Friday, August 1, 2014
Matthew 23:37 " ... as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings"
AS A HEN GATHERS HER CHICKS
On the slopes of Mount Olivet, overlooking Jerusalem, rests a little chapel built in the shape of a teardrop, commemorating the tears Jesus once shed over unbelieving Jerusalem. Inside the chapel, on the front of the altar, is a beautiful mosaic of a hen with seven little chicks under her outstretched wings. Encircling the mosaic is the Latin translation of what Jesus said in Matthew 23:37: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings ..." Inside the circle, in what appears to be a pool of blood, is written the last part of the quotation: "You were not willing."
Just as Jesus yearned to hold the inhabitants of Jerusalem under the wings of His forgiving love, so He also has a burning desire to gather each and every sinner to himself.
In the above mentioned mosaic, the hen is portrayed as stretching her wings out far enough to embrace everyone of her little chicks. The image vividly depicts how the "wings" of Jesus' cross reach far enough to cover the sins of every man, woman, and child of all time. The pool of blood in the mosaic that appears with the words "you were not willing" seems to emphasize the truth that even those who reject God's free gift of salvation in His Son have had their sins paid for by Jesus' blood.
The sad truth is that so many do reject their Savior, their one and only hope to escape eternal death in hell. Oh, but how the Savior longs to gather them before it's too late!
If left to ourselves we too would have continued to reject Jesus in cold-hearted unbelief. By a miracle of grace, the Spirit, through Water and the Word, gave us faith, placing us under the safe wings of Jesus' cross. Through Word and Sacrament the Spirit keeps us close to Jesus by daily reassuring us of the forgiveness and eternal life the Savior won for all. Like a fragile little chick, how helpless we would be without the grace and mercy of God.
Dear Jesus, thank you for being willing to die for us. Thank you for the grace of Baptism, through which You have gathered us to Yourself. Keep us under your wings forever. Amen.
(The reader is encouraged to look up Dominus Flevit on Wikipedia, where a photo can be found and enlarged of the striking mosaic mentioned in this devotion.)
