Scriptures: Luke 13:31-35, Proverbs 30:29-31 and Luke 22:33-34 & 54-62
Video Link: https://youtu.be/HJdg6OUzr2M
Structure:
- Introduction
- The protective hen
- The conceited rooster
- Conclusion
Introduction:
Good morning everyone.
There are literally hundreds of jokes that start with the question, ‘Why did the chicken cross the road?’ Unfortunately, none of them (that I could find) are that funny. I did come across one chicken joke though that almost made me laugh…
‘I dream of a world where chickens can cross the road without having their motives questioned.’
Today we continue our series on Birds of the Bible, by focusing on the Chicken. Unlike the eagle or the dove, chickens don’t get mentioned a lot in the Bible but when they are mentioned it is in relation to significant events.
Our message today features the hen (which is a mother chicken) and the rooster (a male chicken). Let us start with the hen.
The protective hen:
From the gospel of Luke chapter 13, verses 31-35, we read…
31 At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, “Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.”
32 Jesus replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’ 33 In any case, I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem! 34 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. 35 Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.
The main image here is that of a protective mother hen. The instinct of Jesus (and indeed of God) is to protect people from harm, like a mother hen instinctively protects her chicks.
This image of a mother hen protecting her young would have instantly connected with Jesus’ middle eastern audience 2000 years ago. However, when we in the 21st Century western world think of a chicken, we don’t necessarily make the same intuitive connection. For us today, the chicken is a symbol of foolish fear or cowardice.
This is because we have been influenced by the 19th Century fable Chicken Little (aka Henny Penny). If you remember, Chicken Little thought the sky was falling because an acorn fell on her head. In her panic she stirred up mass hysteria around the farmyard. In some versions of this story the cunning fox invites the anxious birds to his lair and eats them all.
Contrary to popular belief, chickens are neither stupid nor cowardly. A mother hen will bravely defend her chicks.
Chickens are intelligent birds with keen senses. Like ravens, chickens are able to remember faces. And like human beings, chickens can see red, blue and green light. More impressive than that, they can also see ultra-violet light, which we can’t.
Chickens dream when they sleep, they have a REM cycle. They also have a sleep phase (that humans don’t have) called uni-hemispheric slow-wave sleep, where one half of the brain is asleep and the other half is awake. This means chickens can sleep with one eye open, which helps to protect them against predators.
Chickens make around 30 different sounds for communicating with each other. A mother hen is careful to teach her young how to survive by showing them what they can eat and what to avoid. Contrary to the prejudice created by Chicken Little, hens are actually smart and brave.
You would have noticed the reading from Luke 13 had a fox in it. The fox is the enemy of the chicken.
Unexpectedly, some Pharisees warn Jesus to leave the area because Herod wants to kill him. It appears that not all the Pharisees were against Jesus. Some could see he was doing good work and were looking out for him, even though they didn’t really understand Jesus’ purpose.
Herod was the puppet ruler in that region of Palestine. Herod was the one who had beheaded John the Baptist. Jesus replied: “Go tell that fox, ‘I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’…”
When we hear the word fox we might think ‘silver fox’, someone handsome and charming like George Clooney or Richard Gere. For us the term fox is a compliment.
But in the culture Jesus was living in, to call someone a fox (silver or otherwise) was not a compliment. The fox was used by the Jews of the first century as a metaphor for an insignificant or worthless person, someone who has a destructive effect on society. So calling someone a fox was a bit of an insult. Jesus had no time for Herod.
Jesus is not afraid of Herod. Jesus will carry on his ministry of deliverance and healing until he has reached his goal and accomplished God’s purpose of salvation by going to the cross. Jesus’ courage comes from knowing it is God’s purpose for him to die to save the world.
In verse 34, of Luke 13, Jesus laments over the city of Jerusalem saying: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing…”
There is quite bit going on in this verse. Firstly, we notice that Jesus views the city of Jerusalem from the perspective of God, as though he has been watching over the city (in sadness) for centuries.
As the living Word of God, Jesus is revealing God’s heart and (in this context) it is the heart of a mother. The Lord is grieving for the people of Jerusalem. Jesus came offering the way of peace but the people rejected Jesus. As a consequence, Jesus could see disaster in the city’s future as there had been in its past.
In AD 70, nearly thirty years after Jesus’ death and resurrection, the Jews defied Rome and the Roman Army destroyed Jerusalem, killing over a million people in the process. The real tragedy was that this violence and suffering could have been avoided.
