Preached at Edenton Street United Methodist Church on Christ the King Sunday, November 24, 2024
Scripture: Jeremiah 23:1-6 / Luke 13:31-35 / Luke 23:33-43
Today is Christ the King Sunday. It is a day to reflect on what it means to say “Jesus Christ is Lord and King.” It is a day to explore what it means to say the “kingdom of God” (Luke), or the “kingdom of heaven” (Matthew).
To do this today, I want you to consider the hen.
Take this passage I added from Luke 13, that foreshadows what is to come in Luke 23. Jesus laments over Jerusalem, and the chicks (brood) he desired to save and protect would ironically become people who would betray, arrest, mock, abuse, and crucify him. Jesus uses the image of a HEN.
This past week I took some time to learn more about hens, as Jesus clearly suggests that there is something we can learn there.
The Protective Instinct of a Mother Hen
Hens are remarkably devoted mothers with fascinating parenting instincts. When a hen commits to hatching eggs, she will sit on her nest for around 21 days, only leaving once or twice a day to eat, drink and relieve herself.
Once the chicks hatch, the transformation in a hen’s behavior is striking. She becomes intensely protective, often puffing up her feathers to appear larger, and making aggressive displays toward any perceived threats, including other chickens, pets or even human beings.
Her vocalizations change completely – she uses a distinctive soft clucking sound to communicate with her chicks, calling them to food alerting them to danger, or simply keeping them close. The mother hen will crouch down to let chicks nestle under her wings for warmth, especially during the first few weeks when they can’t regulate their own body temperature well. At night, she gathers them all beneath her for warmth and safety.
The protective instinct is perhaps the most striking. A hen will face down much larger animals to defend her chicks. She will position herself between danger and her babies without hesitation.
Who would have thought it. We want to try and probe the mysteries of faith, of Jesus Kingship, and the nature of God’s kingdom and we need look no further than nature. There are spiritual lessons and truths all around us for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear. Lessons in life, lessons in nature, and lessons in the animal kingdom that can illuminate and deepen our understanding of the nature of the kingdom of God.
The Hebrew prophets knew this – just ask Jeremiah, with his words of warning and comfort related to shepherds, sheep, flocks and pastures. Just ask Jesus. At various points in his ministry he referenced all kinds of animal analogies to illustrate kingdom truths: birds of the air have nests, foxes have holes … if God cares for sparrows, how much more … the shepherd who leaves the 99 sheep to go to great lengths to find the one lamb lost … lilies of the field, neither toil nor spin, yet your heavenly Father clothes them with majesty and glory … think entering the kingdom of God … Jesus uses yet another animal kingdom metaphor … it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.
You get the picture.
A Different Kind of King
Jesus gives us this maternal image of himself as a hen just after Pharisees warn him that Herod wants to kill him. In response, Jesus doesn’t talk about mounting an army or rallying troops. He talks about gathering chicks.
What kind of king is this?
Do you remember what I said a moment ago? A hen will position herself between danger and her babies without hesitation. A mother hen gathers chicks for warmth, safety, protection – salvation itself.
Contrast that with another image from the prophet Jeremiah this morning – sheep, shepherds – and in particular, shepherds who GET IT WRONG. Look again at Jeremiah 23. Those shepherds scattered the sheep, they did not gather them. Verse 2 says they ‘have not attended to their needs.’ That’s the deeper failure. They were supposed to care, to be present, to notice what the flock required. Instead, God says, ‘You have scattered my flock and driven them away.’
But notice what God promises to do about it. God doesn’t just condemn the bad shepherds. God says, ‘I myself will gather the remnant of my flock from all the countries where I have driven them.’ God takes personal responsibility for the gathering.
And then comes verse 5: ‘I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.’
A King who does what is just and right. Not what is expedient. Not what is popular. Not what wins the news cycle for the day. Not what consolidates power. No. A King who does what is just and right.
Shepherds Who Scatter, Hens Who Gather
So we have two images before us this morning. Shepherds who scatter because they won’t attend to needs. And a hen who gathers because she knows exactly what her chicks need—protection, warmth, safety. Shepherds who drive away. A mother hen who draws near.
And here’s the haunting part of Luke 13:34: ‘How often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.’
The chicks scattered anyway. Even with the hen calling, clucking that distinctive alarm, positioning herself between them and danger—they scattered. This is the tragedy of Christ the King Sunday. The King offers his body as shelter, and we keep wandering off thinking we’ll be safer somewhere else.
And this past week, as we’ve watched immigration enforcement sweep through Raleigh and Durham, we have watched scattering happen in real time. Kids missing from Wake County school classrooms most of the week. Families in fear of being torn apart. Job sites sitting empty. People driven into hiding. Children afraid.
The language isn’t metaphorical anymore – it’s literal. Scattering is happening right here, right now.
And the question this Christ the King Sunday asks us is not a theoretical one. It’s immediate and urgent: What does it mean to be the church – the body of Christ, the gathered community of the Mother Hen – in a moment of scattering?
Will we be willing to be gathered? Will we position ourselves between danger and the vulnerable? Will we make that distinctive clucking sound that says ‘Come. There is safety here. There is warmth here. You are not alone’?
