Bible Passage: Luke 13:31-35
Pastor: Michael Willitz
Sermon Date: March 13, 2022

Bulletin March 13, 2022

Luke 13:31–35

³¹In that very hour, some Pharisees came to him and said, “Leave, and go away from here, because Herod wants to kill you.”

³²He said to them, “Go tell that fox, ‘Look, I am going to drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal. ³³Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the next day, because it cannot be that a prophet would be killed outside Jerusalem!’

³⁴“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I have wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! ³⁵Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you will say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’”

A House for the Hen and the Chicks

Dear fellow redeemed in Jesus Christ, our Lord,

The day is finally here! The wait is finally over! One year and two days ago, our contract was signed with Advanced Building Corporation, and in the time since then a lot has happened: we broke ground right out there. We put our volunteers immediately to work, pulling away the brick from the north wall of the building. We scurried to get our building permit just in time for the excavation. We watched as a lot of concrete was poured and a lot of bricks were laid. We saw an addition gradually take shape. Then, we watched as a new elevator was installed, and we waited eagerly for the final inspection. We built some islands. We moved some cabinets and sanded them and painted them. We put the finishing touches on the new space, and we did a lot of clean-up. And now the day is finally here! The wait is finally over! After one year and two days we are about to dedicate our addition! But you know, as I do, that we’ve been waiting for longer than that. For years, many prayers have been offered for this project, and today we thank God that all those prayers have been answered. So what should our prayer be now as we dedicate this space and as we begin to put it to use? Let us pray that this building would be a gathering place for the Lord and for His people. Or to put it in the imagery included in today’s text, let us pray that this building would be a house for the hen and the chicks.

The hen, of course, is an image of Jesus. That is the way He describes Himself in this text. At this point in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus is travelling toward Jerusalem. And He is met on the way by a group of Pharisees. They come to Jesus bringing a warning. They say, “Leave, and go away from here, because Herod wants to kill you,” [31]. Are these Pharisees sincerely concerned about Jesus’ safety, or do they simply want to intimidate Him? We don’t know. But what we do know is that Jesus does not take their threat to heart. He responds by saying to them,

Go tell that fox, “Look I am going to drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal. Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the next day, because it cannot be that a prophet would be killed outside Jerusalem,” [32,33]

Our Savior will not be deterred by threats, nor does He consider King Herod to be any exceptional danger to Him. His death will not be arranged by some scheme of Herod. Instead, Jesus’ suffering and death will proceed at the request of the Jewish elders. Note the irony in Jesus’ words: the very people who should have hailed Him as their Messiah, and the very city that should have received Him with open arms will instead turn against Him and reject Him. When Jesus responds to this contingent of Pharisees, it is as if He is saying to them, “I know, like you do that Herod is wily. But he will not kill the Messiah. Your leaders will do that! And they will do it in the very city to which the Messiah has been promised to come.”

Jesus then laments over Jerusalem. He cries out with sorrow,

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I have wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you will say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’” [34,35].

It was a beautiful city. It was the chosen city. It was the home of the temple, the house where God caused His name to rest. But with pain in His voice, Jesus tells what is to come: Jerusalem will be desolate. In forty years’ time, the Romans will demolish both the city and the temple. And this dreadful judgment is going to come because the people of Jerusalem have rejected Jesus and His Word.

What we can draw from this as we prepare to dedicate our addition is that without the Lord and without His Word, stone is just stone and lumber is just lumber. The temple in Jerusalem was set apart as the special, holy house where the LORD dwelled in the midst of His people. But when they drove their LORD out of the city to a cross, and when they drove out His prophets and apostles and put them to death, they made that house into a vain and empty house. It was a house that was just as well renovated into a heap of rubble. It is not the beauty or the size of a house that makes it a holy place. Rather, it is the presence of Jesus and the presence of His people gathered around Him to receive His Word. It would be better to be with the LORD in the middle of the desert than to be in a magnificent temple or cathedral without Him.

Just think about those people who are coming to Jesus while He is still far from Jerusalem, travelling through the jurisdiction of Herod. They may be far from the temple, but they are receiving care from Jesus that no one else can give them. He shares His teaching with them; He drives out their demons; He heals them of their diseases. And Jesus desires that all people, even the rulers in Jerusalem, would likewise gather to Him and receive His care.