It is curious that Jesus compares God to a mother hen, the very essence of protective care. It’s like Jesus is saying, ‘True protection, true security is found in God’. Jesus could have used any number of images to convey the idea of protection and security.
Jesus could have compared God to some powerful creature, like a lion or a bear, which would easily kill a fox. Or he could have a compared God to a fortified tower or some kind of weapon. But Jesus does not go with military images, nor anything as strong as a lion or a bear. Jesus goes with the humble, down to earth, relatively vulnerable, very un-scary chicken.
There is real tenderness in this image of a mother hen sheltering her chicks. Tenderness in contrast to violence.
You have probably heard about the shooting in Auckland this past week. We don’t know exactly what led the gunman to that point, but his actions do not leave us untouched. Perhaps, like Jesus, we may feel something of the weight of it, the sadness, the tragic loss. There are no words.
Jesus’ choice of a mother hen to describe God’s heart for Jerusalem comes across as something of a minority report. The majority of the images we have of God (from the Bible) are masculine. God is our Father. He is Lord and King, a mighty warrior and so forth. All very male oriented. But here, in Luke 13, Jesus uses a feminine image in relation to God.
There is nothing wrong with the male images. They are okay as far as they go, as long as we remember they are only an approximation to help our limited human understanding. Really though, we can’t assign a specific gender to God. We can’t fit God into our traditional male / female stereotypes, or any other category for that matter. God is original, set apart, holy.
Jesus’ words about the people of Jerusalem not being willing to find shelter under God’s wings, imply a criticism of God’s people. Baby chicks instinctively hide under their mother’s wings when danger approaches. But the people of Jerusalem don’t seem to be aware of who their mother is, much less what to do when they sense a threat.
What do we do when we feel anxious or threatened? Are we like Chicken Little, running around spreading our fear? Or do we run to God, who comforts and protects us like a mother hen? I guess most of us have done both (and other things besides) at some point in our lives.
We find shelter under the wings of God primarily through prayer. As Paul writes in his letter to the Philippians: Do not be anxious about anything but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
The conceited rooster:
Okay, so the hen represents God’s motherly protection and care. What about the rooster? What do we associate the rooster with?
Well, in Proverbs 30 we read: 29 “There are three things that are stately in their stride, four that move with stately bearing: 30 a lion, mighty among beasts, who retreats before nothing; 31 a strutting rooster, a he-goat, and a king secure against revolt.
In this context, a strutting rooster suggests fearlessness, bordering on arrogant conceit or at least over confidence. The rooster struts around as if he owns the place. The rooster is the very picture of a creature that thinks it is better than those around it. The rooster has ideas above his station.
Scientists have proven that chickens are the closest living relatives of the dinosaur. So there is a shared ancestry between chickens and Tyrannosaurus rex. Could this be one reason why the hen is brave and the rooster struts around so fearlessly? Who knows? What we do know is that the chicken is a survivor.
Perhaps the most well-known reference to a rooster in the Bible is in relation to Peter’s denial of Jesus. In Luke 22, the night before Jesus’ crucifixion, Peter says to Jesus: “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.”
Clearly, Peter feels fearless in this moment. Perhaps also he thinks of himself as somehow better than the other disciples? At the very least, Peter has an inflated view of himself.
Jesus recognizes Peter’s conceit and answers: “I tell you Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny knowing me three times.”
After Jesus had been arrested and taken to the house of the high priest, Peter followed at a distance, not exactly strutting like a rooster but still over confident.
As he warmed himself by the fire, Peter was asked three times if he was with Jesus and three times Peter denied knowing Jesus as his friend. After the third denial the rooster crowed and, at that moment…
61 The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.” 62 And he went outside and wept bitterly.
Conceit is when our confidence exceeds our competence, so that we think we are better than we are.Conceit is very close to denial. Conceit blinds us. It prevents us from seeing ourselves accurately. Conceit turns us into roosters, strutting around like we own the place.
Peter didn’t think he was being conceited when he declared his willingness to die with Jesus. Peter totally believed in his own integrity and courage. He thought he was better than he actually was.
We can’t help but feel sorry for Peter. His intentions were so good. He just wasn’t that self-aware. He thought he was brave and true. Now, every time he was woken by a rooster crowing, he would be reminded of his failure.
We all have a bit of rooster in us, a bit of arrogant conceit. At some point or other we have all strutted in our mind, thinking we are better than we are. The problem is, conceit often hides in our shadow. Your shadow is your blind spot, that aspect of your personality that you cannot see and therefore are inclined to deny.
The potential to act out of conceit is in each one of us. It’s just waiting for circumstance to pull the trigger.
