We have the expression of someone “watching over us like a mother hen.” There were tears in Jesus’ eyes as he looked down upon Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives and poured out this lament: “How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing” (Matthew 23:37).
The divine nature, I believe, transcends gender and is a perfect blending of the male and the female. Throughout the history of the church, unfortunately, there has been an overemphasis on the former and a serious de-emphasis upon the later. This has resulted, in my view, in the evolution of a religious institution which, all too often, is focused upon the controlling power of dominance. In Jesus we see a more perfect blending which often brings out the nurturing side of the Almighty.
In a parable Jesus points to a happy Hebrew homemaker as a metaphor for the kingdom. “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened” (Matthew 13:33). The transforming power of God often works internally and invisibly, until all of society is lifted by its quiet and consistent influence.
The Apostle Paul who, in some circles, is regarded as the original male chauvinist writes: “There is no longer Jew or Greek … slave or free … male or female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). Under the shadow of such wings all are infolded in the warmth of divine grace. Even those whom some would regard as a different breed, who don’t belong to the heavenly kingdom, are welcomed to a warm and comfortable place of rest.
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