Jesus and Fox News
Themes: Holy longing, Injustice, tyranny and oppression, hope
In our gospel passage above, Jesus is in the middle of his ministry. He is teaching, healing, telling parables, “all the while, making his way to Jerusalem” (13:22). He’s making friends and he’s making enemies. His words are exciting to some and scary to others. His actions of healing people, even on the sabbath, point some to believe that he is from God – how else could he heal and preach with such insight and authority? However, those same actions put others off – he is breaking the Sabbath by working.
So, some (perhaps) friendly Pharisees come to him – do they warn him to protect him or to scare him away? The text doesn’t tell us, but we know that some Pharisees liked Jesus. They tell him, “you need to get out of here fast, Herod is trying to kill you.” Herod had noticed Jesus’ popularity among the people. He didn’t want any trouble as he was trying to maintain the “Pax Romana,” the peace of Rome, which was pretty passive-aggressive when it wasn’t being outright aggressive. Rome was an empire, and it was doing what empires do – feeding itself. It cared for power and did not care for the people and their needs. Jesus was turning that upside-down, advocating for communal compassion. The pervasive peace of shalom: goodness for everyone – minds, bodies, spirits cared for collectively – closer to some version of communalism than capitalism.
Jesus names Herod a Fox and has news for the Fox: “today and tomorrow, I’ll be casting out devils and healing people, and on the third day I’ll reach my goal.” Now, we as readers with the arc of history in our perspectives, can see that Jesus was not talking about 3 twenty-four-hour periods. He was speaking symbolically. He had work to do, and he was setting about doing it. But he also knew that it was not going to be much longer before his work would come to its conclusion. His work was to help people understand the reign of God – how God was about love, including healing and wholeness in mind, body, and spirit, individuals and community. He showed that with his actions and his teachings. And there was an urgency to his work. There were forces working against Jesus, and he knew it. Yet he also knew that he would have enough time to build a movement that would spread around the world, however imperfectly.
After telling the Pharisees to pass on his message, Jesus turns his attention to reflecting on Jerusalem. Jerusalem is a city heavy with history. Its name means, “place of peace.” As Jesus contemplates the city in his heart, he voices deep and passionate longing. He talks about motherly affection and protection, longing for reconciliation, gathering in: “How often have I wanted to gather your children together as a mother bird collects her babies under her wing – yet you refuse me!” Is he offering his hearers a Divine reflection? I – in the long arc of God as Creator – have wanted to mother this city, like a crown jewel among a chosen people, a shining example of God’s ways of peace on earth, yet you persist in your complicated legalisms, neglecting care for people, so here I am, in the flesh, on my way to this very city. I would love to ride in victoriously and teach in freedom to a completely joyful open reception, yet as I ride into Jerusalem soon, I know that by the end of the week, you’ll be killing me slowly and painfully, violently rejecting me and my message. Perhaps it is this passage that inspired the mystic, Julian of Norwich, to see Jesus in feminine imagery.
St. Julian writes about the mothering energy of Jesus, who feeds us from his very body. She sees a mystical union between Jesus and her spirit, as well as anyone who comes to Jesus for sustenance. What kind of images connect you to The Great Spirit? What gives you strength in times of doubt?
