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As Jesus journeyed to Jerusalem during the last weeks of His life, He prepared His disciples for ministry and taught the crowds about the kingdom of God. Just as He was finishing His teaching about heaven’s narrow door, a brood of Pharisees approached Him with the warning,

“Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill You.” On the surface, this advice seems compassionate but remember who the Pharisees were. They were the religious leaders who hated Jesus because His teachings, miracles, and popularity threatened their authority. Even though their words appear to have Jesus’ best interest in mind, they were really using this as a threat to scare Jesus.

This was a clever ploy on their part to rid themselves of Jesus and His calls for repentance without doing anything that would place culpability at their feet. But the Pharisees did not understand who they were dealing with! No obstacle could delay Him, no enemy could scare Him, no threat could defeat Him. His mission was more important than life itself. With unwavering courage, He was determined to do the work His Father called Him to do. Jesus knew what awaited him in Jerusalem. And as He pondered it, sorrow welled up in His soul and He whispered the words, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it.”

The emotion and pain of His declaration come from acknowledging Jerusalem’s reputation for rejecting and murdering prophets. Of all the cities, Jerusalem, because of its privileged position in Israelite history, should have recognized God’s Messenger, but they were blinded by selfish ambition. Jesus speaks in the first person for God, as is typical of a prophet, and explained how He longed to care for and protect Jerusalem as “a hen cares for her chicks.”

My mission’s professor in seminary, Jay Moon, served as a missionary to Ghana from 1992-2001. He told this story in class of how that image of a hen protecting her chicks opened a man’s eyes to God’s grace and love.

There was a particular man in the village who raised chickens; it was his family business. Another aspect of his family business was as a witch doctor who practiced voodoo. Whenever Jay would lead chapel services in the village, this man was there, not to listen but to mock. One night Jay preached a sermon on Luke 13 and the illustration of the hen and chicks. The voodoo chicken farmer mocked Jay as he always did. But that night a lightning strike caused a massive fire throughout the village, and most of the huts, farms and livestock were lost.

Jay tells of how this impacted this man who had mocked him the night before. This man hit rock bottom; everything he owned was destroyed. He walked through the burnt carcasses of the chickens. Distraught, he kicked one of the crispy critters. It was then that he heard the peeping of the chicks who were safe beneath their mother’s protective wings.

God softened this man’s heart as he remembered hearing, “How often I desire to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings.” This man gave his life to Christ on the spot.

Is there a more tender image than this? Jesus yearned to gather all the lost and broken people into His loving arms. While there was many who came to recognize Jesus as Messiah, tragically many more did not receive Jesus. One of the consequences of rejecting God’s will is that people get what they ask for. In this case, “the house” which represents the city of Jerusalem, would be forsaken. This consequence eventually came to pass when Jerusalem was demolished by the Romans in A.D. 70.

What happened to Jerusalem can happen to any nation, city, church, or individual who refuses to find safety in Christ. Jesus always extends His tender wings and offers us salvation, but many people today, just like the city of Jerusalem, reject Him. People reject Him for all sorts of reasons. Some believe that they can get to heaven their own way, by being a good person. Others reject Him because they are skeptics; refusing to believe in anything they cannot see with their own eyes. But in my experience, the primary reason why people reject Jesus is because of pride. People wanted to live their lives their own way, and they did not want God or anyone else telling them what they could and could not do. They were simply not willing to repent—they would rather wallow in their sin than take the Savior’s offer of salvation!

So, what about you? Are you willing to repent from your sin and embrace salvation and the sheltering tender wings of the Savior? Are you willing to commit your life to the One who stretched out His hands and hung on the tree for you?

Till Next Week When We Meet at the P.E.W.

Pastor Joel