Faith Under Risk
After the baptism of Raeleigh James a couple of weeks ago, Fr. Tom remarked to me, “Don’t you just love baptisms?” I heartily agreed. Baptisms are among my favorite blessings of being a priest. I love it whether it involves babies, children, adolescents or adults. The oldest person I ever baptized was a guy well into his eighties. It was beautiful, although he was very nervous when I picked him up.
And I love babies. Ever since I was a kid myself, I’ve always delighted in them. That goes from the three little sisters I had growing up through to our latest grandchild, Mabel, but also your babies, starting with Cannon Van Hook and rolling forward. We have a number of them coming this year inside the church and some of you have grandchildren coming elsewhere.
Babies are completely vulnerable. The only thing they can do for themselves is cry for their basic needs to be met; food, changing their diaper and sleep. We do all we can to keep them safe from cold, from disease, from pets, from intruders, from threats of every and any kind.
We grieve terribly when anything happens to a child. Some of you have been praying for our niece, Arya, who was stricken with salmonella infection that became meningitis and is severely impaired. What would her parents give to have protected her from that bacteria? They aren’t alone. Neonatal and pediatric units across the country are filled with children fighting for their lives with parents, doctors and nurses all working tirelessly to save those kids.
As we watch the violence and destruction in Ukraine our hearts hurt most for the children and worst for the babies caught in that horrible war. Hospitals are being attacked. Their parents are giving up everything to get children receiving cancer treatment across the border to safety and hopefully to resume their treatment. People in bordering countries are taking them in and people as far away as Lake Wales are looking for ways to receive them.
That most natural and deep care and concerns we have for our littlest ones is perhaps the best way to understand what Jesus means when he says he desires “to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings.” A hen will do that to protect her chicks from any and every threat, be it rain or snow, cold, fire or predators. In any case her size and strength can withstand far more than the defenseless chicks.
And she is willing to provide that protection all the way. She is a model of self-sacrifice for the sake of her children. She could freeze. She could burn. She could be attacked by a predator, such as a fox. She will give her life to preserve the life of her children. That is how Jesus longs to gather us under his wings.
God has long sought to gather his people. He has long sought to protect them as under his wings. We hear this in Psalm 91:4
He shall cover you with his pinions,
and you shall find refuge under his wings; *
his faithfulness shall be a shield and buckler.
Some Pharisees warned Jesus, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” Jesus isn’t particularly worried about that. His response is not, “Time to go!” Rather he tells that old fox to not worry. Jesus is not going to stick around and fan Herod’s concern. He will leave Herod’s house to him. Jesus has set his face toward Jerusalem at verse 9:51 and he won’t waver from his mission.
Interestingly, there is no mention in the Old Testament of prophets being killed in Jerusalem, although there are non-scriptural Jewish traditions about that. Jesus is also referring to the larger issue of the people’s disregard and neglect – killing – of God’s word shared through the prophets, which was always, “Return to me.”
Martyrs are important, the word means witness. So a martyr to a cause becomes a powerful example of witness and fuels the movement. There will, of course, be many martyrs to Jesus in the centuries to follow. There are many martyrs to him now.
But when Jesus dies, he will not be a martyr. He’s not dying for the sake of a message or a cause. He’s like that mothering hen, putting his own body between us and the evil of this world. He’s putting his own body between us and the sin of this world. He’s putting his own body between us and our own sinful nature, despite our failure to love him as he loves us.
When we baptize a child of God our deepest hope and prayer is that we’re putting him or her under Christ’s wings, no matter whatever else may happen in this life. How could the people not be willing? How can we not be willing? Yet, we look at history and we look at the world and sadly we scatter away from Him too often.
Jesus won’t let that disappointment distract him from his mission, either. Despite people’s disregard, indifference and opposition, he will go to Jerusalem. And when he does, it won’t be like the other prophets. Jesus isn’t going to remind people of what God said. He is showing them who God is.
We all face pain, some much more than others. We all face suffering and trials, some much more than others. And we all face physical death. We all live in a world wracked by sin and evil. And we all know it should be better. That all starts inside, with the embrace of “the unchangeable truth” of God’s Word as revealed in his Son, Jesus.
AMEN