Like a Mother Hen

Chicken Illustrations

Chickens. We bake them. We grill them. We barbecue them. We put them on our sandwiches. We put them in our soup. We eat their eggs. But we probably don’t devote a lot of time to thinking about the birds themselves. Well, a man by the name of Mark Lewis came up with a one hour documentary titled, "The Natural

History of the Chicken." In that documentary he told stories of individual chickens and the people who appreciated and even treasured them. One story, for example, tells about a lady who had a pet chicken named Valerie. One day she noticed Valerie was in trouble, couldn’t breathe. Thinking quickly, the woman performed mouth-to mouth resuscitation on the chicken, and revived it. You’ve got to really love a chicken to do a thing like that for it.

And there was the story of amazing headless chicken from Colorado. There is good reason for the old saying about “running around like a chicken with its head cut off.” Decapitated chickens have been known to do that. The nerves continue to fire somehow and the bird just keep on going. But what made that particular chicken so unusual was that he continued to walk around and flap his wings even weeks after it lost it’s head.

I'd tell you more, but as you might imagine-it gets a little "fowl."

If you’ve already heard more than you really wanted to hear, I hope you will “egg”-scuse me.

In the future, if I should gain some new insights about chickens, I’ll be sure to keep you abreast of it.

I could go on and on. Some of you will tell me afterwards that this sermon was certainly nothing to crow about.

But enough of that. From this point on I’ll just try to “wing” it.

Scripture Today

In our Scripture passage today, Jesus talks about a hen; in fact he uses the hen as a symbol for himself. "Oh Jerusalem! You are a city that kills the prophets and anybody else that God sends your way. How I wish that I could gather you together just like a mother hen gathers her chicks under her wing. But why a hen? Why not a lion, King of the jungle? Why not an eagle?

One Christian writer (Barbara Brown Taylor) put it like this, "Jesus won't be king of the jungle in this story. What he will be is a mother hen, who stands between the chicks and those who mean to do them harm. There are dangers at every turn. Vulnerable little chicks are at the mercy of every fox and bird of prey. What will happen to the poor chicks?

In the gospel today we are not the ones deciding how we want our chicken; we are the chicks, the vulnerable ones. Jesus wants to take us under his protecting wings.

Verse 34 ends with the message of judgment on Jerusalem,

"Oh Jerusalem! You are a city that kills the prophets and anybody else that God sends your way. How I wish that I could gather you together just like a mother hen gathers her chicks under her wing. But you don't want that, Jerusalem. You're not willing.”

All Jesus wants to do is love, he says, and in response all the people want to do is destroy him because of it. Why is it that people are like that?

Could it be, that somewhere deep down inside, we realize that Christ's love is a challenge to us. If we are the chicks and he is the mother hen willing give his life for us, think how valuable we must be to him. It’s almost scary to realize how much he values us. What if our tiny little lives are not so tiny after all?

If Jesus' love for us is so strong that he was willing to face betrayal and arrest and death on a cross because of it, then that means that our lives are not a gift to be squandered, but instead to be lived to the fullest. That's what makes Jesus' love scary: it forces take another look at these lives of ours.

Because of the love of Christ, our lives become far too valuable to even call them our lives at all. These lives we call ours belong to another, to the Lord who has made us and claimed us. These lives are given to us for a few short years to do the work of God somehow, somewhere.

The hen seeks to gather the chicks under her wings but we know what’s supposed to happen to those chicks. They grow up to be hens as well. Jesus says in , "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it." We are called to that same kind of self-sacrificing life.

Hen protecting her own

blue something amazing happened: the mother hen saw what was about to happen and ran out into the danger of it all. She gathered the chicks under her wings and just sat there waiting for the hawk to strike. And sure enough, that's exactly what happened. The hawk attacked the mother hen, trying to get at the young who were under her wings. Feathers flew. There was a cloud of dust, but the hen would not budge. She just sat there. Finally the hawk gave up and flew off to find an easier meal. The farmer stepped outside and walked over to the scene of the attack. He stood over the body of that hen. She was just a lifeless pile of mangled feathers there in the middle of the barnyard. He was sure she was dead, having sacrificed her life for the little ones under

A farmer tells the story of an event he witnessed out his kitchen window one day. His chickens were out there doing what chickens do; digging up bugs and pecking away at little seeds, whatever they could find. The farmer glanced out the window just in time to see the chickens scatter. Most of them ran and fluttered their way back to the safety of the chicken coop.

