The Fox is In the Hen House
The Fox is in the Hen House, and the Mother Hen is quickly
gathering her brood under the safety of her wings – yet as soon as she gets six
under her right wing, two squirt back out from under her left wing. And once
she gets the two back under her left wing, three more escape from under her
right wing. Of course, it would be funny to watch if it weren’t for the fact
that the Fox is in the Hen House looking to kill the Mother Hen.
If that’s not enough, a group of Pharisees, often
misunderstood as antagonists in the Gospels, show up out of nowhere, this time
to warn the prophet Jesus to walk away, as Herod, the Fox in the Hen House,
wants to kill him, just as he has already beheaded the prophet, John.[i]
Jerusalem, literally “city of shalom,” “city of peace,” is
described here by the Mother Hen as a killing field for any and all prophets
who come to challenge those who wield Power over all of Israel on behalf of
Caesar’s Empire, Rome. The roadways in and out of the city on the hill are
lined with wooden crosses and corpses to remind those, who like Jesus, are on a
mission, sent by God, to announce the news as that hapless one Jonah did in
Ninevah, “Return to the Lord. Turn around, and walk in the Way of the Lord, the
God of creation, the God of the Rainbow, the God who is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, ready to forgive, abounding in steadfast love, and ready to
begin again a life together under his gracious and protective wings!”[ii]
Jerusalem, city of the Hen House, the Temple, which is no
longer the safe-haven household of God’s people, for that other Fox is in the Hen
House, Pontius Pilate is his name. He who slaughters innocent Galileans and
mingles their blood with their sacrifices; the hometown sisters, brothers,
cousins, aunts and uncles of the Christos, the one anointed as the Beloved Son
of God Most High. See what’s left of your Hen House, profaned as it is by the
Foxes on Caesar’s payroll.[iii]
“Get away from here,” say the Pharisees. It’s really the
Greek translation of the Hebrew halak - walk. Tell that Fox I will walk,
but I walk not away. I will continue to walk in the Way of Halakha - the
Way of the Lord - casting out demons, healing people of every dis-ease,
gathering my Father’s brood back under the Protective Wings of his Torah, his
Halakha, his Statutes, his Word – for his Word is a lantern for my feet, and a
light upon my path.[iv] I
must continue my Father’s work today, tomorrow, and on the Third Day I will
finish his work of Halakha! I will Rise Again on the Third Day and gather my
brood under my wings. For I am the Wings of God.”
Life under those wings is Halakha, is the Way of the Lord.
It is where the hungry are fed, the thirsty have their thirst quenched from the
Fountain of the Waters of Life, where demons are cast out, those cannot see
will see, the poor, the lame, male and female, Gentile and Jew, slave and free,
prophet, farmer, artisan and day laborer, all will be sheltered under the Wings
of God where life is eternal. Life lived with God never ends! Walk back and
tell that Fox Herod I am walking to Jerusalem.
Caesar and his foxes will burn the Hen House to the ground,
but will never capture those protected under the Mother Hen’s wings. Walk we
will, but we will not walk away. You who take shelter under my wings will
continue the work I do, and greater things than these will you do, In My Name.[v]
For you are my Beloved, you are my Body and Blood, you will continue to walk in
The Way of the Lord until that day I return and you sing, “Blessed is the one
who comes in the name of the Lord!”[vi]
Today, Kyiv, Ukraine is Jerusalem – the City of Shalom for
us all. The Fox is still in the Hen House. So many people are in danger, so
many being killed for no reason other than to feed the ravenous hunger of the
Fox. We are the Wings of God. Those in need must find shelter under our wings. So
that the Earth may be filled with the Glory of the Lord. That the Earth may be
filled with mercy, filled with forgiveness, filled with the steadfast Love of
the Lord. For Life lived with God never ends.
O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious
to us and to all go astray from your ways, and bring us again with penitent
hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of
your Word, Jesus Christ your Son; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and
reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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