Love, In The Face Of Danger - Sermon for the Second Sunday of Lent (March 16, 2025)

Scripture Readings: Genesis 15:1–12, 17–18 | Psalm 27 | Philippians 3:17–4:1 | Luke 13:31–35

“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!” (Luke 13:34).

How we respond to danger and threats says a lot about what we value… and what we trust in. 

At one level, this response to danger happens completely unconsciously. When threatened, our body’s self-defense mechanisms kick in to help us do what we must to survive… what’s sometimes called the ‘fight, flight, or freeze’ response to stress. Our bodies automatically prepare us to challenge the threats head on, to flee as fast as possible, or to temporarily seize up, in the hopes that the threat will pass us by. 

All of these biological strategies have their place, and are useful in certain circumstances. And all of us have different default reactions… ones we jump to more easily than others. But this physiological response is only part of our overall approach to dealing with dangers in life. Our will also plays an important role in how we react to threats.

When we have more than a second to think about what to do… when we have a chance to actually choose our next steps… and decide between all the pathways before us… that’s when our response to danger really reveals what we care about, and what we think is the best way to protect it.

Our reading today from St. Luke’s Gospel tells of a moment when Christ Jesus our Lord comes under threat: when He receives a warning that powerful people are out to get Him. And in this passage, we get a glimpse of both what our Lord Jesus is truly passionate about… and also a vision of what it means for us all to respond to threats and dangers from the point of view of God’s Kingdom.

Our passage begins with Jesus being warned by some Pharisees that the puppet-king Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee, wanted Him dead. Now as you might remember, Herod Antipas’ father, King Herod the ‘Great’, had also sought to kill Jesus, when He was a child, after the visit from the Magi. At that time, Herod the ‘Great’ was threatened by news of a newborn King of the Jews, and ended up killing all the young boys in Bethlehem, but Jesus and His family fled to safety in Egypt. 

And now, like father like son, Herod Antipas sees the adult Jesus as a threat… someone who was causing trouble and upsetting his own vision for Galilee. We don’t have all the details of why Herod Antipas wanted Jesus dead… just that he did. And usually, when powerful people like that want you dead, that’s reason enough to flee.

And so some Pharisees, who have as a group had some confrontations with Jesus at this point, but who were not outright enemies yet, decide to warn Jesus to get out of town, and out of trouble. “Get away from here,” they tell Him, “for Herod wants to kill you.” (Luke 13:31).

What would you do in His place? How would you respond to this kind of warning?

Well, Jesus responds by doing something quite unexpected. He says He has His own work to do, work that Herod’s threats won’t stop Him from doing. And though He soon will be leaving Galilee, it’s not to flee away from danger, but to journey straight into the heart of it! 

Luke 13:32-33, “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.’” 

Right away, Jesus dismisses the ruler of Galilee as ‘that fox’… a cunning predator of small creatures, but not really that much of a threat. Then He lays out His own agenda: to do the works of the Kingdom of God. To drive away the dark spiritual powers holding us humans in bondage and fear… curing the sick, and bringing healing to people in mind, body, and soul. In short, Jesus was far too busy bringing God’s life and light to those who desperately needed it to worry about what Herod Antipas was up to… and more than that, He knew where the real danger lay. 

He knew His mission… and that His path would soon take Him to Jerusalem, whose name means ‘city of shalom’ or ‘city of peace’. 

Jerusalem… the home of the Temple of Yahweh, first built by Solomon, son of King David, and which was the central place of worship for God’s people… before the city was sacked by the Babylonians at the time of the Exile. But the Temple had been rebuilt when the Exiles returned, and this building had recently been refurbished and made great again by Herod ‘the Great’… the same one who also murdered the children of Bethlehem, to protect his own interests. Jesus knew His path would take Him from the largely rural and familiar region of Galilee, to this sacred but politically unsafe city.

Jerusalem was of course, the centre of Judean religious and political life. It was where the Chief Priests offered their spiritual leadership, and ritual practices. It was the headquarters of the Sanhedrin, the Council of elders who took charge of many aspects of the lives of God’s people in that region… and who would eventually form the plot for Christ’s false accusations, arrest, and death. And Jesus knew all this was coming.

For Jerusalem, the centre of so much of the drama of the Scriptures, was where many of God’s prophets were sent to call God’s people to repent… to turn back to God… but kept on facing rejection, persecution, and death.
Herod Antipas could not concern Jesus less. And so, in heading to Jerusalem, our Lord was not seeking to avoid danger… He knew He was walking straight into the fire! 

But why would He do this? What was His motivation here? 

It was certainly not to start a fight: to go toe to toe with the city’s powerful but corrupt rulers… to try and challenge their authority by overthrowing them with violence. 

And it wasn’t out of some effort to prove that He was impervious to threats or danger… bravely facing the abyss to somehow show off His courage and spiritual prowess.

Why does He say He’s going to Jerusalem? Because He wants to rescue them! He longs to spare them all from the fate that He knows they are in danger of embracing. 

