Introduction
There’s a lot going on in this short text for the 2nd week of Lent. There’s a lot of ambiguity and there’s a lot of hurt that’s being expressed in this very short exchange.
Jerusalem
Jesus has turned toward Jerusalem. This actually happens earlier. Maybe days after the Transfiguration, we hear in 9:51, “When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.”
Jesus makes his journey with full awareness of what awaits him. In today’s Gospel, he says, “I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!” This is not just a geographical destination; it is the heart of religious and political power. It is the place where Jesus, the Messiah, must go. It is also a place where prophets are silenced (according to Matthew and Luke).
But this line is strange because there aren’t that many prophets who are named who martyred in Jerusalem in Hebrew Testament scripture. Zechariah and Isaiah are the two who become named in tradition but never explicitly in canonical scripture. Now, Luke is using Matthew’s form here (as I believe that Luke is written after Matthew). And so, he’s inheriting this “Jerusalem, Jerusalem” verse. However, both are using this even though there isn’t this large instance of martyred prophets by Jesus’ time.
But Matthew and Luke are writing long after that and death in Jerusalem is far more present in their mind. And the first instance of massive martyrdom is the Jewish Revolt. In case you don’t know as many of the details, here are few short bits of information from the World History Encyclopedia. In short, there are multiple instances of mass murder and death in Jerusalem. The Zealots kill Roman officials from Galilee to Jerusalem. The Romans kill or enslave Galilean Jews. The Zealots kill the moderate Jewish leadership in Rome. The Romans slaughter and enslave Jews in Jerusalem and destroy the temple.
Many scholars talk about this verse “Jerusalem, Jerusalem” being an indictment of the Jewish people of Jerusalem. And it seems to lead us to think that because of the Jesus story and his impending crucifixion. However, what if this is Matthew and Luke are talking about Jerusalem as a place of violence and not about a certain people? Jerusalem is where Jesus will be killed. Later in Acts, it’s where Stephen will be stoned. It’s where the revolt will take lives of everyone associated with the city. In its history, in the Hebrew scriptures, it has been a place of violence, war, and destruction.
There are going to be many who say that I’m overreaching here. But even if this is taking it one step too far, I’m wondering if this interpretation has something to offer us. We sometimes say the phrase, “If the walls could talk,” but there is something to “a place” remembering violence and destruction. The air feels different. The quiet that surrounds you can be unnerving.
Have you visited a concentration camp in Germany or Poland? Have you visited locations along the Trail of Tears? Did you visit the rubble after 9/11?
A place remembers. And Jerusalem has more to remember than most places.
Jerusalem itself does not kill the prophets. But because of the fragility and turnover of its history, the people remember the threat upon it. Wouldn’t that make you uneasy? To see a prophet (who maybe seems to be leading a revolution) approaching the city?
The Pharisees Concern
The Pharisees come to warn Jesus: “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” Herod, a puppet ruler under Rome, has already executed John the Baptist, and now he seeks to do the same to Jesus. But Jesus is undeterred. Not even the threat of Herod will deter him from his mission. He is walking toward Jerusalem, not for his own glory, but to show the boundless love of God—to stand against those who misuse power, to call out injustice, and ultimately to lay down his life for the sake of the world.
So why are the Pharisees concerned about Jesus? Shouldn’t they be the ones plotting against him? There are commentaries that think that the Pharisees are trying to trick Jesus to stop his movement. There are commentaries that think that the Pharisees are trying to set him up to say something blasphemous or to get him in trouble. But I think it’s connected to the above. The Pharisees know what revolution brings. It beheaded John the Baptist. Now it looks like it could lead to more death. But the scariest thing is if it would bring Roman death. A squelching of a revolution that would mean the catastrophic death and destruction of all of Jerusalem.
No, the Pharisees in Jesus’ time probably wouldn’t have been saying that. Luke, writing after Jerusalem’s destruction, may be shaping this moment to reflect the tensions that led to catastrophe. The Pharisees in the narrative may not have been thinking of Jerusalem’s future destruction, but in Luke’s telling, their concern takes on an eerie foreshadowing.
Mother Hen
If Jerusalem is a place haunted by cycles of violence, Jesus longs to break that cycle. In one of the most tender and evocative images in the Gospels, Jesus compares himself to a mother hen longing to gather her chicks under her wings. This is not the power of a lion or the cunning of a fox. This is the fierce, protective love of a parent who longs to shield her children from harm. But, tragically, “you were not willing.”
This image stands in stark contrast to Herod, whom Jesus calls “that fox.” A fox is a predator, crafty and dangerous, always lurking, always consuming (at least in this imagery). A hen, on the other hand, has no real defense except her willingness to shield her young with her own body. While the reality is the hen may protect her young with an attack, Luke is offering an image of a protector/defender not an aggressor. She does not fight back with violence but only defense. She does not run away. She simply gathers and shelters, offering her very life in the process.
Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem is not just a sorrowful sigh. It is the aching cry of one who sees destruction coming and yet is rejected by the very people he longs to save. It is the heartbreak of God watching people choose power over mercy, control over relationship, fear over trust. It is the grief of knowing that Jerusalem—this city so marked by struggle, oppression, and rebellion—will once again find itself caught in the cycle of violence.
And yet, Jesus does not turn back. He does not lash out. He presses on toward Jerusalem, not as a fox seeking domination, but as a mother hen who will give herself up for her children.
Preaching Possibilities
Cycles of Violence
There is an opportunity to talk here of cycles of violence. Mark, Matthew, and Luke cannot write about Jerusalem and the story of the Crucified One, without thinking about the violence that occurred and will occur depending on the time you are placing yourself in the story. While we are weary and don’t necessarily want to confront the violence around us, the cycles are around us again. Palestine, Ukraine, and Sudan. We could easily make connections with political violence.
But Jesus does not just name the violence, he longs to break the cycle. He does not respond with more force, more retaliation, or more destruction. Instead, his response is grief and love: “How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” Jesus desires to draw people in, not cast them out. He longs for mercy instead of vengeance, healing instead of destruction.
And even though “Jerusalem” resists, Jesus does not turn away. He does not abandon the people, even when they refuse his love. Instead, he walks toward the pain, toward the violence, toward the cross. Not to perpetuate suffering, but to redeem it. The cross itself becomes the place where violence is met with forgiveness, where death is transformed into life.
Today, when we witness war, oppression, and destruction, Jesus’ lament is still alive. But so is his determination to gather, to heal, and to bring hope. The cycles of violence may feel endless, but they are not final. Resurrection is coming.
Micah Krey 
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