He says of His enemies in Jerusalem, “How often I have wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings,” [34]. Chicks are pretty helpless creatures. Sure they might be adorable, but they are very easy prey for a hawk or a cat. But at the slightest hint of danger, the mother hen calls to her brood and spreads out her wings as a tent of protection for them. What an image of tenderness as the hen offers her chicks a soft place in the down of her feathers. What an image of sacrifice as the hen places herself between her beloved chicks and whatever is threatening them.

That’s the image of Jesus. He is like a mother hen, and he thirsts for nothing more than for our eternal welfare and protection. Even though we were His enemies, rebelling against Him and deserving divine wrath, He placed Himself in harm’s way in order that He might save us.

The story is told of a prairie hen who protected her chicks when a wildfire came. According to the story, people were surveying the damage after the fire had passed, and they found the chicks alive under the charred body of their mother. I don’t know whether this actually happened as story says, but, nonetheless, it’s an excellent illustration of our Savior, who wants all people to find refuge under His wings. All of us deserved the fires of hell for the multitude of our sins. But, like that mother hen, Jesus stretched out his arms. On the cross He endured the fiery wrath of God in our place, so that we can take refuge under His protecting arms and find a place of forgiveness and peace.

Unlike the mother hen in the story, though, Jesus took up His life again. In our text, when He says “On the third day I will reach my goal,” [32], we can’t help but think of the third day, when He rose again from the dead. We have a living Savior to whom we can gather for salvation. And that is what the Church really is. It isn’t brick. It isn’t mortar. It isn’t sheetrock, and it isn’t paint. It is sinners gathered to the Savior. Do you remember how the Apostle Peter described the Church as a house of living stones built onto Christ? He writes, “As you come to him, the Living Stone, rejected by men but chosen by God and precious, you also, like living stones, are being built as a spiritual house,” [2:4,5]. The Church is Christ’s body, the temple that was destroyed and raised up in three days. And we belong to this Church. We are built onto Christ’s body by faith in Him. Wherever we gather in the name of our Lord to hear His Word and receive His Sacraments, that is a place where the Church is present. It is a place where helpless chicks find refuge under the outstretched wings of a protective hen.

The reason we call this building a church is that this building is a place dedicated for that gathering. God has given us a beautiful building, hasn’t He? The stonework on the outside and the woodwork on the inside, the lighted cross and the stained-glass windows: it is a beautiful structure, and we are blessed to have it. But the very best thing about this structure is that Jesus comes here week after week to share His gifts with His people who are gathered in His name. For the last 21 years, we have gathered in this house to sit at the feet of our Savior and to listen to His teaching. For the last 21 years, children and adults have been baptized at this font, being born again of the Spirit into a new life of faith, being built onto their Savior as living stones in His temple. For the last 21 years, we have sung, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord,” [35]. We are going to sing it again in just a few minutes, and then we are going to receive our Savior as He comes to us and He gives us His true body and His true blood. What truly makes this a holy place is that in this house Jesus comes, and His believers gather to Him.

And today we are going to dedicate the addition for that purpose as well. I don’t know if you’ve gotten to view the beautiful space of the new addition yet. Maybe you have already walked through the upstairs portion and enjoyed all the natural light. Maybe you have walked through the downstairs portion and appreciated all the ample space that is offered. Maybe you have been looking forward to that elevator and the added help it is going to provide you in navigating from one floor to the other. But what will make that space holy will be that the Savior is going to be present there, and His people will gather to Him like chicks gathering under the wings of a hen. In the classes that will be taught there, both adults and youths will be built onto Christ. On Easter Sunday, if we use that space for overflow seating, Christ’s body and blood will be brought there from this altar. In the new corner office, a pastor may one day listen to confessions and then forgive penitent sinners in the stead and by the command of Christ.

Where Christ is rejected, a house remains nothing more than a house. But where Christ is present, giving His gifts, like Jacob we find a Bethel, a “house of God.” So let this be our prayer today in the days ahead. “Make this building a place for the Lord and His people. Make this building a house for the hen and the chicks.”

Amen.

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