Pastor’s Corner – March 16, 2025
Fox and Chicken Story/Luke 13:31-35
Recently a friend of mine suggested, with the rising cost of eggs, that we should raise chickens. This would also be fun for the children in the neighborhood, sharing in the work of raising chickens. I immediately thought about my childhood, growing up on a farm in Korea before we moved to Seoul, the big city, where my dad went to seminary, I remember being slightly traumatized as my grandfather ran after a headless chicken and placed it in boiling water, long enough to pluck the feathers off to then make chicken soup. Now, the suggestion that our church garden could be a perfect spot for raising chickens was not well-received by those I’ve asked!
However, I suspect Jesus knew something about raising chickens, because he uses it as a metaphor to explain what God is like in our scripture reading. “How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” Jesus laments over Jerusalem, for his people are unwilling to return to God.
This coming Sunday, we find Jesus outside of Jerusalem, continuing his ministry of healing and casting out demons as a sign of God’s kingdom. Pharisees came to warn Jesus of Herod’s plot to kill him. In response Jesus tells 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!’ ” So there you have it, a story about a fox and chicken in the Bible! What does this mean for us today? Come and listen to the gospel story anew, the message of God’s love for us during the Lenten season, and maybe, just maybe, we might consider raising chickens in our backyard! Amen. -Pastor Dae