bird. Luke 13:31-35 　

Like a mother bird.  Luke 13:31-35

　

Let us pray.

 

God the Father of Jesus Christ, may we hear today the words of the Bible. Please guide us through the Holy Spirit upon those who speak and those who listen.  I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen

 

Today's passage of the Bible is about the time when Jesus was speaking to the crowd.

 

Some Pharisees approached Jesus and advised him to flee since King Herod wanted to kill him.

His father was the king when Jesus was born and ordered the slaughter of all boys under the age of two in Bethlehem and its surrounding area (Matthew 2:16-18). Jesus' parents (Joseph and Mary) and Jesus fled to Egypt and escaped persecution.  This king had three sons and one of them was King Herod who decapitated John the Baptist.  He also stole his half-brother’s wife. When told by John the Baptist that this act was against the will of God, King Herod put John the Baptist in prison, cut off his head at Herod's birthday party, and carried him off on a platter.  He was a cruel man. (Matthew 14:1-12; Mark 6:14-29; Luke 9:7-9).

 

Because of that incident, Jesus called King Herod "the fox," meaning sly and cunning.

The Pharisees warned Herod to flee because he wanted to kill Jesus, Jesus gave reply that can be seen as a provocation.

 

Jesus said, "Go tell that fox, ‘I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.”

 

Casting out demons and healing the sick is a sign of the Messiah.

When he says, "I will finish everything on the third day," he is talking about what will happen to him in the near future, that he will be crucified and die, and on the third day he will rise again.

He said that he will not run away from what he had to do.

 

“In any case, I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!”

 

As Jesus said, he will be crucified on the cross in Jerusalem.

And just as it was said, "On the third day it will all end," he rose from the dead on the third day after his death on the cross. 

Jesus turned to the crowd and said, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.”

 

In Japan, most Japanese think of gods as those who have special spiritual powers or those who have accomplished great deeds.  Not only people but also animals and stones are believed to have super powers, and they are worshiped as gods and celebrated.  If you stretch a rope on a large rock, it becomes a god and an object of worship.

 

That is not the case with Jesus. It was not man who became God, but God became man.  God is the creator. In Christianity God is the only one who created all beings.

 

Jesus is the relationship between God and the people of Israel, which is also the relationship between God and mankind.  Jesus once told a parable like this.

 

“A man planted a vineyard, rented it to some farmers and went away for a long time. At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants so they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. He sent another servant, but that one also they beat and treated shamefully and sent away empty-handed. He sent still a third, and they wounded him and threw him out.  “Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love; perhaps they will respect him.’ “But when the tenants saw him, they talked the matter over. ‘This is the heir,’ they said. ‘Let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. “What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.”  (Luke 20:9-16).

 

It is said that the crowd who heard Jesus' parable said, "God forbid."

 

Then Jesus looked at them and said, “Then what is the meaning of that which is written:

‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’.  Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”  (Luke 20:16-18).

 

The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” says the prophecy.  This stone referred to Jesus.

 

Speaking of where this messianic prophecy is written, it is Psalm 118 of the Old Testament.

It says, "Blessed be those who come in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the House of the Lord."

 

In today's passage Jesus says, "Behold, your house is forsaken. I tell you, you will never see me until the time comes when you will say, blessed be he who comes in the name of the Lord."

 

Here Jesus proclaimed to King Herod and the crowd that he was the Messiah as prophesied.

 

The farmers in Jesus' parable of the vineyard were selfish people.  Wasn’t the vineyard be inhabited by God's creatures?  Wasn’t the harvest about praising, worshiping, and obeying God?

We now live in a world where we neither thank God nor worship God. Instead we destroy nature and kill each other.   Isn't this a world that doesn't try to pay back for the harvest?

The vineyard owner sent his servants to convince the farmers, and eventually his son, but the farmers also killed the son.

 

This is like chicks that wander away from the nest without listening and the hen desperately tries to gather under her wings to protect from predators.  Jesus is saying that God is the one who protects like a hen (mother bird) from enemies.

 

I'm sure many of you know the hymn that begins with "God is with you, protect your path..."

The title is "God Be with You".  It is number 366 in Shinsei Hymn.  This hymn is often sung at farewell or funerals.

 

Here are the lyrics for verse 3:

"Until the day he enters into your kingdom, he will be merciful and wide, and grow under your wings, O Lord.  Until the day we meet again He will be with us forever God's grace

"Until the day you enter your kingdom, cherish and broadly nurture me under your wings, O Lord."

 

It is a song that God will graciously and broadly nurture us under His wings until the end of our earthly life.

 

Let us pray.

 

 

God the Father of Jesus Christ, let us be obedient and believe in you, who nurtures us under the shadow of your wings.  I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen