16 March 2027 · Syro-Malabar Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Latin Rite · Syro-Malankara Rite · മലയാളം
“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!” Luke 13:34
The Second Letter of Peter was written to Christians troubled by teachers who mocked God's judgement and lived as they pleased. Peter answers with three examples from the Scriptures: the angels who sinned, the world of Noah's flood, and the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. In each case God did not let evil have the last word. But in each case he also saved someone. He “saved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others”, and “he rescued Lot, a righteous man greatly distressed by the licentiousness of the lawless (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by their lawless deeds that he saw and heard)”. Peter's conclusion is full of comfort: “the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trial.” Lot was no great hero; Genesis tells us that he lingered, and the angels had to take him by the hand. Yet he had not grown used to the evil around him; it tormented his soul. That is a sign of life. Many of us live, study or work among habits that slowly dull the conscience. The Great Fast asks: am I still distressed by what is wrong, or have I made my peace with it? The Lord who took Lot by the hand can lead us out too.
In the Gospel some Pharisees come to warn Jesus: “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” Not every Pharisee was his enemy; some here seem to want to protect him. Jesus will not run. “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work.’” Herod is a fox, cunning but small; Jesus' path is set by the Father, and it leads to Jerusalem and to the third day. Then his voice changes, and he speaks not in anger but in grief: “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!” This is the voice of a mother, not a judge. The image is tender and costly: a hen spreads her wings over her chicks when danger comes, and takes the fire or the hawk on herself. That is what Jesus will do on the Cross. His lament is not a condemnation of the Jewish people, whom God has never ceased to love; it is the grief of love over every human heart that refuses to be gathered, and so it is addressed to us. Next Sunday we will cry “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord”; today we ask whether we are willing to be gathered under his wings.
Theme: “How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!”
God who rescues the righteous, and the Lord who will not turn from Jerusalem, grieving over every heart that refuses to be gathered.
“But he lingered; so the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and left him outside the city.” Genesis 19:16
“then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trial, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment” 2 Peter 2:9
Apply: Name one habit around you that no longer troubles you, and ask God to awaken your conscience.
“The Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame;” Isaiah 50:7
“Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.” Luke 13:33
Apply: Do not let fear of others' opinion turn you from one good thing you know you must do this week.
“he will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.” Psalm 91:4
“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!” Luke 13:34
Apply: Spend ten quiet minutes before the Blessed Sacrament, letting the Lord gather you.
God rescues the godly, and his Son goes on to Jerusalem to spread his arms over us on the Cross.
His lament is the grief of love; our answer is to be willing to be gathered.
Take-home resolution: Keep your conscience awake this week, and come under his wings in silent prayer.
Dear friends, Peter reminds his readers that God saved Noah and rescued Lot, a righteous man tormented by the lawless deeds he saw and heard every day. Then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trial (2 Peter 2:9).
Lot was troubled by the evil around him; he had not grown used to it. Let us ask whether our conscience is still awake, or whether we have quietly made peace with what is wrong.
In the Gospel Jesus is warned that Herod wants to kill him. He will not run: he must go on to Jerusalem. And he weeps over the city: how often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings (Luke 13:34).
This is the grief of love, and it is spoken to every heart that refuses to be gathered, including ours. On the Cross he spread his arms like wings over us. This week, let us come under them. Amen.
Children, Jesus said he is like a mother hen who keeps her chicks safe under her wings. When you are afraid, run to Jesus in prayer, and he will hold you close.
Lord Jesus Christ, you set your face toward Jerusalem and did not turn back. As a hen gathers her brood under her wings, you long to gather us. Keep our consciences awake among the evils of our time, take us by the hand when we linger, and make us willing to be gathered under your wings. Amen.
Today’s readings set two faces of God side by side. In 2 Peter the Lord judges sin but knows how to rescue the godly, as he rescued Noah and Lot. In Luke Jesus, walking toward his death, speaks of Jerusalem with the tenderness of a hen gathering her chicks. The judge and the one who longs to gather are one Lord. He is patient, and he can be refused.
Setting.
2 Peter takes the form of a last testament of the apostle, warning against false teachers (2:1) who deny the Lord’s coming (3:3–4) and live as they please. The Church received it as Scripture under the name of Peter; many scholars think a disciple wrote it in his name after his death, while others hold a closer link with the apostle. Either way it is the inspired word of God. Its argument in this passage is a long single “if” sentence in Greek: if God acted so in the past, then he will act now.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man greatly distressed by the licentiousness of the lawless” (2:7)
Genesis shows Lot as a weak and hesitating man, yet Abraham’s plea for the righteous and Wisdom 10:6 stand behind this word for him. What mattered was that evil still hurt him. He had not grown used to it, as the next verse says: he was “tormented in his righteous soul”.
“then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trial, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment” (2:9)
The letter’s readers felt surrounded and outnumbered. Noah was one family, and Lot one household. God can see the few, and numbers do not limit him.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism cites this passage when it speaks of the sin of the angels, whose choice was radical and irrevocable (CCC 391–393). It also teaches that God predestines no one to hell, and quotes the same letter: God is “not wanting any to perish” (CCC 1037; 2 Peter 3:9). The warnings of this chapter should be read together with that patience.
Setting.
Since 9:51 Jesus has been walking steadily toward Jerusalem. He is probably still in the territory of Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee and Perea, who had already killed John the Baptist (9:9). Some Pharisees warn him. Luke does not say that they meant harm, and in his Gospel Pharisees also invite Jesus to their table (7:36; 14:1). Jesus answers with a message for Herod and then turns to speak to the city itself.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Go and tell that fox for me,” (13:32)
Jesus will not change his route because of a threat, nor hurry because of a warning. “Today and tomorrow” he goes on healing. His timetable is the Father’s.
“because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.” (13:33)
A grim piece of irony. Not every prophet died there, as John’s death shows. Jesus means that the holy city, where God’s word should be most welcome, is where the prophet’s road ends.
“How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” (13:34)
This is the centre of the passage: a tender picture of a hen, who shields her young with her own body. God’s love is never forced. It can be refused, and the sorrow in this verse shows what that refusal costs him.
“you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’” (13:35)
The words are from Psalm 118:26. “Your house is left to you” echoes Jeremiah 22:5. The saying ends with a greeting. Luke will soon let the disciples cry out this very psalm at the entry into the city (19:38), and many read here a hope for the future as well.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism quotes this lament when it describes Jesus going up to Jerusalem: he recalls the martyrdom of the prophets, yet goes on asking the city to gather around him, and he weeps over her (CCC 558). The words are those of a Jew grieving for his own city, in the line of Jeremiah. They give no ground for any blame of the Jewish people (CCC 597–598, 839). St Augustine often returns to this picture of the hen to speak of Christ’s humble love, which weakens itself to shelter us (in substance).
Does 2 Peter teach that God is harsh?
It teaches that God takes evil seriously, and that the godly are not forgotten. The same letter explains the delay of judgment as patience: God does not want anyone to perish, but all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). Today’s Gospel shows how much that love longs to gather.