GIVING UP IS HARD TO DO!
Lent 2 - Luke 13:31-35 (Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18 and Phil. 3:17 – 4:1)
Paul Swartz - February 27 and 28, 2010

Lent started early this year. With the east coast up to its eyebrows in snow, the Lenten season was underway.

I only learned recently that every year Fat Tuesday comes to an abrupt end at midnight. New Orleans police shut down the Mardi Gras festivities promptly at 12 am in reverence for Ash Wednesday. The stroke of midnight is the moment Bourbon Street revelers must give it up.

We always think of “giving up” something for Lent. Some people give up meat. Others give up sweets, or alcohol, or television. If you want to face a real Lenten challenge try giving up your cell phone for forty days! But even that might not be enough to get you in a true Lenten mood.

I recall a conversation where an individual when asked what she was giving up for Lent, quips: “Anne’s giving up drinking, Terri’s giving up chocolate, and I’m just giving up.” Ever feel like that? “Just giving up”?

“Just give up” was the Pharisee’s advice to Jesus in today’s Gospel text. Herod is after you. He has You marked for death. Get out of town quick. Give up Your mission here.

Herod senses something about Jesus that threatens his authority. And just as his father had earlier sought to kill the infant Jesus in Bethlehem, slaughtering all the innocents of that region because he could not tolerate the threat by a "newborn King" to his royal throne, so here in his son was a brooding sense that this Man was a danger.

Jesus recognizes the voice of Satan again--the same voice which we heard last Sunday calling Jesus to forsake His mission, in exchange for which Satan would give Him all the Kingdoms of the world. "If you 'play my game' I will not harm you.”

When Jesus hears this warning, He surprises those Pharisees by both disregarding and embracing their message. Jesus dismisses the threat of Herod with a flip and a quip. Herod is nothing but a “sly fox,” Jesus quips, forever plotting but powerless against God’s mission in the world. "Tell that old fox to get out of the henhouse. I have my mission to do and the time-frame has already been divinely determined." Luke seems to be presenting a contest between the powers of this world and the urgent desire of God to corral misdirected earthly intentions under the wings of the protective hen.

The fox continues to threaten us in many and various disguises today, always asking for an allegiance quite other than that to which we have been called in our Baptism. The masks are many — the camouflages are subtle. But everywhere around us voices are calling us to offer our allege-ance to an authority quite foreign to that which our Lord would have us make. Those voices do not sound at all like "Herod is threatening to kill us" today. They sound much more enticing, like "Herod wants to give us life... all that is attractive, all that is pleasing." That’s the mark of deceitfulness. Evil never appears repulsive! It’s disarming in its charm and appears to be crucial to our welfare. Many foxes haunt the henhouse of God!
Disregarding the threat of Herod's power, Jesus speaks of a "hen gathering her brood together under her wings." Is this not a marvelous picture of God's protecting care...of His love and concern? A mother hen can be fierce in the protection of her little chicks snuggling together under her wing. The helpless chicks crowd together trustingly under her warm body, both unaware and unconcerned about the danger that lurks nearby in the form of the fox. The chicks try to steal away . . . slip out now and then and her wing scoops them back up into the safety of her shelter.

This is the picture of God that we all cherish...a protective, loving, warm, supportive, defending, supporting God — a mother hen who holds her chicks in a passionately sheltering sanctuary where the fox cannot penetrate. How fervently we all long for a place like that — a place where the terrors of life are held at bay and the miseries of life are subsumed in the warmth of security. We retreat to that place in our faith time and time again, confident that God will be our shield and our fortress.

Why, then, do the chicks strive so hard to escape that place? Why must Jesus say, “O 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!” Why weren't they? Why aren’t we? We are as much a mystery to ourselves as Jerusalem must have been to herself! Why is our trust in our Lord’s care for us so shallow? Why do we wander off into our own paths so readily, as though we can live life on our own terms . . . even if and when the fox shows up? At no place in life, perhaps, does our sin show up quite so boldly as the way we run from the shelter of God’s wings in order to live in the shadow of the fox! Our self-will, our falsely placed self-confidence betrays us all too frequently as we listen to the soft “purring” of the fox, turning to the world around us for our security, our contentment, our source of comfort and consolation.