In other words, Jesus goes to Jerusalem, despite all the dangers it holds for Him, because He loves them! Because God the Father loves them! Because He has been entrusted with God’s great rescue mission, and He will not be deterred from it. 

Luke 13:34-35, “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.’” 

The image Christ uses of a mother hen gathering her brood is itself a beautiful one, but as the bishop and scholar, N.T. Wright highlights, in the context of coming danger, this image speaks of an incredible act of love. Forgive this long-ish quote, but I think it is worth it:

“Fire is as terrifying to trapped animals as to people, if not more so. When a farmyard catches fire, the animals try to escape; but, if they cannot, some species have developed ways of protecting their young. The picture here is of a hen, gathering her chicks under her wings to protect them. There are stories of exactly this: after a farmyard fire, those cleaning up have found a dead hen, scorched and blackened—with live chicks sheltering under her wings. She has quite literally given her life to save them. It is a vivid and violent image of what Jesus declared he longed to do for Jerusalem and, by implication, for all Israel. But, at the moment, all he could see was chicks scurrying off in the opposite direction, taking no notice of the smoke and flames indicating the approach of danger, nor of the urgent warnings of the one who alone could give them safety.” (N.T Wright, Luke for Everyone (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2004), 171–172.)

Jesus uses the image of a mother hen putting her own body between her offspring and the dangers that would otherwise completely overwhelm them. It’s a picture of self-sacrifice in order to spare those who are loved even more than life.

And so, Jesus knows He is heading into the fire… straight into danger, in order to save His people. But how would they respond? Would they take shelter beneath His outstretched arms? Or would they scatter, seeking shelter and security somewhere else?

Centuries before Christ, we know Jerusalem fell to the armies of Babylon, and it was destroyed… just as many prophets of God had predicted… all because God’s people had turned away from the LORD, and rejected His holy ways.

And just a few decades after Jesus said these words, the powerful armies of the Roman Empire would again march through the city of Jerusalem, and bring it down… overthrowing a Judaean revolt, spurred on by charismatic, ‘would-be’ messiahs… who rejected the way of peace that Jesus Himself pursued, and calls us to followed.  

Although some of the inhabitants of Jerusalem had listened to Jesus’ call, especially after the Good News of His resurrection was proclaimed by the Apostles, starting in the ‘city of peace’, many of those who did not embraced violence and bloodshed, and thought that the sword was the best way to save their people. But in the end, Jerusalem was again overthrown, and its people scattered or slain. 

Of course, our world is full of threats and dangers. They’re not only found in Jerusalem.

So, when we feel like we’re in the fire… threatened, in danger… frightened… where do we run? What do we turn to? 
Facing the barrage of challenges of our day… many of us can be tempted to respond by looking for some sense of security by following a strong leader who we think will fight for us, and our own interests. Or maybe, we’re more inclined to look for ways to stay out of trouble… to freeze or appease those who threaten us… even if it means consenting to things that we know take us further away from God’s holy ways. 

As St. Paul warned us, in our second reading this morning, there are many at work in our world who really are living “as enemies of the cross of Christ” (Philippians 3:18), even if they claim to be our champions… those whose agendas and influence may seem to offer us hope, but actually lead us straight into the fire. 

But alongside this warning, St. Paul also gives us a word of hope: a reminder that our true citizenship is in heaven… that our real allegiance is not bound to any earthly state, or leader, but to the Kingdom of God… a Kingdom which we are called to serve here and now… while we await the return of our true Saviour, the Risen King Jesus… who alone is our assurance of victory and glory. 

And so, even if for a time we are threatened and must face many dangers, we believe that Jesus will raise us up… and so we can, and must seek always to stand firm in Him.  

And this is what Jesus calls us to do: to seek and find our shelter in Him. 

Not to entrust ourselves to all the foxes out there, who might promise us protection, but are just as likely to turn and devour us. Those who are happy to use us to get what they want, but who do not really care about our fate.

We are called to trust in His saving love… the love that brings the freedom of God’s good Kingdom to light, and forgiveness and healing to our lives in surprising ways… the love that led Him straight into the fire for all our sakes: choosing to endure the cruelty and shame of the cross in order to rescue… not just His friends, but even His enemies!

This is the love that Christ Jesus has for us, and for our world: God’s self-giving love, that sees even those who stand against us as beloved… longing to embrace us all and bring us safely together in His healing arms.

And so, as we continue our journey through Lent, at a time when many of us and our neighbours feel deeply insecure, and under threat, Jesus is calling us to trust in His sincere, self-giving love… and to follow Him. To follow Him to the cross, knowing that we’re not going to be spared our share of the dangers and fires of life… but trusting that whatever we face, Jesus our Risen Saviour is with us… and His saving love will see us through… and that, as we stand firm in our faith in Him, and put His love into practice, those around us can come to know where they too can turn to find true refuge, and come to believe in the rescuing power of His love. Amen.