Imagine, for example, you are playing a game with someone, maybe of scrabble or football or tennis or whatever you are into and believe you are good at. Now imagine your opponent beats you convincingly.
If you are surprised by your defeat and get upset (perhaps by blaming the ref or even accusing the opposition of cheating), then that is probably a sign of conceit. A red flag that says your confidence exceeds your competence. You are not as good as you thought you were.
I remember thinking in seventh form (Year 13), I would leave school with an A Bursary. I didn’t find the class work too difficult that year and felt like I’d done pretty well in my exams. As it turned out I got a B Bursary. I didn’t miss by much but I still missed. It wasn’t the end of the world but I certainly felt disgruntled by that result and wondered if the examiners had made a mistake in overlooking my brilliance.
Turns out I had been hood winked by my own conceit. My confidence exceeded my competence on that occasion. But there was valuable learning in that experience. I grew in my self-awareness, which is probably more important than getting an A Bursary. I learned I was not as smart as I thought I was, so I would need to work harder in life and I would need to ask for God’s help if I wanted to excel.
The truth about ourselves, mixed with a generous portion of grace, is how Jesus remedies our conceit. Jesus forgave Peter and restored him. So Peter’s denial was not fatal. The hard part for Peter was forgiving himself, or more accurately, accepting himself. Faith includes accepting ourselves, even when we discover things in our character that we believe are unacceptable.
Jesus saw beyond the rooster in Peter. Jesus recognized Peter’s leadership potential and called Peter to feed his lambs, to take care of the fledgling church. Fortunately for us, Peter got over himself and became the leader Jesus always knew him to be.
The strength of Peter’s pastoral leadership was grounded in the reality of God’s grace. Peter could preach a gospel of grace, with humility, precisely because he had received and experienced Jesus’ grace for himself personally.
Of course, our inclination toward conceit is not something we can be cured of once and for all. We remain susceptible to conceit throughout this life. So we need to check ourselves from time to time.
If you have ever been on a farm, you might have noticed the way chickens ruffle their feathers in the dirt. It might seem strange to us but they are actually cleaning themselves. We bathe in water, chickens bathe in dirt.
This is because chickens have a gland on their back which spreads oil over their feathers. The oil makes them water proof. After a while though, the oil goes stale. The chicken gets rid of the old oil by covering itself in dirt. The stale oil sticks to the dirt and comes off when the chicken shakes its feathers. Pretty clever really.
We get rid of our conceit in much the same way a chicken gets rid of its stale oil. By covering ourselves in dirt. Not by literally rolling in the dirt (although in ancient times people did actually repent in dust and ashes). But I’m speaking metaphorically.
The spiritual equivalent of rolling in the dirt, involves honest confession. Not denying the fact that we stink. But rather, facing the dirty truth about ourselves and shaking it off by asking God’s forgiveness.
Truth with grace is the cure for rooster like conceit.
In many ways, I’m preaching to the choir. I don’t see anyone here as especially conceited. In fact, there may be some here who struggle with self-doubt, which is the opposite of conceit.
If conceit is when your confidence exceeds your competence (so you are not as good as you think you are), then self-doubt is when your competence exceeds your confidence, so you are actually better than you believe you are.
The remedy for self-doubt is the same as the remedy for conceit. Truth with grace. That means being on your own side and not sabotaging your mind with negative self-talk. It means graciously accepting encouragement and not beating yourself up if you fall short in some way. It means having confidence in God to support the choices you make and remembering you are a work in progress.
God calls us to walk humbly with him. Humility is when our confidence matches our competence, so we have an accurate measure of ourselves.
Whether we are more inclined to conceit or self-doubt, we are all partially blind and prone to denying the truth about ourselves. The good news is, God sees what’s in our heart, even if we can’t, and he loves us anyway. His grace is sufficient for us.
Conclusion:
Neither Jesus, nor God, align themselves with the strutting rooster. Conceit has no place in the Kingdom of God. Instead, the Lord describes himself as being like a mother hen. A symbol of brave, protective care.
May you find shelter and tenderness under the wings of our God of peace. Amen.
Questions for discussion or reflection:
What stands out for you in reading these Scriptures and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?
- Do you know any good chicken jokes?
- Why did Jesus compare God to a mother hen? What thoughts or feelings does the image of a mother hen evoke for you?
- What do you do when you feel anxious or threatened? How do you find shelter under the wings of God?
- How is the image of the rooster different from that of the hen?
- How might we know when we are being conceited? What is Jesus’ remedy for conceit?
- What are some strategies for overcoming self-doubt?
Tawa Baptist 