"A Tender Heart For The Lost"
Text: Luke 13:31-35
3-16-2025
Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Have you ever noticed that Jesus was fond of using animals as illustrations to drive home a point He was teaching? He spoke of sheep, goats, ravens, sparrows, vultures, doves, snakes, and wolves. And in today’s Gospel reading, He mentions a fox and some chicks. Now, perhaps those last two terms caught the attention of the young men among us. Sorry guys. Jesus wasn’t talking about girls that a fella might be interested in dating {foxy chicks, get it?} Rather, with these two animals He was teaching us how He feels about us lost sinners. In order to understand that connection we’ll need to dig a bit deeper into the background of the people He was applying it to.
Okay, so the first one in our text is King Herod. His father was Herod the Great. You remember him as the king of Israel who tried to kill the Christ Child. When he died, the kingdom was split into 4 territories and governed by his sons. By the way, Herod was the family name. Well, the son in our text was known as Herod Antipas and he ruled over the northern territory, which Galilee was a part of. Like his father, he was ruthless, sneaky, paranoid and would do whatever he had to in order to get his way. Even though he was already married, he fell in love with his brother’s wife and married her before either of them got a divorce. Oh, and to make it even messier, this new wife, Herodias, was also his niece! John the Baptizer condemned what they had done and he was thrown into prison to shut him up. When Herod’s stepdaughter did a sensual dance at his birthday party, this sick old man got so excited that he promised to give her anything she asked for. Prompted by her mother, she requested John’s head on a platter and got it. What a pleasant family to have ruling over your country, huh?
After John’s death, the fame of Jesus began to spread and Herod was worried that Christ was the resurrected John the Baptizer. He knew that this prophet, Jesus, would also publicly condemn his actions so he put the word out that he was looking to kill Jesus also. His crafty plan was to scare Christ out of his territory so that he wouldn’t have to listen to Jesus condemning his sinful actions. It’s no wonder then, that Jesus would call Herod a fox. He wasn’t a king who watched out for the welfare of his people. He was like a sneaky, dangerous fox who would eagerly devour the folks he ruled over. He was the proverbial fox in the hen house. The Jewish people feared him and wanted nothing to do with him.
The next cast of characters is the Pharisees who warned Jesus to leave Herod's territory because of the king’s deadly plot. Now that ought to make us a little suspicious. Since when were the Pharisees friends of Jesus? If you read the chapters before our text, you’ll see that they were already at odds with Him. So why would they give Him this warning? It’s because Jesus was making them look bad. He challenged their authority and their fake religious piety. Jesus was drawing followers and adherents away from them. So, their warning was just a ploy to get Him out of their hair also.
It's like when I was growing up and the neighbor kids would come over to play. When it was our suppertime, some of them didn’t get the hint it was time to go home. So, my Dad would say, "Hey Ricky, your Mom's calling you!" And the gullible kid would believe it and go running home. He arrives at his own house huffing and puffing, and says, “Here I am, Mom. What did you want?” Can you imagine the look on his face when she replied, "I didn’t call you!" What can I tell you? It worked!
But it didn’t work with Jesus. He knew what the Pharisees were up to and He wasn’t afraid of them or Herod or anyone else. No one was going to dictate or divert the schedule of His mission to save us. In verse 22 Luke tells us that Jesus was already headed towards Jerusalem. And He would arrive there according to His timing. He wouldn’t allow anyone to rush or force God's plan. Yes, He’d eventually go to Jerusalem to die. But first, He had more teaching to do.
Then we hear how Jesus lamented over Jerusalem. It was the religious capital of Israel. It represented the nation as a whole. So, Jesus was expressing sorrow over all the people He had been reaching out to in His ministry. He had been inviting them to believe in Him as their Savior. He had been calling them to come to Him for protection from the spiritual dangers that surrounded them. They had been misguided by their religious leaders who hadn’t offered them the protection of God’s grace and mercy. They were spiritually vulnerable and harassed. The loving heart of Jesus went out to these scared and lost sinners who He had come to save.
As an vivid illustration of this, Jesus used the metaphor of a hen with her chicks to describe the desire of His heart to shield them from spiritual destruction. Over the years, I’ve raised plenty of chickens and occasionally I’d let some of them hatch their eggs. Its fun to watch a hen take her chicks out in the yard to scratch around for food. If she spots danger, she clucks at the chicks and they come running. Then she lifts up her wings and the chicks hide in the protection next to her body. At night, that's where they all go to keep safe and warm. An attacker—whether it's a fox or a coon—has to get past a very protective hen if they want to hurt the chicks. That mother hen will risk her own life to keep her chicks safe.
What a perfect metaphor Jesus chose. You can see it beautifully displayed when He was in the Garden of Gethsemane and the mob came out to arrest Him. Listen to what John 18:7-9 says: {Jesus} asked them again, “Whom do you seek?” They said, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. So, if you seek me, let these men go.” This was to fulfill the word that He had spoken: “Of those whom you gave me I have lost not one.” Do you see how Jesus was shielding His disciples from harm like a mother hen? Even more dramatically though, we can see how Christ spread those protective wings over the whole world as He was crucified for all our sins. As His arms were spread out on the Cross, they were shielding us sinners like the wings of a hen shielding her chicks. He shields us from the awful punishment that we deserved for our sins. And nothing could scare Him away from this awesome act of love and sacrifice.
There's a fly in the ointment though. Here's this beautiful word picture. Jesus is holding up of His protective wings as a place for all sinners to run to for shelter. And yet, He says, "you were not willing." The mother hen is clucking for her chicks, warning them of danger, and calling them to safety, but they refuse to come. The spiritual predators are prowling around, ready to devour, but they reject the wonderful, free offer of God’s protecting grace, His free offer of salvation. All they have to do is believe in Jesus and come to Him. But some of them refused. If you can't sense the sadness in Jesus' voice then you're really missing something important. It's like the sadness of a parent who is deeply concerned over the bad choices their child is making. Jesus lamented over those people in Israel who would not listen to His call for mercy and protection. At the same time, He was also sadly lamenting over people of all generations who reject His gracious offer.
Why do we do that? Why do we run away from the thing we need the most? When we have an important or difficult decision to make do we run to the safety and guidance of God's Word? Or do we ignore it and run away from Him? When people have doubts or they feel like their faith is weakening, do they run here to the shelter of God=s House? Or do they run away and stay away? When we're facing troubles and spiritual danger we need more of God's comforting Word and Sacraments, not less! When we’re feeling unloved, we need to hear God's Words of unending love. When we're feeling lonely we need to hear His promise to always be with us. Christ comes to reassure us of His presence with His body and blood in the Lord's Supper. And yet, some choose to run away from these things that they need the most. Sad to say, at times we all do this. The devil, the world, and our sinful natures are just waiting to destroy us. But instead of running to the protective wings of our Savior, we often run away.
It's not too late though. Not for anyone. 1 Timothy 2:4 tells us that God “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” Even yet today, Jesus is still pleading with us to come to Him. He's calling out a warning of eternal danger. He's warning that sin and the devil are out to destroy us. And He's calling for us to come to Him and receive the wonderful protection of His saving wings. The Holy Spirit creates faith in our hearts so that we can hear that gracious call of our Savior. Run to Him for protection from the destructive spiritual dangers that surround and threaten your soul. Run to Him for the forgiveness of all your sins. Run to the shelter of His wings where He gathers all who trust in Him so that we can live now and forever without fear. May our gracious God strengthen our faith so that we will heed the loving and tender call of our Savior to come and enjoy the safety of His protecting wings. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!