“Created to be Brave”

SEcond Sunday in Lent

March 16, 2025

A hen gathering her chicks under her wings.

Philippians 3:17-4:1

Luke 13:31-35

Children’s Message:

If you could be any animal in the world, what would you be? I think I’d want to be a large cat, like a Cheetah or Puma. I like to climb trees and lay about in the sunshine. What about you?

Those are really cool! But there’s something pretty cool about being human, too. So let me share this book with you.

“I Am Human” by Susan Verde

Is it easy to be human? Sort of. But it also takes courage to be human, right? To admit when you’re wrong, to forgive when you’ve been hurt. Jesus was human, and he was hurt pretty bad. And he was probably pretty scared, right? But he did the scary work of loving all of humanity, no matter what. And that’s a pretty big deal.

Let’s pray. Dear God, thank you for making me who I am. Help me to be brave enough to be the best human I can be. Amen

Message:

Clarence Darrow once stated, "Common experience shows how much rarer is moral courage than physical bravery. A thousand men will march to the mouth of the cannon, where one man will dare espouse an unpopular case."

The Pharisees come to Jesus to warn him that his head is proverbially ‘on the chopping block.’ He’s got a bounty out on him. Herod wants him caught, dead or alive. “Go into hiding,” they say. Get out of here. Go where he can’t reach you. You’re surprised that the Pharisees are helping Jesus? Well, they’re no friends of Herod, and the enemy of my enemy is my friend, so they say.

They may not agree with much of what Jesus teaches, but he’s still one of them. And Herod is on a rampage. He doesn’t care about legality. He doesn’t care about his people. He just wants the threat dealt with. This ‘king of the Jews’ can’t be allowed to keep going. That’s Herod’s title, thanks to Rome.

The Jews lived in fear of Rome—and of Herod. They figured that if they could just keep their heads down, do what they’re told, they’ll manage to get through life okay. Soon, many would rise up against Rome in an attempted revolt, but they would be struck down. Hard. But that’s after Jesus’ death and resurrection. For now, just try to maintain the status quo. And Jesus is making waves. Big ones.

But Jesus reminds them what happens in Jerusalem. Those in power never take kindly to the prophets’ warnings. Jerusalem is where prophets are killed as they stand alone before kings and preach the Word of God. And that’s where he’s going.

He calls Herod a fox. And then he expresses his desire to gather his people like a hen gathers her brood—protecting them from the dangers of predators. The fox isn’t brave. He’s cunning and cruel. And the hen isn’t weak. Being ‘a chicken’ is perhaps the dumbest reference to someone in fear one could use. The hen is selfless. She is brave. She is mama. And she will not let her children be taken by the evil of the fox.

Barbara Brown Taylor says it this way:

“If you have ever loved someone you could not protect, then you understand the depth of Jesus' lament. All you can do is open your arms. You cannot make anyone walk into them. Meanwhile, this is the most vulnerable posture in the world --wings spread, breast exposed --but if you mean what you say, then this is how you stand. ...

… Jesus won't be king of the jungle in this or any other story. What he will be is a mother hen, who stands between the chicks and those who mean to do them harm. She has no fangs, no claws, no rippling muscles. All she has is her willingness to shield her babies with her own body. If the fox wants them, he will have to kill her first; which he does, as it turns out. He slides up on her one night in the yard while all the babies are asleep. When her cry wakens them, they scatter.

She dies the next day where both foxes and chickens can see her -- wings spread, breast exposed -- without a single chick beneath her feathers. It breaks her heart . . . but if you mean what you say, then this is how you stand.”[1]

This is the kind of God we have, my friends. One who does not attack but fiercely protects us from all that would kill us and our spirits—including ourselves. God faithfully stands firm against the foxes of this world, defying all the ways we try to define and direct one another into boxes that suffocate and destroy life. The hen-shaped life does not lead to destruction and does not fear truth. We will know this life by the hope and creativity that blossoms in its wake.

This isn’t the bravery of an army. It isn’t the fearlessness of a person who wields power like a shotgun. It isn't the audacity of someone who knows that if he throws enough money around, he can buy his backup. This is the courage of one who experiences deep empathy and knows that, even if he goes to Jerusalem alone, without him the world will burn.

This is the bravery we are created to imitate—to embody. The kind of bravery that looks like being authentically you even when classmates, friends, family, and government tell you that YOU are impossible and ungodly. It’s the kind of bravery that speaks out, shows up, and never stops fighting for the vulnerable among us. It’s the kind of bravery that goes into a whites only soda shop and orders a cola—knowing that verbal and physical assault is soon to follow. It’s the kind of bravery that hides the Jew, the immigrant, the gay man, the liberal when the SS comes hunting. It’s the kind of bravery that stands beside someone being bullied, that refuses to follow an unjust order, that protests dehumanizing wars. It’s the kind of bravery that sits by the lonely kid at lunch, that shares a meal with someone who is homeless, that says, “You are welcome here.”

Dear friends, you are brave. We are brave. We are created in the image of God, and we are created to be brave. We aren’t called to be superheroes. We’re just called to do the next right thing in a world that often rewards evil. Sometimes, we’ll be called to protect, like a mother hen. Other times, we are called to shelter under the hen’s embrace. Both are brave actions. Bravery is neither convenient nor fearless. Bravery is difficult, and we won’t always feel so brave.

That’s okay. It’s okay to be scared. It’s okay to hide. It’s okay to wait for someone else to take the first step. It’s okay to make mistakes. All of these are brave on any given day. Do not lose heart, and do not be consumed by fear. May hope guide you; may courage move you; and let faith ground you for the work that is ours to do, today, tomorrow, and always.

Pastor Tobi White

Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church

Lincoln, NE

[1] As quoted from Christian Century, 1986, at http://www.edgeofenclosure.org/lent2c.html.