the chick and the pharisee

The Chick and The Pharisee

To the unraveled, Jesus speaks these words…

How often I've ached to embrace you, children, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings… Matthew 23:37

When I was a little girl, my mother would say, “Come get under my wing.” We would be piled in the bed on a Saturday morning, perhaps, and we would fight for those wings. Three sisters meant one would be outside the wing-wing. But we would nestle right beside each other there in the safety of a mother hen’s wing. This is a memory of shalom. Dan Allender defines shalom in The Healing Path, “Shalom involves rest and gratitude; it provides a momentary balance and harmony where all things seem right. We know few moments of this peace, but it is not unfamiliar to us.” For a moment, the three of us were safe under Mama’s wing. I dare say that something in our souls remembered Eden. 

Jesus chose these words, words spoken to little children, to confront the Pharisees of the day in Jerusalem. Before that verse in Matthew 23, He had called them frauds or hypocrites seven times. The word in Greek means pretender or actor. 

Jesus tells the pretenders that they live a life that is all spit-and-polish veneer. He warns the crowd not to follow them. “Be careful about following them. They talk a good line, but they don't live it. They don't take it into their hearts and live it out in their behavior. It's all spit-and-polish veneer.” Matthew 23:3

What words are here for me today?

I know myself to be a pretender at times. Yet, also, deep inside, I long to follow Jesus and to worship Him in spirit and truth. Can both things be true? Absolutely.

The convergence of soul comes when I recognize the Pharisee in myself and let Jesus pick me up and put me under His Wing. In one sweeping act of shalom, I am content. If Jesus longs to put the Pharisee in me under His wing, I am a willing chick. I want to rest there and let all the parts of me know Him. The Pretender. The Pharisee. The Daughter. The Truth-teller. The Weak. The Chick.

If you puff yourself up, you'll get the wind knocked out of you. But if you're content to simply be yourself, your life will count for plenty. Matthew 23:12