Christ the King Sunday: 100 Years Later
A friend and colleague, Magrey DeVega reminded me this week about the history of Christ the King Sunday – today is the 100th anniversary. The context for this observance is important. Pope Pius XI established this day in 1925, between two world wars. As Magrey wrote, the world had seen the devastation of World War I and was watching fascism and Hitler rise.
In his declaration, Pius XI reminded the world that its hope would not be found in tanks or empires, but in the crucified and risen Christ. He challenged political authorities to “exercise their authority piously and wisely, having in view the common good and also the human dignity of their subjects.”
Magrey continued: “[This Christ the King Sunday], let us remember that the past, we cannot relive; the future, we cannot control; to make Christ the King is to be faithful in the present.”
One hundred years later, we still need this reminder. What kind of king is Jesus? What kind of kingdom does he invite us into?
The Kingdom in Luke’s Gospel
Let me remind you of some context in Luke’s Gospel. Luke mentions the kingdom of God thirty-two times – more than any other Gospel writer. He wanted us to understand: Jesus is a different kind of king, inviting us into a different kind of kingdom.
That brings us to Luke 23:33-43. Jesus on a cross – a Roman instrument of torture – with a sign above his head: “This is the King of the Jews.” Meant as mockery. But this IS the king.
What kind of king gets crowned with thorns? What kind of king’s throne is a cross? What kind of king dies for his subjects instead of sending his subjects to die for him? What kind of king would literally put his body, his VERY LIFE in-between his beloved flock or her beloved brood and all the principalities and powers that are hell bent on seeking to hurt, harm and destroy?
JESUS.
The criminal hanging next to Jesus experienced this different kind of king up close and personal in his last moments of life: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus responds, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.”
Even in his dying breath, Jesus is gathering. Even on the cross, the mother hen spreads her wings.
Called to Gather
This different kingdom calls all people to a new kind of life, a new kind of citizenship, a new way of loving, and a new way of serving. We’re not sheep being gathered. Not just chicks huddled under wings. Yes, we need protection, warmth, salvation. But Jesus invites us to grow into something more. To mature. To join him in co-laboring together as we witness to a new world, a new reality, a new authority, a new kingdom coming here on earth as it is in heaven.
In the kingdom of God, sheep are also invited to grow into shepherds who work alongside the GOOD SHEPHERD in the work of a great gathering amidst brokenness of a great scattering. In the kingdom of God we are invited to mature into hens who, like our great Mother Hen, learn to spread our wings over the vulnerable, the dispossessed, the hurting and the lonely.
In other words, we don’t just receive care – we learn to give it. We don’t just bask in the warmth of love, belonging, and salvific grace – we embody it, we proclaim it, we witness to it, we do all in our power to share it and spread it with joy and enthusiasm – because that is what it means to be citizens of this kingdom and subjects of this King.
A Warning from Jeremiah
The prophet Jeremiah shouts a warning! There are some among us – some leaders – some shepherds who have lost their way. Their sin? They were supposed to care for the people but used their power for themselves. They scattered when they should have gathered. They abandoned when they should have protected.
Jesus shows us a different way. Jesus – the shepherd who becomes a lamb. The king who becomes a foot-washing servant. The protector who lays down his own life. Jesus. The one who says: “Follow me – Do as I do – Love as I love – Gather as I gather.”
Remember where we started: a mother hen will position herself between danger and her babies without hesitation. In Luke 13, Jesus expressed a deep longing to be like a MOTHER HEN who gathers her chicks under her wings, but so many were unwilling.
But here is the thing: later, in Jerusalem, Jesus did precisely that. He placed his life – he placed his body – in-between us and all that would seek to hurt, harm and destroy us. He died so that we might live. He bore the world’s sin and brokenness in his own body so that we might be gathered, protected, warmed by love and saved by grace.
Jesus Christ – King of kings and Mother Hen.
This is Christ our King. This is the mother hen who spreads her wings wide – wide enough for everyone. Wide enough for the religious and the rebel – the Pharisee and the criminal on the cross. You. Me.
The Invitation
And this Mother Hen – she calls to us still: ‘Come under my wings. Find warmth, fellowship, love. Experience the presence of One who will protect, guard, feed, and lead you.’
But she also calls us to something more: ‘Will you be willing?’ Not willing to fight. Not willing to dominate. Willing to be gathered. Willing to come under the wings. Willing to let this King position his body between you and whatever threatens to destroy you.
Come to Jesus – do it now. Don’t hesitate. And know this, her wings are wide and her salvation is for all.
And once you have been welcomed to the GREAT GATHERING, will you gather others in Jesus’ name? Will you learn the language of grace? That distinctive clucking sound that says to others, ‘Come. There’s safety here. There’s warmth here. There’s a King here who will give his body for you.’
As we came to the Table that morning, we remembered that this King feeds us with his own body. The hen who gathered us under his wings now gathers us to her Table. The one who positioned himself between us and death now positions bread and cup before us and says, ‘Take, eat. This is my body, given for you.’
This is Christ the King – our mother hen, our shepherd, our crucified and risen Lord. The Lord is our righteousness. Christ the King, Mother Hen gathers us even now.
The question remains – are we willing?
Amen.
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