Give Us This Day
Matthew 23:24-39
Sometimes when I read the lesson for the day I feel like I’m in a biblical supermarket. The Lord offers me so many choices for what to talk about. Other times, it seems as if there’s only one thing to meditate on and for some reason it doesn’t compel my heart. I feel like that today.
Here I am, walking down the aisles of the biblical supermarket, la dee da. What have we here? I pick up a can and it says “Condemnation of the Scribes and Pharisees.” No, I just ate that yesterday, let’s see what the next shelf of cans says. “Stern Judgment against the Scribes and Pharisees.” That seems pretty much the same, even though it does come in different flavors. It seems as if that’s all God has available for me today, so I guess it’s one of those days when I’ll just have to be thankful that I’m getting any spiritual food at all today, even if it’s not what I wanted.
But what’s this? I come to the end of today’s aisle, and what do I see? Still within the walls of Matthew chapter 23, immediately following the lengthy section of woes against the scribes and Pharisees, I find something different. I expect Jesus to continue in the same judgmental tones, but what do I see?
I find one of the most compelling pictures of Jesus in all the New Testament. The one who is stern and judgmental suddenly becomes soft and maternal! I’ve had cases of theological whiplash before, but this is ridiculous! It doesn’t make sense at first.
And then it does. How can Jesus go from perhaps His most withering condemnation to perhaps His most tender compassion in the twinkling of an eye? What unites these two passages is Jesus’ concern for those He loves. What He desires is for His people to come to Him, but what He got, especially from those who should most have known to come to Him, was rejection. Jesus is a man of great passions; the Son is a God of great love.
What motivates Jesus throughout Matthew 23 is not a fundamental desire to judge mankind but a deep longing to gather His people to Himself. What the Lord wants is to gather us, His children, to Him, as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings.
This touching picture of the Master’s love for those He came to redeem is sandwiched between two terrible, catastrophic passages. Before it is the rest of Matthew 23 and the woes He pronounces upon the scribes and Pharisees. He calls them sons of hell and pronounces 7 woes upon them! They are guilty (verse 32), serpents, and a brood of vipers (verse 33). How can they escape the condemnation of hell? On them will come all the righteous blood shed on the earth from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah (verse 35)! All of these things will come upon this generation (verse 36).
On the other side of Jesus as the mother hen lies Matthew 24 and Jesus’ prediction of the destruction of the Temple, the sign of the end of this Old Covenant age and the coming persecution of Jesus’ disciples. All of the things that Jesus warned the scribes and Pharisees about will come soon, to the generation to whom Jesus is speaking!
And yet in the middle of these two chapters of doom is the picture of Jesus the mothering hen. Matthew is a master of dark and light as great as Rembrandt. His use of chiaroscuro reminds me of another painting to which I’ve referred before: Geertgen tot Sint Jans’ Nativity (which may be seen here: http://www.suite101.com/view_image.cfm/329238 or here if you are an aficionado and want to look at every detail: http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/cgibin/WebObjects.dll/CollectionPublisher.woa/wa/work?workNumber=NG4081 ).
The dark regions of Matthew’s picture, chapter 23 verses 1-36 and chapter 24, make the miniature but bright region of verse 37 of chapter 23 shine with unsurpassed brilliance. Verse 37, however obscured in these chapters, is the harbinger of Matthew 26: the Passion, Crucifixion, and Resurrection. In this one small verse we see the hope of glory, even when things are beginning to look very dark.
Ever since Matthew 16, Jesus has been talking about His own death. Back then things still looked pretty bright, and Jesus’ talk of a time of darkness seemed out of place. By Matthew 23, things look very dark indeed and will only grow darker, and this one verse of light is very welcome indeed.
And yet in a way that only God, the Master Artist, could have arranged and executed, the darkness and the light mingle. In this one verse, in which the Son as Judge is transfigured into the Son as Compassionate Lover, we experience a foretaste of the mystery to come. For the one who is Judge will soon become the one who takes upon Himself the judgment of the world. The one who pronounced woes upon the scribes and Pharisees and condemned them to Hell will soon experience Hell for them. And the ones upon whom doom and damnation ought to come are offered protection under His wing.
It’s all right there in verse 37. And it all hangs upon one small phrase. All of this could be avoided. The doom of both chapters 23 and 24 could be reversed, if. Jesus would gather us under His wings and protect us if.
If what? If only we were willing. If only we were willing, Jesus would take upon Him the curse that is rightfully ours. If only we were willing, Jesus would keep us safe.
The strange thing is that as Christians we all know this in an ultimate sense but miss it so often in more proximate senses. We know how willing Jesus was to protect us as a mother hen: He proved it on the Cross. But what’s strange is how often we forget that Jesus wants to gather us under His wing on a daily, momentary basis.
So there it is. I know what Jesus wants from me today. He wants me to live in Matthew chapter 23, verse 37, right there, under His wing. He wants me to learn from the grave mistake of the scribes and Pharisees and to humbly come to Him once again.
You know what? That’s exactly what I’m going to do!
Prayer: I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through the belief in the threeness,
Through confession of the oneness
Of the Creator of Creation.
I arise today
Through the strength of Christ’s birth with his baptism,
Through the strength of his crucifixion with his burial,
Through the strength of his resurrection with his ascension,
Through the strength of his descent for the judgment of Doom.
I arise today
Through the strength of the love of Cherubim,
In obedience of angels,
In the service of archangels,
In hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
In prayers of patriarchs,
In predictions of prophets,
In preaching of apostles,
In faith of confessors,
In innocence of holy virgins,
In deeds of righteous men.
I arise today
Through the strength of heaven:
Light of sun,
Radiance of moon,
Splendor of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of wind,
Depth of sea,
Stability of earth,
Firmness of rock.
I arise today
Through God’s strength to pilot me:
God’s might to uphold me,
God’s wisdom to guide me,
God’s eye to look before me,
God’s ear to hear me,
God’s word to speak for me,
God’s hand to guard me,
God’s way to lie before me,
God’s shield to protect me,
God’s host to save me
From snares of devils,
From temptations of vices,
From everyone who shall wish me ill,
Afar and anear,
Alone and in multitude.
I summon today all these powers between me and those evils,
Against every cruel merciless power that may oppose my body and soul,
Against incantations of false prophets,
Against black laws of pagandom
Against false laws of heretics,
Against craft of idolatry,
Against spells of witches and smiths and wizards,
Against every knowledge that corrupts man’s body and soul.
Christ to shield me today
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
So that there may come to me abundance of reward.
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the threeness,
Through confession of the oneness,
Of the Creator of Creation. Amen. (St. Patrick’s Breastplate. Also see
hymn #268 in the 1940 Episcopal hymnal)
Points for Meditation:
- In what areas of your life do you need to come under Jesus’ wing?
- What image of God’s protective love might help you remember to come to God for help?
Resolution: I resolve to come under Jesus’ wing today, consciously choosing to come to Him for safety and peace.
© 2014 Fr. Charles Erlandson
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