The farmer looked up and saw the reason why; a hawk was flying in circles above the farmyard, looking for an easy meal. It was then the farmer noticed a half dozen or so baby chicks still out there in the open. They were too young, or too confused, to run and scatter like the rest of the chickens.

Well, the hawk noticed the chicks too, and didn't waste any time. It began to swoop down with its talons outstretched, ready to snatch up its food, when out of the blue something amazing happened: the mother hen saw what was about to happen and ran out into the danger of it all. She gathered the chicks under her wings and just sat there waiting for the hawk to strike.

her wing. But then, as he watched, that hen began to move. She actually managed to get up, battered and bruised, but alive. The chicks were all safe and well. It wasn’t long before the mother hen was once again scratching for food to give to her young g

blue something amazing happened: the mother hen saw what was about to happen and ran out into the danger of it all. She gathered the chicks under her wings and just sat there waiting for the hawk to strike. And sure enough, that's exactly what happened. The hawk attacked the mother hen, trying to get at the young who were under her wings. Feathers flew. There was a cloud of dust, but the hen would not budge. She just sat there. Finally the hawk gave up and flew off to find an easier meal. The farmer stepped outside and walked over to the scene of the attack. He stood over the body of that hen. She was just a lifeless pile of mangled feathers there in the middle of the barnyard. He was sure she was dead, having sacrificed her life for the little ones under

And sure enough, that's exactly what happened. The hawk attacked the mother hen, trying to get at the young who were under her wings. Feathers flew. There was a cloud of dust, but the hen would not budge. She just sat there. Finally the hawk gave up and flew off to find an easier meal.

The farmer stepped outside and walked over to the scene of the attack. He stood over the body of that hen. She was just a lifeless pile of mangled feathers there in the middle of the barnyard. He was sure she was dead, having sacrificed her life for the little ones under her wing.

for bugs to give to her precious chicks as if nothing had happened at all. Yes, those were six precious little chicks. A mother's love made them precious. They were creatures whose lives were so valuable that another was willing to face death because of them.

her wing. But then, as he watched, that hen began to move. She actually managed to get up, battered and bruised, but alive. The chicks were all safe and well. It wasn’t long before the mother hen was once again scratching for food to give to her young g

But then, as he watched, that hen began to move. She actually managed to get up, battered and bruised, but alive. The chicks were all safe and well. It wasn’t long before the mother hen was once again scratching for food to give to her precious chicks as if nothing had happened at all. She continued to care for them even after the wounds she had suffered for them. Yes, those were six precious little chicks. A mother's love made them precious. They were creatures whose lives were so valuable that another was willing to face death because of them.

for bugs to give to her precious chicks as if nothing had happened at all. Yes, those were six precious little chicks. A mother's love made them precious. They were creatures whose lives were so valuable that another was willing to face death because of them.

Conclusion

And the same is true for us-and for everyone else in this world. We are precious in his sight, every one. Your life and mine are of tremendous value and worth. We can know that because we have been claimed as children of God. We know because there is a Savior whose love for us is so great that not even the threat of betrayal and suffering and a cross were enough to drive him away from us.

The love of God shown in Jesus has made us precious; and these years we have to live are no ordinary years; they are precious years. These moments which fill up our days are no ordinary moments, they are precious gifts. It seems good and right that we keep trying to figure out how to make the most of them, how to use them in God pleasing ways.

In the end, I believe, we are put on this earth for much the same reason; we are here to love God, and to love each other. We are here to build each other up, to make the lives of others better, to carry others when they are weak, and to let others carry us when we are in need.

The way we do that varies from person to person. We all have different gifts and abilities. We all have different roles to play. But the end result to which we are all called is the same-to love as we have been loved, to give as we have received…especially to people others tend to forget about.

The love of Jesus Christ has turned our lives into precious gifts.

Each day is a one-of-a-kind opportunity to show Jesus to the world. Each day is an opportunity to love that will never come our way again. May this season of Lent be a time for us to keep our eyes, our hearts, and our minds open to opportunities to love as Christ has loved us.

Thanks be to the Lord who is like a mother hen to us and who calls us to be like mother hens to one another and to the world, giving our very lives away as he gave his for us. Amen.

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