The plea to return is regularly issued to us also. That is what the word “repent” is all about — a turn from our own self-sufficiency, our own self-will, our own misguided confidence in our ability to take our life in hand under the very nose of the fox, and turn to the One whose wings are our only hope and our only protection. Only a week and a half ago ashes were placed on our forehead, reminding us that we are dust to which we shall return. We were reminded again that it is our sinfulness that creates the gaping hole in the ground that shall one day gobble up the dust from which we were taken. We were admonished once again to “return to the Lord our God” in whom alone there is new life and a promise of protection and support and love that will see us through the days when the fox shadows our every footstep. It was the cry of our text spoken to us in today’s terms: “O children of Mine, you, who so love to go astray, fleeing from the protection of your mother’s wings, return to Me!”

The Jerusalem who killed the prophets through the ages, stoning those who were sent to it, had another victim in its sights. Jesus knew it as He spoke in today’s text. In God’s own time He would offer up His Son to the will of humankind as a sin-offering for all those who left the loving, brooding wing of the mother hen, placing themselves into the ways where the fox would destroy them. The belly of the fox was already full of them and now he sought to swallow up the mother hen herself. Jesus knew what lay ahead of Him.

That which lay ahead of Jesus as He entered Jerusalem was the unthinkable . . . the mother hen would give up her one and only-begotten Chick that had remained faithfully under the safety of her wing to the mercy of the fox so that as he chased that helpless Chick down she might run to gather all her other chicks back under her wing! She not only gave this Chick up, but she shoved Him out from under her wing into the very mouth of the fox! How can this be?

Only God knows how this can be. It is His will that the sinless One should be offered for all the sinful ones. It is His way to send the one helpless Chick that had remained under the parent’s wing out from under that protective wing to be pursued and slain in behalf of all those who had left their place of security. What a wonder this is! It all seems to be such a setting of weakness with the fox pursuing the helpless Chick and devouring it, filling the tomb of his belly with the little defenseless Chick!

In response to the Pharisees, Jesus also asserts He WILL give up! He WILL give Himself up! He WILL travel to Jerusalem and meet head on the traumatic tradition of that city encapsulated in the phrase — “Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it” (v.34). Jesus will give up everything, His very life, in order to fulfill His eternal mission of salvation. Let me put it as clearly as I can: Jesus will “give it up” in order that we might “get it all.”
Have you ever wondered where the phrase “my hat’s in the ring” comes from? Early in the nineteenth century there were “rules” for fighting. Pugilism, or what we call boxing, adhered to certain standards governing the beginnings and endings of matches. Even though it was a dangerous, bloody sport, there were protocols to follow. Long before boxing matches took place under the bright lights of a Las Vegas auditorium, it was a street event. Crowds cheered on their champion, booed the bad guy, squabbled, screeched, caused a ruckus and made a racket. When one fight ended, the only way for the next potential fighter to get the attention of the winner was not verbal, but visual. Drowned out by the crowd the next contender declared his intention to fight by tossing his hat into the fighting ring.

“Throwing your hat into the ring” soon became a figure of speech, as well as an actual act. Teddy Roosevelt is credited with being the first to use the image in the political domain. In 1912 he declared “My hat’s in the ring,” thereby indicating he was entering the presidential race.

Along with this symbol for fighting, boxing also had a symbol for disengagement — for quitting. A match that started with a hat thrown into the ring might end with someone “throwing in the towel.” When a fighter had been pummeled, beaten to a pulp, but still wasn’t going “down for the count,” the fighter’s coach or manager could literally “throw in the towel” — heave a rolled up towel into the ring as a sign of giving up.

