The Gospel for November 5, 2004
Luke 13:31-35
Just at this time some Pharisees came up. ‘Go away,’ they said. ‘Leave this place, because Herod means to kill you.’ He replied, ‘You may go and give that fox this message: Look! Today and tomorrow I drive out devils and heal, and on the third day I attain my end. But for today and tomorrow and the next day I must go on, since it would not be right for a prophet to die outside Jerusalem. ‘Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you that kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! How often have I longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you refused! Look! Your house will be left to you [desolate]. Yes, I promise you, you shall not see me till the time comes when you are saying: Blessed is he who is coming in the name of the Lord!’ -- The New Jerusalem Bible. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1995, c1985
A Study
We are not told whether these were "friendly Pharisees" as some suggest, or crafty ones trying to get rid of the Jesus-troublemaker, like the swine-herding good citizens of Gerasenes. Jesus makes it clear to those with him, however, that that his plan to march through Jerusalem to Golgotha will not be altered.
As Camassia has pointed out to me, Jesus did have a soft spot in His heart for Jerusalem. Whether it reflected YHWH's tenderness for the remnant of Israel concentrated in Jerusalem, or Jesus' stated need to die there with the prophets, we do not know.
And the pure poetry, "as a hen gathers her brood," demonstrates to us that our triune God is waiting for us to leap under the wings of the Trinity -- Creator, Redeemer, Friend.
A final point: the extracted "Blessed is he who ..." from Psalm 118 can be viewed either as a lamentation for those who must wait until the second coming, or for those in Israel (and us) who can be saved before the end times.
A Reflection
"The third day" has a huge significance for Christians in the Apostolic tradition, because both the Nicene Creed and the Apostles' creed have at their centers "On the third day he rose again...."
As an adolescent in an Episcopal boys' school in western North Carolina, I, along with my schoolmates, sang the creeds and the Lord's Prayer, except during Lent: Apostles on every day but Sunday, Nicene on Sunday. During the Nicene Creed, at the lyrics " For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven, and was made man" accompanied by a discordant low note on the organ, we all knelt, heads down, and remained so until "On the third day he rose again," with trumpet-like calls from the organ. At that point, there was an explosion of teenaged boys shooting to their feet and singing fortissimo the rise-again words.
Whenever I hear "third day," I am driven back to that time and that place and the deep religious emotion that those words should -- must -- convey to us.
And I should cry with shame at my human forbears who bloodied the hen, and how I, every day, do not live up to worthiness for that Third Day victory.
A Collect
Assist us mercifully, O Lord, in our supplications and prayers, and dispose the way of your servants towards the attainment of everlasting salvation; that, among all the changes and chances of this mortal life, we may ever be defended by your gracious and ready help; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
9:57:18 PM 
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