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Pastor Cutter  Pastor Todd's
Sermon

from February 28,
2010

Lent


 

           

            Jesus, it seems, doesn’t mince words. When he is warned by the Pharisees that Herod wants to kill him and encouraged to flee, he promptly responds, “You tell that fox what I am doing”. In some ways, his response is humorous. In other ways, it seems to be a sarcastic dig at Herod. As a ruler, most people would think of Herod as a great animal, perhaps a lion. Instead, Jesus calls him a fox, comparing him to a sly, conniving animal that is not associated with power or strength.

            Jesus’ response also indicates that he will not flee. He will continue the work he has been doing. Herod will not stop him. Demons will not hold him back. Illness will not be a barrier. Instead, he will keep doing the work of curing, restoring, and bringing people back to community. Then he alludes to his death in Jerusalem and his resurrection, which will complete his work and be his great saving act. Through this, he will free, once and for all, people from bondage to sin and death and restore creation to a right relationship with God.

            What is fascinating is the way Jesus builds on animal imagery. After speaking of his death and lamenting Jerusalem’s history of killing or stoning prophets, he paints a picture of a mother hen gathering her brood under her wings. He speaks as well of his desire to do so. Foxes are often the animals known to sneak onto farms and steal away the helpless, small chicks. Yet, the mother hen is the one who protects and shelters them.

            Because I don’t know much about chickens, except that they are pretty tasty fried, baked, grilled, or barbecued; I looked for some information on hens. According the United Poultry Concern website, a mother hen will “tenderly and ever fiercely protect her young, driving off predators and sheltering chicks beneath her wings”. Not only that, but hens also gather their young to teach them how to live in world. I even found stories about hens sacrificing themselves so the brood will survive.

            How very much Jesus does the same! He teaches us, through word and deed, how to live as God’s children in the world. He tenderly embraces the outcast, the broken, the despised, and the needy. He goes to the cross, experiencing a fierce death, driving off, once and for all, the predators of sin and death from you and me. It is on the cross that he also finally gathers Jerusalem, indeed all of creation. He stretches out his arms, showing great love. It is these arms that enfold us in the wings of God’s grace, mercy, and forgiveness.

            However, the enfolding does not stop there. God continues to wrap his wings around us and gather us in our daily lives. In baptism, God gathers us as God’s precious children. In communion, God gathers us at the table, feeding, nourishing, and forgiving us. On Sunday, God gathers us to hear the word of forgiveness and the Holy Words of scripture. God constantly gathers us in, with tender affection, even when we fall short.

            As those God gathers, what then is our response? It seems to me that we go about the work our great mother hen, Jesus Christ, calls us to do. We go into world, taught, fed and nourished by God, to teach about and point to God’s love. We enfold the outcast, despised, broken and needy with kindness, prayers, and welcome. It might mean reaching out to that classmate that everyone makes fun of, or standing up for the rights of others instead of looking out for just ourselves.

            Indeed, we respond to the things God does for us by welcoming the stranger, feeding the hungry, and searching for ways to restore community. We can do so through supporting the ministries of Trinity and through making time in our daily lives for love and service to God and neighbor. We can respond by teaching others about God and using images people can understand and relate to; images that comfort, not threaten. We can respond by repeatedly telling the good news of a God who goes to great lengths to gather us in, instead of making a list of those we think God should cast out

            It is amazing, really. God gathers us in, teaches us, feeds us and empowers us. Then God sends us out to work in the world. It is the pattern we see unfold every Sunday. We are gathered. We are nourished from hearing the word and being fed at table. We are sent out. It is a constant back and forth. God brings us in, gives us what we need and sends us out

            Certainly, there will be challenges along the way. Others will tell us to stop what we are doing and leave the area, as the Pharisees did. We might event upset those in authority as we take our stand with the least among us. There will be times we are tempted to leave the loving wings of God and make a go of it on our own. Yet, God gives us strength and courage in the communion meal. God gives us community who stands with us. God never stops the process of gathering us, God’s brood, when we start to wander away.

            The joy of Lent is it reminds us that God repeatedly calls and gathers us, turning us from our sin to live as children of God; and that Christ, in tender love, went to the cross so that we might trust that those things that hurt and distract us now, like the predators of sin, death, and the power of the devil do not hold the final power. Rather, through Christ’s death and resurrection, they are defeated. Knowing this, we go. We go to spread the good news of a God who gathers us tenderly; who teaches us; who fiercely protects us; and who will not be swayed from the work of redeeming you, me, and all of creation. For that, we most certainly say, “Thanks be to God”.

 

© 2010 Rev. Todd A. Cutter. Please do not reproduce or distribute without permission.

 

 

elca 


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