Like a white flag on a battle field, the white towel thrown onto the canvas signaled the fight was over. There was a winner and there was a loser.

“Giving up” is a dirty word in American culture. The only time “giving up” is embraced is during the forty days of Lent. And even then, we carefully choose what exactly it is we will give up.

The more mundane and peripheral the better. We can “give up” chocolate or movies or parties. But do we ever really “give up” control over our own lives? Do we ever “give up” the conviction that we should and we do chart our own destinies? Do we ever give up the illusion that if we just work hard enough, act fast enough, believe fervently enough, we will never have to “give up” anything, that we can achieve anything?

How many of us have watched a contestant on “American Idol” while cringing and hiding and peeking out behind something? I confess: sometimes I can’t stare direct at the screen out of sheer embarrassment for the performer. Some contestants are hopelessly off-key. They are without rhythm, awkward, and just plan awful.

Yet after being jilted by the judges, booed and booted out of the audition room, how many of those wannabe Idols look into the camera and declare,
• “I’m not going to stop trying.”
• “This is just going to make me work harder.”
• “I will never give up!”
• “No one’s going to dampen my dreams.”
• “I refuse to let Simon Cowell rain on my parade.”

These people don’t need to give up on life. But they DO need to give up on a singing career. Sometimes we all need to “give up,” we need to learn how to “throw in the towel” and move on.

There are no limits, but there are limitations. And part of growing up is learning those limitations so that you give up on pipe dreams and bore down on God’s dreams for you and your life.
• Some things DO need to die in our lives.
• Sometimes we DO need to give up.
• Give up on a career that is sucking out our soul.
• Give up on a relationship that is debilitating or deforming or demented.
• Give up on a grudge that is gouging out a cavity in your heart.
• Give up on an addictive escape—be it through drugs, alcohol — and find renewed meaning and purpose in reality.

Jesus didn’t “give up” to Herod’s threats or the Pharisee’s warnings.
But Jesus did “give up” to God’s divine plan for salvation.
Jesus did not “give up” to his own safety, security, and self-preservation.
But Jesus did “give up” & embrace his Messianic identity & mission. Jesus did “give it up” to the place and purpose God had designed especially for Him, that only He could fulfill.

And you know, that little Chick proved to be indigestible in the tomb of that belly, for the fox had to give it up again in three days! That the fox could not contain the defenseless chick is a wonder…a marvel! The mother hen had risen up in all her fury, had assaulted the fox with beak and claw, had bloodied the head of the fox, had forced the fox to give her chick back! There, in that strange juxtaposition of the hen and the fox we find the heart of the Good News of God’s love for us. He would not hold back from us His dear Son in order that we might be gathered together once again under the marvelously protective wing of the mother whose chicks are now secured. His Father shook the tomb of the fox’s belly free of its victim and He rises up victorious! The fox has been chastised and tamed. He has not lost his power, but he has lost all the terror of his power — death has lost its sting. Having collared and put the leash on the fox, God sends us out into the yard as ambassadors of love and grace in the world where other foxes threaten people with whom you have daily contact. Ours is the message and the exemplary lives to give witness that “the fox is no longer in control! You can live with joy and freedom!”

So I end this morning with the question with which we began. What will you “give up” this Lent? Will you“throw in the towel?” Will you give up the sacred sense of control you imagine you have over your life?

And once you “give up” and “throw in the towel,” will you find the strength to “throw your hat into the ring” and give it up to a new challenge, a new mission, a God-charted direction and design for your life?

What would happen this Lenten season if instead of giving up red meat you gave up the command and control of your life and trusted the old rugged, red cross of the atonement.

What would happen if this Lent you gave up thinking that the life you are living right now is the only life you will ever know?

What would happen if this Lent you, after “throwing in the towel” of your own control over your life, you “threw your hat into the ring” of God’s unchartered territory and divine possibilities?

AMEN!