The Fox and the Hen           Luke 13:31-35                  March 4, 2007

In the children’s sermon, I told this fable.

There was once a little red hen that lived in a house by herself in the wood. And over the hill, in a hole in the rocks, lived a sly, crafty old fox. Now this crafty old fellow of a fox lay awake nights, and prowled slyly about days, trying to think of how he should get the little red hen. He wanted to carry her home to boil for his supper.

But the wise little hen never left her house without locking the door and putting the key in her pocket; so the old fox watched and prowled and lay awake nights till he grew pale and thin, but he found no way to get the wise little red hen.

At last one morning he took a big bag over his shoulder, and said to his mother: "Mother, have the pot boiling when I come home, for I'll bring the little red hen for our supper." Away he went over the hill and through the wood to where the red hen lived in her snug little house.

Just at that moment out came the little red hen to pick up sticks for her fire, and in slipped the fox and hid behind the door. In came the hen in a minute and locked the door, and put the key in her pocket. When she saw they fox, she dropped her sticks and flew with a great flutter up to the beam across the house under the roof.

"Ah," said the sly fox, "I'll soon bring you down." And he began to whirl around and around and around, faster and faster and faster, after his big, bushy tail. The little red hen looked at him till she got so dizzy that she fell off the beam to the floor. The fox caught her and put her into his bag and started straight for home.

Up the wood and down the wood he went with the little red hen shut tight in the bag. She thought it was all over with her. But after a while, the fox lay down to rest. Then she came to her wits, and put her hand into her pocket and took out a bright little pair of scissors. With them she snipped a hole in the bag. She leaped out and picked up a big stone and dropped it into the bag and ran home as fast as her legs could carry her.

The fox waked up and started again with his bag over his shoulders. "How heavy the little red hen is," he said, "that I am to have for my supper."His mother was standing at the door of his den waiting for him. "Mother," he said, "have you the pot boiling?"

"Yes, to be sure!" said she, "and have you the little red hen?" "Yes, here in my bag. Lift the lid, and let me put her in," said the fox.

The fox untied the bag and held it over the boiling water and shook it. The heavy stone fell into the water with a splash which went up over the fox and his mother and scalded them. And the little red hen lived safely in her house in the wood.

The “Fox and the Hen” is a fable about a hungry fox versus a protective hen, good versus evil. In the gospel reading, Jesus refers such characters in fables about foxes and hens to make his point. Jesus refers to himself as a hen who wants to gather Jerusalem under his wings. He calls Herod a fox, a ruthless and bloodthirsty political leader who will do anything to satisfy his lust for power. The good news is that in the end, the hen gives up her life for her chicks, and the fox goes away hungry. But that comes later when Jesus goes to the cross.

When Jesus characterized a hen and a fox, he was illustrating his relationship to God’s people and evil political leaders. He certainly knew a fable about foxes and hens. There are many. In almost all of them, the fox is wily, deceitful, seeking to be in charge. His method of control involves strategies and power plays. He's in it for himself. He wants to get something in his chops. Foxes are often devious, yet dumb.

Mother hens appear in fables as protectors of the nest. And Jesus yearned to protect his people in that way.

Way back in those days just as today, there were leaders who exercised power with threats of death and torture to stay in power. They would resort to killing people who challenged their power. The Pharisees tell Jesus, “You better watch out. King Herod is out to get you.”

When the Pharisees told Jesus that Herod was out to kill him, they were not trying to protect Jesus from Herod, they were threatening and intimidating him. They would be too happy to send Jesus into Herod's clutches.

Jesus and the Pharisees had gone toe to toe before. The Pharisees were telling people that if they just kept the right traditions and laws, God would bless them, and Herod would leave them alone. But with parables like the Good Samaritan, Jesus taught that the right way to love God was by loving the neighbor. Jesus saw their religion as a self-centered ploy to manipulate both God and the people.

On the other hand, Herod, was known for his cruelty and devious mind. Matthews gospel tells us that when Jesus was born he was a new born king, a prince of peace. Herod was so threatened by his birth, he ordered every first born child in the region to be killed. To escape, Jesus family went down to Egypt. Terrorism is nothing new.

