Psalm 27
Luke 13:31-35
“If My Parents Forsake Me”
Like a child rests in its mother’s arms, so will I rest in you.
Like a child rests in its mother’s arms, so will I rest in you.
I wonder if, like me, you still have memories of the care and comfort that were provided for you when you were a small child, perhaps many years ago. I wonder if you remember sitting on the lap of your mum or dad, auntie or grandparent, or another trusted adult, where you felt safe, and loved, and surrounded with care.
I don’t personally remember specific instances, but I do remember the feeling. I remember our whole family snuggled together under a blanket on the couch, reading stories out loud to each other. I remember that if I woke up in the night and felt scared, I would hop out of bed, go down the hall, and wiggle into my parents’ bed with them – in the monster-free zone, I guess. And I remember what that felt like – warm, peaceful, and most of all, safe.
Like a child rests in its mother’s arms, so will I rest in you.
Like a child rests in its mother’s arms, so will I rest in you.
I am deeply aware, as I share those childhood memories, that many children don’t have the privilege of that kind of experience. Many grow up in circumstances of poverty or danger that make it almost impossible for their parents to provide an assurance of protection and safety. You might think of children today in Gaza, Ukraine, and many other places of conflict and violence. But here in our own country too, some have had the experience of being taken from loving parents and communities because of policies of colonization and assimilation.
Still other children are born into circumstances in which their parents are unable to provide them with the care they need. Often intergenerational impacts of trauma, neglect, addictions, and other serious issues lead to families in which children must fend for themselves, older ones becoming caregivers for the younger, with a feeling of safety being only a dream.
Like a child rests in its mother’s arms, so will I rest in you.
Like a child rests in its mother’s arms, so will I rest in you.
I don’t know exactly what kind of danger, trouble, or hardship King David was dealing with when he wrote today’s psalm of trust in the Lord. But is clear that his circumstances are difficult and uncertain. David writes about evildoers assailing him to devour his flesh. There is an army encamping against him, his enemies are all around, and war is immanent.
In such a context, we might expect a king to try to remain hopeful by focusing on their obvious sources of strength and power. He might tell himself that his army is strong and power too, and he can place his trust in their training, their weaponry, and their cunning strategies on the battlefield. After all, David has been victorious in battle before, so he might try to take courage just by reminding himself of that fact.
But whether David’s army is ill-equipped at this particular time, this situation is worse than anything they’ve faced before, or David is just feeling a high level of anxiety about everything that is going on, he decides that the only one who can really help in this circumstance is God.
Like a child with a faithful, loving, protective parent, David wants to snuggle into that warm, safe space with the One whose love for him is greater than any other. “One thing I asked of the Lord,” David writes, “to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple. For God will hide me in a shelter in the day of trouble; God will conceal me under the cover of a tent; God will set me high on a rock.”
Like a child rests in its mother’s arms, so will I rest in you.
Like a child rests in its mother’s arms, so will I rest in you.
I expect that like so many of us, David must have associated the role of a parent as one who is charged to care for and protect their children. Though societies change over time and in different places regarding specific expectations of mothers, fathers, grandparents, extended families, communities, and the wider society for the protection, nurture, and education of children, there is definitely something ingrained in parents (perhaps especially in mothers) that drives them towards that call and responsibility.
But in the psalm, David says, “If my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will take me up.” No matter how fierce and determined is the love of parents for their children, the Scriptures assure us that God loves us even more. Jesus’ love for us is greater still. And not only for us, for those who gather this morning for Christian worship and service, but for every single child of God throughout time and space, across countries, cultures, religions, and circumstances.
Like a child rests in its mother’s arms, so will I rest in you.
Like a child rests in its mother’s arms, so will I rest in you.
In the Gospel story this morning, we catch a glimpse of how Jesus trusted in God’s protective care as he experienced threats, danger, and uncertainty. As he went about his ministry, he experienced plenty of opposition from the religious establishment, but on this particular day he receives a very specific threat. Some of the Pharisees come to Jesus and warn him to “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.”
I’m not entirely sure whether these Pharisees are rare friendly ones who are trying to make sure that Jesus doesn’t get murdered by the powers-that-be, or whether they’re friends of Herod who are just trying to threaten Jesus, causing fear and anxiety aimed at deterring him from his mission.
But we quickly see that Jesus cannot easily be deterred. He replies to the Pharisees, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way.”
You may notice that Jesus is not going to have his mission undermined by King Herod’s threats. He’s not going to back down (even if he didn’t specifically use the phrase “elbows up!”). But he is going to continue embodying God’s love in the world through welcoming, serving, and healing people. And he hints at what the future holds for him as well – that even though he will eventually be killed by the powers of this world, on the third day he will be raised, and he will finish his work of reconciling us all to God.
As the passage continues, Jesus laments the reality that the religious establishment and the powers-that-be are determined to reject and kill the prophets that God sends to them. He places his own ministry within a long line of faithful people who have spoken God’s words of both judgement and grace, calling the people back to God’s ways of justice, love, and care for one another.
And that’s when Jesus describes himself as hen. We’ve already heard him describe Herod as a fox, and now Jesus is a hen – threatened and endangered by that dangerous fox. And yet, Jesus is not scared. The fox may be out to get him, but like a mother hen, Jesus’ first concern is to gather her brood under her wings.
Like a child rests in its mother’s arms, so will I rest in you.
Like a child rests in its mother’s arms, so will I rest in you.
As I mentioned before, the brood that Jesus wants to gather includes us all. It includes those who are looking for that place of safety and care, as well as those who think they have the power and strength of foxes – those who are definitely not willing to snuggle together in the community of God’s loving embrace for all.
We’re in a time in history now when more and more places of safety and loving community are being undermined every day. Many of us were shocked, if perhaps not surprised, that commonly held practices of “sanctuary” in which people could not be arrested or deported while taking shelter within a church, have been removed in the United States. And at the same time, hard-won freedoms and protections for 2SLGBTQI people, and Trans-people in particular, are being reversed.
I have to say that when I read David’s words in Psalm 27, in which he said, “If my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will take me up,” I did think of the tragic rejection and expulsion of so many 2SLGBTQI individuals by their parents and families who do not understand them. And I did hear the assurance that I believe applies to every child of God, that our God will never, ever forsake them.
Whatever your circumstances, your worries, your fears, or your uncertainties in these days, Jesus is inviting you to trust in him because he loves you more than even the most loving mother or father. Jesus wants to gather you, protect you, and nurture you for life.
And because we who gather here for worship, service, and Christian community are the church – the Body of Christ – we must be as committed to our mission as Jesus was to his. Despite the threats that may be levelled, and the foxes who may try to stir up fear and anxiety among us, we must continue on our way. We must continue on the Way that Jesus walked before us, keeping at our work of serving, sharing, healing, and helping. And trusting that, on the third day, with the courage of Jesus and the power of God, we will finish our work.
Like a child rests in its mother’s arms, so will I rest in you.
Like a child rests in its mother’s arms, so will I rest in you.