The game begins…it is an ancient game.
The hen and the chicks walk up to the fox, they are all in a line behind the hen, and they ask, “What are you doing old fox?”
The fox replies, “Picking up sticks.”
The hen and the chicks then say, “What for?”
Fox says, “To make a fire.”
The hen and chicks then ask again, “What for?”
The fox answers, “To cook a chicken.”
The hen and chicks then exclaim, “Where will you get one?!”
And the fox answers, “From your flock!”, and then he jumps trying to catch the last chick in the line while the mother hen tries to block the way.
Third grade recess, Mrs. Wilson was our teacher. She was our old mother hen, she loved the game even more than we did, the hen protecting her chicks from the fox.
It is an ancient game, turns out different versions of it can be traced back hundreds even thousands of years.
I got to play a version of it in Ecuador a few weeks ago, it was called el gato y el raton, the cat and the rat. I was elected to be the rat. It was great fun, until my vision started getting all foggy and sparky. The altitude was almost 10,000 feet. Apparently oxygen is a little sparse at that elevation, and the cat caught me as I was vainly grasping at the wind. Pray, think and dream about Grace Church making a mission trip to there.
The fox and the hen, the ancient game, we see it being played out in the Gospel according to Luke. Jesus calls Herod a fox, and then he compares himself to a mother hen gathering and protecting her brood of chicks.
The predator and the prey.
Last week we heard of Jesus being tempted by the devil in the wilderness.
The wily fox is back this week using the pawns of Herod and the Pharisees to tempt Jesus away from Jerusalem, away from the confrontation, away from the sacrifice of the cross.
The fox is pretending to guard the hen house for Jesus, telling him to save his life, to turn back.
Jesus is being tempted by self preservation.
Temptation.
That is one of the major Lenten themes, facing temptation.
What is temptation?
What is it to be tempted, preyed upon?
Usually we think of big obvious things like embezzling, or infidelity, or substance abuse, or little things like a second helping, or dessert.
The game of fox and hen that we see being played out today shows us a deeper understanding of temptation, being tempted away from the God’s call to confront the abuses of power and the neglect of the needy.
Be comfortable, be convenient, save yourself, being faithful means feeling spiritual, we don’t actually have to do anything, or fix anything, or heal, or confront, or protect, or give or sacrifice, or change.
The fox is sly. The best way to catch the hen and her chicks is to get them to surrender to the world, to fit in and be cozy.
Jesus calls the fox by its name, and says he will go to Jerusalem, he will not stop his ministry, he will not retreat, he will go to Jerusalem to die.
Confrontation not convenience.
Sacrifice not self preservation.
How are we tempted to forsake the way of following Jesus?
There is the rub.
It is quiet a vision of God as the old mother hen gathering and protecting her brood from the fox. What is disturbing is that it is the brood of chicks that kills the hen, not the fox.
This game of fox and hen is devious and dark.
But something happens when the Hen gives up her life.
The game changes or perhaps the rules finally become clear. It is not about catching the most, it is about giving the most, and we see God as the one who gives everything.
The game changes, the rules come clear.
But that is another story for another time, another game at recess.
Today is about facing temptation.