Chickens and Foxes

‘Jerusalem, Jerusalem…How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood, and you were not willing!’

May I speak in the name of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Many impressive titles have been ascribed to Jesus – but ‘Jesus the sacrificial hen’ is not one which has thus far caught on. Probably because it does seem somewhat ridiculous.

If we say someone is too weak or too nervous to undertake to a difficult task, we say they have ‘chickened out’ or are ‘too chicken’ to go through with it…

If someone is confused and panicking, they are ‘running around like a headless chicken’…

And to add insult to injury, humanity has a long list of ‘why did the chicken cross the road’ jokes to be told at the poor chicken’s expense.

Chickens, particularly the ‘mother hen’ are not really thought of as powerful, edgy creatures who can stave off attack or, indeed, save anyone – let alone the world. But, I want to tell you two amazing things about chickens:

1. Firstly, it was reported not long ago on the BBC that a barn full of chickens rounded on a fox which had got into their enclosure and – against all expectation they overpowered and killed it.
   
   But also:
2. If your house is burning down and you can’t escape the flames, the best thing you can do is to take cover under something that will shield you from the poisonous smoke and hope that the fire consumes itself before it penetrates that barrier – and this is EXACTLY what a mother hen does for her chicks.
   She gathers them under her wings, forms a barrier around and above them and, ultimately, sacrifices her life to protect them.

Maybe ‘Jesus the sacrificial hen’ isn’t such a bad title after all.

And we laugh at chickens because they supposedly have flightless wings and so we pass them off as a bit of as having a bit of a divine design flaw – best suited to staying in the yard in domesticity where we can make good use of them.

But did you know that chickens originate from the jungle, where they roost in trees? And I used to be a farm-hand so I can tell you from many an excursion chasing birds (who did not want to be caught) around farm yards, that chickens definitely CAN fly – but we do to them what we do every creature which we wish to subdue and control for our own benefit… we clip their wings so they stay in the place we put them and cannot perform fully as the creatures God created them to be.  

But enough about chickens…. Because last week marked not only International Women’s Day, but it was also the week in which Bristol Cathedral replaced the plaque which honours the first women to be ordained as priests in the Church of England in 1994. They did have a previous plaque – but it somehow manged to name only the men who did the ordaining; not the women who were actually ordained and making history.

And, if you haven’t just made the connection between the creatures who through centuries have been:
- the subject of ridicule,
- the butt of jokes,
- systematically dismissed and belittled,
- whose full natural abilities have been undermined in favour of domestication
- who are rarely seen as strong and protective even though thousands of them sacrifice their lives and security every day for those they love and care for
- and who have their wings clipped, just enough, to limit their chances to fly

…and chickens….

Then let me suggest that our society, and also sometimes the Church, still treat women like chickens.

If you identify or present as a woman, you will likely be familiar with having to take a million tiny steps every day, just to protect yourself and your bodily integrity. You may avoid walking certain places after dark, carry keys in your hands on your way home, change what you wear to appear more ‘appropriate’ and avoid unwanted attention. You may accept a lower wage to avoid ‘rocking the boat’ or gloss over and laugh off ‘playful banter’ which you actually find diminishing or threatening.

You may feel you have to play along with the way society characterises you as ‘the headless chicken’ or as being ‘hysterical’ for showing emotion. And you will likely be interrupted or have had something that you have just said, spoken over, or something you are already an expert in explained back to you.

Worse still, you may have been overpowered by a man who did not listen to you, or seek your enthusiastic consent.

I know that am incredibly lucky to work and worship in a place which takes seriously the flourishing of women. And where I am surrounded by lay and ordained women of incredible courage and skill, and lay and ordained men who actively work for our equality.

BUT society and the Church of England as a whole has so much further to go before we treat all of God’s children equally and give them all the opportunity to fly.

Jesus weeps over Jerusalem because it is the very place where the voice of prophecy should be heard. Where God tells it to a generation as-it-is and to a people who should be ready to listen, and be committed to change their lives, their society and the world in response.

But Jerusalem is also the city which stones the prophets who come it because when they come, the people don’t want to hear God’s truth – because they might have to change as a result.

So they dismiss the very voice of God, even in some cases, denounce it as being ‘ungodly’. They challenge Jesus for healing on the Sabbath and driving out demons – making people well and whole – because the status quo gives them a sense of security in a frightening world and orders society in a way which benefits them or that they’ve just got too attached to.

So when Jesus comes along and instigates a new order. He gets death-treats from the ruling classes. Mostly, because he’s empowering the people who society typically keeps down, who have their wings clipped and who are made the butt of jokes and who suffer abuse and violence daily at the hands of some of those in leadership.

And the even greater tragedy for Jesus, the reason he weeps, is that even good, God-fearing people have been sucked into this way of operating too. Jerusalem, the Temple, the place where the very presence of God is supposed to dwell, rejects God when he turns up in flesh and blood.

Jesus came to save them…. But they were not willing.

He came to be the mother hen who shields her children from the devastation of fire which, unprotected, would consume them. And he laments and later he cries, that they would not run to him for shelter.

Maybe Jesus is not the muscular hero we expect… or maybe we see Jesus as ‘chicken’ in the way he responds with self-sacrificial love instead of forcing his agenda. Maybe displaying traits which are stereotypically perceived as more ‘feminine’ makes him seem an unlikely candidate for Messiah.

When I think of underestimated heroes today. I think of those in the conflict in Ukraine – who, despite the force of the opposition, have sacrificed themselves to protect their brood. I think of refugees who have left everything to take their children to safety. And I think of the Churches, community organisations, those preserving critical infrastructure, medics and aid workers risking it all to spread out wings of peace and gather in the hurting, hungry and frightened into their care.

And I also think of all those women who have sacrificed reputations, careers, livelihoods and lives (such as the women fighting to work, and to receive an education in Afghanistan after the return of Taliban rule). I think of those who are dismissed as hysterical or crazy or even imprisoned in the fight to see justice reign and to stand in solidarity with their sisters across the globe, sheltering women and girls who manage to escape situations of oppression and abuse.

Many have been dismissed,
many have been laughed at,
many have been ignored or go unrecorded in history,
and still today, some even continue to be stoned for speaking truth to power.

Church of England, Church of England, how will you respond?

Will we have the courage to stand with them and fight back against foxes with the self-sacrificial love of Jesus the mother hen?
Will we practice hospitality, even in the face of fear?
Will we strive for equality, even when it disadvantages us?
Will we listen to the prophets, even when they make us feel uncomfortable?

Even if it rocks the boat,
even if it costs us our reputation,
even if it means we must give up our own security in the status quo…
May this, and every Church, choose to stand as a shelter and place of protection where EVERY child of God can flourish and NO ONE is ever told they were not made to fly.

Amen.