The Chickens and Jesus


The Chickens and Jesus

            The first week of our trip to New Zealand we experienced life in RVs. Instead of a hotel, we were able to set up camp right in the midst of the beauty of New Zealand.  Our first night we stayed outside of Auckland in a campground that was on a farm. Sheep. Cows (who were quite loud in the morning waiting for their food). Two huge draft horses. Pigs. Guineas. And chickens.  These chickens were definitely free range, roaming all over the farm and all over the campground section of the farm.
            That evening we decided to have sandwiches for supper – peanut butter or ham. We made a stop earlier at a grocery store in Auckland and made a significant contribution to the New Zealand economy. We were sure to get the adult beverages.  My son Drew and I have a goal to sample as many of the beers of each country we visit, and we take this task very seriously.  We were ready for the evening.
            We set up camping chairs in a circle.  Got out the folding camping table and laid out the bread, peanut butter, jam, and bacon ham.  The chickens must have seen this as a sign because they started gathering around us, five or six of them moving in and out of our circle.  We tried to shoo them off, but they were quite persistent.  Apparently, they knew we would have food they might enjoy.
I had peanut butter and jelly.  I carefully created the sandwich and laid it in my lap.  Suddenly my leg was banged by a red chicken as it jumped up to get my sandwich.  I felt its beak hitting my hand, hard and quick. I jumped and yelled, holding onto the sandwich.  The chicken fell back and ran off, but not far.  She was back again soon, trying to find another way to my and anyone else’s sandwich.
This was communion of a different kind than mentioned in last week’s blog.  This was a communion I did not want to have.  Be gone ye chickens.  We tried various methods of discouraging and chasing off the chickens, trying not to hurt them.  But they would not leave.  They knew having communion with us would be very tasty, if they could get something: bread, chips, apples.  They had had this communion many times before. 
            I must confess.  I had shared with these chickens all I wanted to.  No broken bread or chips for them.  No encouraging their behavior.  No bonding with these birds.
            Later than night, I came out of the RV and saw a large hen sitting on the ground, near the edge of the shrub line. She was not moving around as the other chickens were.  She was perfectly still.  Then she slow rose and went into the overgrowth, to be followed by 10-12 small chicks. She found a spot under a shrub, opened up her wings and welcomed her chicks to gather.  Then she slowly sat down, and the chicks were hid from sight.
            This reminds me of words Jesus spoke during his time in Jerusalem, before his arrest and crucifixion.  “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!”  Two images – one of disruption, of uninvited guest who jumps and pecks and hopes for any morsel and one of love, invitation, and welcome.  Jesus speaks of wanting to be like the mother hen who welcomes and gathers. I love that image of being gathered under the wings of Jesus.
Is Jesus like the uninvited who wants to steal your sandwich?  No, I don’t think that chicken image of jumping and pecking fits Jesus, but I do see him as the disrupter, the one uninvited. There were some in Jerusalem who did not want to communion with him, who really just wanted him to go away.
This first Holy Week, he is the one who turns the tables over in the Temple and clears out those who were buying and selling.  He is the one who speaks woes to the Scribes and the Pharisees, describing them as whitewashed tombs. He speaks of the destruction of the Temple and curses a fig tree. He tells parables about sheep and goats in the final judgment. His presence in Jerusalem was not like a chicken who came, ran away and then came back again.  His presence was a fierce presence that did not back away but journeyed into conflict all the way to the cross.
            During this Holy Week while we are still disconnected because of coronavirus, may you encounter Jesus.  May you encounter the Jesus who gathers and welcomes and loves you. May you hear the invitation.  In this time of great virus disruption, may you encounter the Jesus who disrupts you where you most need disruption, may the tables that need to be turned over in your life get turned over, may you be able to hear and listen to any disconcerting woes Jesus may speak, and may Jesus be fiercely present to you in the midst of this unique Holy Week, challenging you into a communion deeper than you have ever known.

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