Courage and Humility!

Thursday, October 29, 2026

Eph 6: 10-20; Lk 13: 31-35

Today’s Gospel highlights the two sides of Jesus’ personality. 

Firstly, when some Pharisees warn Jesus that he must leave the region, he is unflinching in his approach to talking back to power. Some scholars interpret the Pharisees’ warning as a manipulative trick to frighten Jesus into leaving Herod’s territory. However, that does not scare Jesus. Moreover, when Jesus said, referring to Herod, ‘Go and tell that fox,’ his opponents could only find the courage of a prophet who refused to be intimidated. Though Jesus knew that he would be persecuted and put to death in Jerusalem, he set his face toward it and moved ever closer. In his attitude and behavior, Jesus exemplifies Christian courage. It is not the absence of fear as we might often conclude. It is a fear that prays while remaining steadfast to fulfill God’s will. 

Secondly, those who witnessed Jesus’ fearlessness come to understand the tenderness of his loving heart. In other words, the second part of the Gospel shows that Jesus becomes vulnerable in love. The same Jesus who confronted Herod and called the ruler of the land ‘fox’ now weeps in pain over the unrepentant Jerusalem. The people of the holy city are notorious for rejecting and killing God’s messengers, so that Jesus even exclaims, ‘It is impossible that a prophet should die outside of Jerusalem.’ In his lament, Jesus employs the imagery of a hen gathering her brood under her wings. Coincidentally, the mother hen exemplifies the two dimensions we find in Jesus. The mother hen gathers her brood under her wings to protect them, and she turns violent when predators attack. However, the people of Jerusalem reject Jesus, who reveals the tender heart of God. 

In sum, Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem reveals the heart of a God who is madly in love with His people. Here, we are called to remember that Jesus wept over Jerusalem because he never stopped loving it. That is the holiness of God’s love for His people.

Let us pray that we may grow like Jesus, reflecting genuine strength and genuine love. 

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar