Jesus is hurling insults again.
He had already given it to the Pharisees. (Luke 11:37-44) And in this week’s Bible reading from Luke 13: 31-35 now he called a Herod a fox.
- Clever like a fox? Maybe
- Crazy like a fox? Perhaps
- Good-looking like a fox? That slang did not compute in Jesus’ time
- Lowly, slinking “not a lion” like a fox? Probably
Jesus wasn’t likely paying any kind of respect to Herod. He was sending a message – one that may of may not reach Herod through the Pharisees -- that Herod was merely a weak excuse for a ruler who couldn’t do anything without the Emperor’s OK.
If the message did reach Herod, Jesus was in trouble. If it didn’t, he was still in trouble. He just insulted someone the Pharisees thought was important.
And then Jesus lamented. He spoke with anguish about Jerusalem. They had a puppet ruler. They didn’t listen to God’s prophets. They killed them instead! And he wished he could gather them all up – not necessarily to protect them from a slinking fox, but to help them to experience what was truly important – love.
And he lamented that they weren’t willing.
What are your thoughts about this week’s Bible reading?
1 comment:
i'm preaching on this text this week... a couple of thoughts
1. it reminds me of one of aesop's fables... there's the fox, the hen, and then the chicks
2. i'm curious about the juxtaposition between the dangerous fox and the vulnerable hen
3. i love the image of the protection jesus (the mother hen) offers the chicks under her wings
4.it's interesting to me that the hen offers her chicks protection yet they still refuse to go there. they would rather be vulnerable to the fox's danger than find the safety under jesus' wings.
5. barbara brown taylor has a beautiful piece on this:
http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=638
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