Luke 13:31-35
March 16, 2025
It is March Madness. College basketball teams are playing games within their conference to see which schools will qualify for the annual NCAA basketball tournament. This afternoon the selection committee will announce the 68 schools that will play in the tournament and their seedings, meaning all 68 schools will also find out today who they will be playing in the first round of the tournament. The way the tournament is set up, the best teams play the weakest teams in the first round of the tournament. Duke University has one of the best teams in the country this year, which means they will probably be given a #1 seed and will play some small college, seeded #16, in the first round of the tournament that is not nearly as talented as the Duke team. It may not seem fair that a small, less talented team has to play the powerhouse of Duke in the first round. But while the chances of a #16 seed beating a #1 seed are very slim, it is not impossible. In fact, 7 years ago today a #16 seed beat a #1 seed for the first time.
In 2018, the University of Virginia men’s basketball team had the best record and appeared to be the strongest team in the country. They were the best defensive team in the country that year as they did not allow any team to score more than 68 points against them in a game. In the first round they played the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), a small college seeded #16 that the Virginia basketball players and coaches did not really consider to be a serious threat to them. In fact, nobody gave them a chance to win against Virginia, but UMBC played a great game and won 74-54. They scored more points against Virginia than any other team that year and the 20-point loss was Virginia’s largest deficit they experienced all season. Many people thought the University of Virginia had the best team and would win it all that year, but the reality is they became the first #1 seed to lose to a #16 seed in the history of the tournament.
In our Gospel lesson for today we see Jesus as He continues on His journey to Jerusalem – a place where He knows He will be arrested and put to death. In fact, He’s even warned by some Pharisees that King Herod wants to kill Him. But Jesus appears to be unconcerned about any threats coming from King Herod. After all, why would the “Lion of Judah,” as Jesus is referred to in the book of Revelation, be afraid of a fox like Herod? While King Herod was a very powerful ruler, he was no match for Jesus. After all, Jesus was God in the flesh. He could calm a storm, walk on water, and enable the blind to see. He could even wipe out an army sent to kill him. Jesus knows there are people who still need to be healed. He knows there are demons that need to be cast away. He knows there’s work yet to be done that’s as much a part of His mission as is His destination of Jerusalem. We saw last week that even Satan tried to stop Jesus from going to Jerusalem by tempting Him to worship him. This way Jesus could avoid the rejection of His disciples and the agony of the cross. But the bottom line is Jesus was all in, He was fully committed, and there was nothing that could stop the Lion of Judah from going to Jerusalem so that He could become the Lamb of God and sacrifice Himself to pay for the sins of the world.
However, as Jesus makes His way to Jerusalem, He begins to ponder in His heart the reality of this city – a place that is the center of faith, but also faithlessness, as He says of Jerusalem in verse 34, “O Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!” Jesus demonstrated His understanding of this reality on Palm Sunday when He entered Jerusalem with people shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” But at the end of the day Luke’s Gospel tells us that Jesus wept over Jerusalem. Notice how Jesus yearns for the people of Jerusalem as He continues by saying in verse 34, “How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings.” But Jesus knew that this dream of love would never come true as He says at the end of this verse, but “you were not willing!”
Jesus knew that the people of His day and all future people were going to fail. They were going to turn away from God and continue to live a life of sin. Therefore, the only way to save them and all of us from the punishment of sin, which God said was death – in biblical terms this meant eternal separation from God – was for Jesus to complete His mission by giving His life on the cross. In other words, we, His children, His brood or chicks, because of our sinfulness, won’t be saved by the sheltering wing of Jesus, the hen. The only way the chicks will be saved is by the hen giving herself over to the fox (meaning Satan) in their place. That’s the reality Jesus faced.
When you really think about it, I don’t believe it was the nails that were pounded into His hands and feet, or the spear that was forced into His side, or even the crown of thorns that was pushed onto His head that hurt Him the most as He hung on the cross. I think it was the rejection by the people He had come to save, at that time and in the future, that hurt Him more than anything.
However, we have a wonderful image of God in this text – a hen gathering her chicks to protect them – for what is the cross but the love of God that is so great that He is willing to die so that His children might live? What is the cross, but the gathering of all God’s children under His outstretched arms? What is the cross but God’s compassion for His straying children and His longing to gather them under His arms?
Perhaps the role that Jesus plays as a hen can be best understood from the stories of wildfires we hear about each year. Sometimes when a forest fire sweeps through an area, dead birds will be found at the base of a tree, which seems a little strange. Why didn’t the birds fly away when the fire approached? But when the dead bird carcasses are moved, sometimes baby chicks will come running out. Now it makes sense. Even though the mother birds knew they were going to die, they did not fly away, because it would have meant certain death for their chicks. So that’s what it means when Jesus gathers us under His wings. He died a horrible death on the cross so we could live.
In our second lesson today from Philippians, Paul says something pretty bold. He invites his readers to imitate him. The opening verse of our second lesson Paul says, “Brothers, join in imitating me…” and he goes on to tell them that if they do what they see him doing they will be what Jesus calls them to be. Can we say that? Can we tell our family members of friends, “Do what I do and you will be doing what Jesus has called all of us to do?” Are we showing the compassion of Christ to people we know or meet on a daily basis? Do we face the reality that although we are sinners and fall short of God’s expectations, Jesus still loves us and cares for us?
In the 16th century the Dutch people revolted against the King of Spain. So the king decided that he would take his army and suppress the rebellion by having his soldiers go from house to house in each city, searching for citizens who were part of the rebellion and killing them in their homes. One night several families were hiding in a house, knowing that soldiers would eventually come, break down the door, and kill them. But one man had an idea. He took a goat into the house, killed it, and let some of the blood run under the door. When the soldiers reached the house and were preparing to break down the door, one soldier said, “Hold it, look, blood is coming from under the door. The people are already dead. Let’s move on.” The people inside the house escaped death because of the blood of the goat.
Jesus willing worked His way toward a death He did not deserve by facing reality – heading towards Jerusalem, a word oddly enough that means, “City of Peace,” to shed His blood on the cross to give us eternal life that we do not deserve. But as Jerusalem would put God’s own Son to death, it would become a city of peace since Jesus’ death paid for our sins and gives us peace with God. So as His arms were stretched wide on that cross, today His arms remain wide open as He invites us and yearns for us to come to Him. He doesn’t make any fraudulent claims that life will be easy if we follow Him. He simply says, “Come, my death was sufficient for you and I want to show you how to live, so that you may experience the joy of heaven in your daily life.” Now that’s reality, believe it, because that’s how deep His love was and still is for us.
