Hey my friends,

Thanks for joining me today. Today I wanted to invite us to consider how our perspective of God shapes our view of things. I had a rather discouraging conversation this week, which I will get into below, and it was really obvious how both of us were just operating from two different perspectives of God. So I wanted to look at Luke 13:31-35 with you today and think a bit metaphorically about how our different perspectives of God can really bring about different outcomes.

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​RESOURCES TO CONSIDER:

​-Into The Gray Podcast. I am relaunching my podcast soon. You can subscribe to it and get notified when each new episode arrives. My goal is to provide weekly sermons, especially for those who feel untethered from a physical church community right now. Perhaps expanding from there.

​-Substack and TikTok. Due to a lot of folks requests, I finally set up a Substack and a Tiktok account. I'll be using Substack in similar ways that I use Facebook, for posts that are too long for Threads and Bluesky but too short for my newsletter. I'll be using TikTok in similar ways I'm using Instagram as well. I know folks have their preferred apps, so I hope this makes things smoother for people overall.

​-Matrescence: On the Metamorphosis of Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Motherhood by Lucy Jones I am currently reading this phenomenal book as I journey alongside Rebecca in her third pregnancy. During her first pregnancy and giving birth to Foster, I was absolutely blown away by how little I knew about what women experience in pregnancy, childbirth, and motherhood. Rebecca read this book and told me it gave her words for her experience she wanted to say but didn't know how. I am learning a lot from it and it is also a fascinating book to reflect on theologically as well.

​-The Share of Religious Americans Will Continue to Decline by Jessica Grose. I found this article insightful and somewhat hopeful in many regards. I thought I would share it here as well.

Okay, onto today's content.

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Do you see God as a fox or a mother hen?​
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Luke 13:31-35

At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” He said to them, “Go and tell that fox for me, ’Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’ Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’ ”

This week, I had a disturbing yet all too familiar conversation with someone over private messaging. They were condemning me for the positions I’ve taken on my social media platforms. This has become a common experience with my work online and I will often treat it as an opportunity to have a constructive conversation. So, I tried to at least gently reason with them and tell them where I am coming from to see if we could find some common ground.

I tried to bring up the harm that is being perpetrated against the poor, the immigrant, the elderly, the veterans, the homeless, the disabled, marginalized communities, our national parks, the planet, and all the federal workers who are losing their jobs and livelihoods, just to name a few things.

Their response was glib: “Everything happens for a reason” they said. “It’s all in God’s hands. You shouldn’t worry so much. Trust in God.”

I’ve been in pastoral ministry since 2005 and I’ve become convinced that there isn’t any response quite as evil as saying about suffering people “everything happens for a reason“ or “it’s all in God’s plan.”

Especially when their suffering is being caused by a reality that you voted for.

This response denies human free will and all the ways we shape the world around us that brings about a lot of the suffering we see.

This response has nothing to do with Jesus, who embodied the prophetic witness of all the prophets of scripture who came before him, who raged against those who used their religion, political power, and wealth as tools of oppression and exploitation against the poor and the powerless.

This response is simply a selfish dismissal of people’s suffering masquerading as a theological belief.

It would be like telling the prophet Nathan to not rebuke King David for his horrid sins because “everything happens for a reason.”

It would be like telling John the Baptist “you worry too much” for calling out the injustices perpetrated by King Herod.

It would be like telling Jesus to just “trust in God” instead of proclaiming good news to the poor and bringing liberation for the oppressed.

We must never use God as a justification to ignore people’s suffering. That is not only deeply heartless but it is totally anti-Christ. It displays that we have more loyalty to our own beliefs and preferred political ideology than we do to God or to our neighbors.

Jesus died out of love for the entire world, even for his enemies. The least we can do is to move past our discomfort and take some responsibility for the suffering people are enduring right now and care for them the way Jesus would.

There’s nothing remotely Godly about spiritually bypassing people’s suffering.

“Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.” -Proverbs 14:31

“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed. Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice.” -Proverbs 31:8-9

This is the work we find Jesus doing in our passage today. He is curing people and casting out demons, helping the most vulnerable among him. It is this work of mercy and justice that has caused him to become a target of those in power for how disruptive he has become to their structures of power and wealth that maintain the status quo they desire.

Performative Religion

In our passage, we hear that King Herod is among those who has it out for Jesus. King Herod is depicted as a loose canon in the gospels. He used religion performatively, was controlled by his most basic desires, his ego, his greed, and his vanity. He used any means necessary to maintain his power and wealth, even resort to violence to eliminate anyone who seems like a potential threat. This wasn’t a bug for him either, this ran in his family.

The “Herod” referred to here in our passage is Herod Antipas, who was the son of Herod the Great. Matthew tells us in his gospel that Herod the great not only ordered the death of all young Hebrew boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity, but he also relentlessly searched to take out baby Jesus as he saw him as a threat to his throne. So much so that Matthew tells us he and his family fled to Egypt as political refugees then returned to Nazareth only after Herod the Great died.