Once Jesus began to bring his message of the kingdom of God, Herod could not wait to get his hands of the upstart Galilean. The stage was set for a confrontation that ended when Herod sent Jesus to the cross. But God won when Jesus rose from the dead on Easter morning.

Today, we have political leaders like Herod. Some of them are like foxes who occupy visible seats of power. In this war on terror, their names are well known, names like Hussein, Bin Laden, Kim, and Kadafy. We have to be careful, however, the leaders who want to attack these dictators have their own agenda to gain personal political power.

But this battle between hens and foxes is not limited to world politics among the rich and famous. There are battles between foxes and hens in every school yard, in our offices and workplaces, and on our streets. There are bullies that infect our churches and attack our members to satisfy their own cravings. We have gang violence among our youth, porn predators on children, and corporations that will attack the public like a fox trying to bag a hen.

They claim that they seek the best interests of others, even their own families. The sad part is that when we try to out fox these foxes, we lower ourselves to their sinfulness. There’s an old Jewish proverb that warns if you throw mud at others, your going to get yourself dirty. Whenever we point a finger, pound the table, lash out at those we call sinners, we get ourselves dirty. Whenever we lash out in revenge or anger, we are the ones who have lost. In the fable, the hen did not become like a fox to protect her nest. Rather, she found ways to use the foxes own blood-thirstiness to let him do himself in.

Jesus did the same at the cross. He gave himself up to die, and in so doing saved the whole world from the power of evil. During this season of Lent, I’m preaching on the marks of discipleship. Last week, I talked about the power of prayer. The first mark of discipleship is to pray daily. Today, I want to say a word about the second mark of discipleship, worship. Worship is a way of winning the victory over all the foxes in our world. How can worship help protect us against evil?

First and foremost, Christian worship is the celebration of good over evil. It is our way of participating in the victory Jesus gave us at the cross. Herod though he was having his way with Jesus when he had him killed on the cross. He thought that when he executed Jesus, he would gain power. But in fact Jesus submission to the cross was God’s plan to enact the kingdom through the love of Jesus. Jesus not only forgave ordinary people; he forgave the one who betrayed him and those who did it to him! Worship puts us in the light of the power of God’s love and the forgiveness of sin.

Second, worship celebrates God’s victory. The whole reason we worship primarily on Sunday is because this is the day of resurrection. The power of death and terror will not win when Jesus comes again. Sunday is beginning of new week, a new time when celebrate God’s reign of peace and mercy and love.

In the Ten commandments, God commands us to have a day of holy rest and worship. This not because God needs us to do that. God commands us to do that because we belong to Christ and to his resurrection. In a world where there are all kinds of foxes trying to take advantage of us, God wants us to remember the power that Jesus has over sin and death. God yearns for us to come under the downy breath of Christ, like chicks under their mother hen.

One of our missionaries spent several months in Tanzania where each morning and night he passed the chicken coop. Every night the chicks would climb under the hens breast, so that all you could see was the hen, her chicks hid under her feathers. One night a fox attacked, but the hen did not and could not run away. She let the fox take her, and sacrificed her life for the chicks. In the morning, there was nothing but clusters of feathers here and there, and little chicks running around on the own.

Have you ever seen that kind of love. Is there someone for whom you would make such a sacrifice? That’s the kind of love God has given us in Jesus Christ. This is the peace of Christ Jesus.

When we have his peace in our hearts, let us love one another as He has loved us. Yes, there are all kinds of foxes in our world. When someone hurts our children or friends, remember the protection of the hen. When our children or our friends hurt each other, consider the love of God in Jesus Christ. He chose not to eradicate the fox, but sacrifice himself for us.

With that kind of love, we will not choose out not to be like lion, the eagle, the panther. Often we can be surprised and touched when the foxes of this world back off or make amends later as they remember having once experienced at our touch a love which was bolder than their own force, a compassion which was greater than their might.

Finally, worship is the place to give thanks to God for the protection we have through Christ. No fox can take us away from him. Death and torture cannot change the fact that Jesus is protecting us, delivering us from evil. Thanks be to God.

Amen