The Theology of Pandemic #6 (Palm Sunday Edition) - Brooding over Chaos

The Theology of Pandemic #6  (Palm Sunday Edition)
Weeping, Gathering and Brooding

Jesus does something on the way into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday that we tend to ignore - he weeps. In Luke's account of the triumphal entry as Jesus goes down the Mount of Olives and approaches the city he sees it an begins to cry. Later in the week, as Jesus teaches in the Temple courts he again expresses his love for Jerusalem. There he says:

"Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." (Matt. 23:37-39)

In that moment Jesus is connecting his coming return in the future to the entry he had made into Jerusalem just days before.  Remember people cry out to him as he rides the colt across the coats "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord."  

The interesting thing here is the image of a hen gathering her chicks. This is a very maternal image that follows the statement that the city always mistreats and murders its prophets (see also Lk. 6:20-23; 11:45-51; 13:34-35; Acts 7:51-53; I Thes. 2:14-15). Jesus is expressing the desire of God to gather his children to him/herself. There is in the statement a foreshadowing of the statement coming later in the week, "“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34).  In both cases there is a murderous offense that is being responded to, not with retaliation, but with tenderness and love.  Revenge is not the first thought of Jesus on the way into the city and to execution (or after His resurrection for that matter), but rather tears and the nurturing image of gathering and forgiving.

This hen-like image is also seen in the very opening words of the Bible. In Genesis 1:1-2 we read:

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters."

The word that is translated into English as "hovering" is the word in Hebrew for brood. Brooding is what a hen does with her eggs. Brooding is the act of protecting, incubating, and bringing new life into existence.  What is interesting is that the Spirit is brooding over not eggs, but the waters.  The images in these opening verses is one of chaos.  Water in the Old Testament, in particular moving water, was seen as chaotic.  So this verse can be understood to mean that the Spirit of God is brooding over chaos.

What does all of this have to do with the pandemic period we are processing through?  I believe three things speak to us on this Palm Sunday. 

First, Jesus was not moved to tears by humanity only that one time he stopped and looked at Jerusalem on the way into the city seated on a colt.  I suspect that often Jesus looks out at the part of creation that was made in God's image and cries.  I believe that today, on this Palm Sunday, thousands of years later Jesus is weeping again.  He is weeping for those who have died from Covid-19.  He is weeping for those who have suffered in any way from this Corona Virus.  He is weeping over the inequality that is exposed by the stay-at-home orders.  He is weeping for all of humanity in this moment.

Second, I believe it is still Jesus' desire to gather us under his wings.  Though we may not physically stone prophets, we all, in one way or another, reject the arrival of God's love in our lives.  Yet, Jesus comes to us with open arms and embraces us.  I am confident that in this uncomfortable time Jesus is inviting you to find comfort in His arms.  I am certain, in the midst of all this uncertainty, that the maternal instinct of God has never been higher.  In this moment when we all feel vulnerable we have a mother hen of a God that whats to protect us.

Third, I don't think the Spirit ever stopped hovering over chaos.  While the dark, formless, chaotic waters in Genesis 1 were separated and the entire world created this resulted in only a temporary peace.  Chaos has reigned throughout human history and the Spirit has never stopped brooding over it.  The Spirit still seeks to protect, incubate, and bring new life into existence.  In this pandemic moment of chaos the Spirit is still brooding.  The Spirit is resting over the unrest.  The Spirit is moving over our orders to move as little as possible.  The Spirit is nurturing into existence the creation, the new thing, that is coming.

So this Palm Sunday, blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.  Blessed is the one who comes weeping, and gathering, and brooding on our behalf.

Joel K

D.V.