A Prayer About Jesus as a Mother Hen
“O 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, but you were not willing! Luke 13:34
Most glorious Lord Jesus, of all the pictures you painted and metaphors you used to help us understand who you are and how you love, I have to admit, mother hen never made its way into my top five-it never garnished a lingering gaze. And yet as I ponder it this morning, such a description profoundly endears you to my heart, and makes me want to know and worship you all the more.
That you would even choose such an image reveals the beauty of your longings, the depths of your affection and the intensity of your engagement in our lives. It also reveals how fragile, vulnerable and foolish I can be as one of your “chicks.”
Jesus, I praise you today for your ongoing commitment to gather me, because, “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love.” Keep running after me. Keep running after ME, Jesus, when I drift naively and when I roam wantonly to places I have no business exploring.
Jesus, I praise you today that, like a mother hen, you gather me and place me under your wings, next to your heart, NOT under your feet and scorn. You are such a compassionate, kind, tender Savior… how foolish I am to think otherwise, how foolish I am to think there’s any better place to be, in time and in space, than under your “wings,” in the embrace of your grace.
Though a nursing mother may even forget her suckling child, you will never ever forget or forsake one of your “chicks.” Because the gospel is true and powerful, I am willing, I am so very willing to be gathered today, along with my brothers and sisters, next to your heart. So very Amen, I pray in your name.
