“….How often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.”
Matthew 23:37 (NIV)
When I first read these words of Jesus, only part of it made any sense to me, mainly because I know nothing about chicks and mother hens. I thought it referred to chicks who resist their mother’s attempt to pick them up and regather them to their brood. It wasn’t until I read about the bonding behaviors between mother hens and chicks, that I learned how they gather in a different way from others in nature.
I always thought of chickens as unintelligent, barnyard birds, until I learned how a mother hen and her chicks have bonds that seem to rival some mammals. A mother hen has a variety of clucks which send messages to her chicks. The chicks know their mother’s vocal sounds, and the mother knows her chicks by their vocal sounds and scents.
The mother hen teaches her chicks through a variety of clucks. There are “soothing, comforting” clucks, “warning of danger” clucks, “come back home” clucks, “eat some good food” clucks, and many others. Each cluck sound has a different vocalization, with its own meaning, and the chicks learn them all within the first few days after being hatched.
Evidence has proven that full grown mature chickens still recognize their mother’s clucks and personalized vocalizations. I found it interesting that Jesus compared Himself to a mother hen, out of all the parents in the animal kingdom, and wondered what He was implying.
Jesus desires to gather His people like a mother hen gathers her chicks. Mother hens don’t gather chicks by force, coercion, or dragging them back when they wander off, as some species do. Chicks are allowed to roam freely, until their mother makes a particular cluck sound which signals them to respond and gather themselves home.
“Gathering chicks” in the chicken world, happens by chicks responding to their mother’s personalized clucks. She calls and the chicks hear, and then gather themselves to her. They return to their mom and find cozy, secure rest under her broad wingspan. That’s the kind of gathering of chicks that Jesus was referring to.
He knew that since chicks roam freely, and may wander too far from their mother, they could risk facing danger. The chicks who wander too far may panic and try to save themselves, but the mother’s vocal cluck signals her chick to come back to her, and find safety under her wingspan.
Maybe Jesus was saying that we are like chicks, who respond to His voice. He also reminds us that we have free will and He will never force or coerce us to follow Him. When we become stressed and distracted, we may try to save ourselves at times, like those wandering chicks, but Jesus calls us to come back to Him, to give us His rest. He patiently waits for us with open arms, just as the mother hen waits with open wingspan to cover her chicks.
The mother hen is an interesting creature in the animal kingdom, and Jesus knew it. The heart of Jesus is like a mother hen, that beats with love, courage and a readiness to sacrifice, yet giving us our free will to discover our own potential. When we wander too far in a wrong direction, His voice speaks to our spirit and soul, leading us back into His arms.
God created hens and chicks to be gathered using distinct cluck sounds, and Jesus calls each of us in a similar yet distinct way. He brings us closer to Him, by communicating to our spirit with gentle persuasions of love, instead of force.
Lord, thank you for the loving way you call us and speak to our soul and spirit. May we always hear your voice and be drawn ever closer to you. Amen