Herod Antipas carried on his father’s egotistical and brutal legacy. By the timeframe of our passage we read today, Herod had already beheaded John the Baptist for speaking out against him and was vigilant about continuing to eliminate any other potential threats to his throne, including Jesus.

You can see why Jesus refers to him as a “fox,” pointing out his cunning and sneaky behavior. I also find it interesting that Jesus used a fox rather than anything larger like a dog or a wolf. Perhaps this was to emphasize the behavior of a man who believes he is larger than life, the center of the universe, but is in reality so small in character and wisdom.

What is chilling about this context is that Herod claimed to be part of Jesus’ religion. Herod loved to pose as a faithful Jew whenever it suited his interests, yet disregarded the parts of the faith that didn’t. This was part of why he had John the Baptist killed. John dared to call out his inappropriate relationship with his sister in law, which was a in clear violation of Torah.

I wish we didn’t have such recent and stark examples of what this kind of performative religion was like within Christianity today.

Imagine if someone just told John the Baptist to calm down because "everything happens for a reason" or to not make waves about King Herod because "God used an wealthy adulterer like King David to accomplish good things too."

Friend or Foe?

Some Jews were loyal to king Herod, like the Herodians, while many others saw right through his performative religiosity. The Pharisees were among those who despised King Herod. They were allies to Jesus in many ways too.

For example, they believed in the Torah, the Psalms and the prophets as Jesus did, which was in contrast to the Sadducees, who only believed in Torah. The Pharisees also believed in the resurrection of the dead as Jesus did, which the Sadducees didn't. The Pharisees and Jesus also believed in the faithful observance of God’s law, but they disagreed a lot when it came to how that law was interpreted and supposed to be lived out, which is why they argued a lot. While the Sadducees where those who cared about cozying up to the wealthy elites, the Pharisees were always among the common people, where Jesus was often as well.

So just like we see in our passage today, while Jesus had a lot of fiery words towards the Pharisees, there was also some camaraderie towards them as well. While they may disagree deeply about certain things, they still cared about Jesus’ safety and well-being enough to warn him about Herod’s threats.

This is why it is best to interpret Jesus' response to them as talking to allies rather than opponents. Jesus telling them to “go tell that fox” a list of things would have been pretty funny to them because they wouldn’t have stepped foot in Herod’s presence because of how they felt about him. You can imagine them saying, "Yeah, we will get right on that..."

The rest of what Jesus said too is best understood as lamenting with friends about the city and nation they all loved. Jesus states what would be obvious to anyone who knew Israel’s history, that “it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’ Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!” Emphasizing Israel’s refusal to repent and turn towards what is best and good for them, even though God sends prophet after prophet to call them to repent.

Jesus then employs another animal metaphor to describe his desire for wayward Jerusalem. He describes his desire for them to be gathered safely and united together as a mother hen gathers her brood under her wings.

This is reminiscent of how Deuteronomy 32:11 describes God as a mother eagle hovering over its young to protect them, which is also similar to the imagery found in Psalm 91:4. Isaiah 66:13 also depicts God as a mother comforting her child to convey how God cares for Israel. This is the same love Jesus is describing here. The same love that he had for the whole world that would eventually lead him to a cross.

The Fox and The Hen

And here we have it, a fox or a hen. Two descriptions for two different kinds of power. The kind of power that is egotistically preoccupied with its own interests and self protection or the kind of power that puts others first and would even use itself as a shield of protection if it meant that others would have safety and peace.

I believe that these two descriptions influence the Christianity of our time more than we often realize. I deeply believe that how we perceive God will immediately shape how we define power and how we define power will immediately shape how we define our relationships with others, including politics.

If we perceive God to be more like a predator, like a fox, we will define power in terms of unquestioned obedience, fear, and coercion of others if necessary if they are seen as a threat to our religious and political order. Our priority then will be to require obedience from everyone to what we believe about God, even if people have to suffer in order to make that happen. This is close to the theology behind the conversation I talked about above. People’s suffering is of little importance if the greater good of restoring political and religious order will be achieved.

However, if we perceive God to be what we see in Jesus' words, as a mother hen whose desire is to bring peace and protection to people. If we perceive God to be what we see in Jesus’ actions of healing people and driving out the dark forces that oppress them, showing them compassion, mercy, and justice, then our definition of power will be defined in terms of “us for them” rather than in terms of “us vs them.” Our priority then will be to obey the law of love we see in Jesus, prophetically speaking truth to the power of the “foxes” in our world on behalf of the poor and the powerless, forever calling for our “Jerusalem” to treat them with mercy and justice. No matter if our “Jerusalem” will listen or not.

In our time where empathy is demonized and bullies like Herod are proclaimed as our best leaders, even within our own religious circles, the power of the fox seems to be the preferred definition of power, but take courage. Just as we see Jesus faithfully embodying the enduring power of mercy and justice in our passage today, only to have unlikely allies join him to warn him about the cunning foxes after him and lament over their nation with him, we too can find the persistent hope in faithfully pursuing the power of mercy and justices and the unlikely allies it will bring.