Sarah giving Hagar to Abraham

Slavery was common…..accepted in both the old and the new testament. Many, if not most of the patriarchs owned slaves. Many leaders of the early Christian faith owned slaves. Paul’s letter to Philemon is a plea to Philemon to show mercy to his slave Onesimus. Some slaves were field hands, some were household servants, and some were sexual slaves. Abraham, the patriarch of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity had a slave named Hagar……she was a household servant……but she was also a sexual slave. Hagar wasn’t found, she didn’t volunteer……she was sold to Abraham’s family……by a human trafficker. She was owned……and when she was no longer useful…….she was discarded. If you had asked Abraham why he owned slaves, why he didn’t free his slaves, you would hear a long list of justifications. The most common would have been, “I can’t afford to free my slaves”. What this really means is that Abraham’s standard of living would deteriorate if he didn’t have his slaves.

Let me be clear……..slavery is evil. Slavery violates rule number 2: “love your neighbor”. Abraham was wrong…..and his justification was and is a sham.

So where am I going with this?

I am a Christian by faith and a conservative in my politics. Christian conservatives generally defend the idea of a wall……the idea of limiting immigration……the idea of keeping the millions of refugees in Mexico.

I want to examine our motivation, as Christians, for supporting “the wall”. If you want to keep the cartels and the drugs out, I am sympathetic. But; the most common reason that I hear is “we can’t afford it”. No wall means millions of poor people, many of them families, inundating our social services. They need food, shelter, medical care, and jobs. They will need this for decades and neither the Democrats nor the Republicans have a clue how we will pay for it.

The simple truth is that we can’t afford to take care of these people. Letting them in will increase the federal deficit which will inevitably lead to higher taxes and lower spending on existing entitlements……like social security, medicare, and medicaid.

An open southern border will cause a deterioration in the standard of living for Americans for decades. This is a reality.

And yet……..”Love your neighbor” demands that we be hospitable to refugees…….to soujourners.

“We can’t afford it” is the same cop out that Abraham would have used. For me to sit down at Jersey Mike’s and eat a $15 sub while saying that I can’t afford to help a hungry, homeless family from Honduras waiting at the border…….is dishonest.

To enjoy one of the highest standards of living in the world……..and say that we can’t afford to help the people piling up on our southern border is disingenuous.

Yes, accepting millions of refugees into the country will lower my standard of living.

But, letting them into America and caring for them is the right thing to do.

What iced this for me is an epiphany that I had a year ago.

If Jesus was standing on the southern border today…….would he be building a wall…….or passing out bottled water?

You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

Leviticus, 19:34, ESV

Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.

Jeremiah, 22:3, ESV

For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,

Matthew, 25:35, ESV

I spend some time each morning with the Bible. Needless to say, it is a big and complicated book. Sometimes it seems to be going in two directions at the same time. Recently I have come to understand the different parts of the Bible better by looking not only at what they say but why they say it. I spend some time considering what God was accomplishing.

It’s like peeling off the layers of an onion. Each layer of the Bible has a different purpose. Taken together, they are a cohesive whole with a profound message.

The first layer is the old testament. This begins with a history that begins with broad strokes and becomes more specific as it goes along. It transitions to a series of prophets who tell us what is coming…….what to expect. The old testament is foundational. It establishes basic rules. It sets the groundwork for a revolutionary change in how God runs the world.

The next deeper layer is the Gospels, and the letters of the new testament. These are supporting documents that establish the character of Jesus. They support his divinity. They tell us who Jesus is.

The final, and deepest layer is the teachings of Jesus……the “words in red”. This is the very heart of the Bible. The words of Jesus……his teaching……tell us why he is here. They tell us why we are here. And they tell us where we are going. The teaching of Jesus show us our destiny. As such the teachings of Jesus are the most important ideas in human literature.

So……..every human being needs to read these teachings. Even if you think that the Bible is nothing but a collection of outdated myths……..you need to read the words of Jesus. It only takes a few hours.

The words…..the teachings……of Jesus are the bedrock of Christianity. Your decision to accept or reject Christianity must be based on these words. Don’t get hung up on details from the old testament or some controversy in the gospels or the letters.

Judge Christianity based on what the man said……himself.

If, at the end, you accept his teaching…….say a prayer of thanks and begin preparing for your eternity……in paradise……with Jesus.

If, at the end, you reject his teaching…….if you conclude that Jesus was a madman (because that is the only other conclusion)……..I ask you to consider this.

What was it that Jesus said that offended you?

What did he tell you to do that was a bad thing?

What did he prohibit that was a good thing?

Not much. The teaching of Jesus is sound. It is a great blueprint to build your life on.

So, we come to the final question.

If the teaching of Jesus is sound……..and there is no doubt that it is………why do you reject it?

The answer to that question will be the explanation for the popularity of secular humanism. It will define for you the logic behind most of the choices that you will make today.

“you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Jesus….Mark 12:30-31, ESV

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Jesus……Mathew 11:28-30, ESV

There is an old saying: “if you tell the truth….. you don’t have to remember anything”.

This works……because the truth doesn’t change. Situations can change. Fashions can change. But, the real truths endure. If an idea that you once believed is no longer so (human slavery is OK)…….then it wasn’t the truth in the first place.

The truth has permanence. And this goes against the grain of our modern culture. Today, the ideas that we accept as the truth change. They change with the situation. They change with the people around you. They change with our appetites. We manipulate ideas……and we call them truths…. to get what we want.

An unborn child is not a human being.

If you were born a man……you can be a woman.

Walking out of a store with $800 in merchandise is not stealing.

Climate change is not real.

These are ideas that were absurdities when I was young. And yet today they are widely accepted as true…….they are even codified into law.

I can safely say that as a culture we have entered the “post truth era”. Truth has become malleable. We have become comfortable with amending the truth to satisfy our short-term needs. And the more that we accept ideas that are not true, the easier it is to accept the next untruth…….to use it as though it were true……in order to get what we want. And when that idea no longe serves us, we discard it and replace it with another idea…….a new truth. The greatest abominations of human history have come about as the result of people accepting as truth an idea that was false.

There is another way.

Instead of believing and acting on the current “truth du jour”………running our lives based on what our favorite “talking head” tells us to believe……today, we can follow a set of truths that have not changed for over 2000 years.

The teachings of Jesus are such a set of truths:

Love God

Love your neighbor

Bless those who attack you

Care for the dispossessed…….the soujourner

Most of the people around you will not be doing this. They may even find your behaviour confusing. But each day, you will touch someone. And, maybe, by some small act of kindness, you may change the trajectory of their life.

Such is the power of the truth.

“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”

Mark Twain

“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Jesus…..John 8:31-32, ESV

“For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”

Jesus……John 18:37, ESV

I used to keep a fish tank. It required some work but I really enjoyed my fish.Imagine that you had a big complicated saltwater fish tank. You designed it to be a perfectly balanced ecosystem: live plants to make oxygen, snails and catfish to clean out algae, and a mix of beautiful, compatible exotic fish. And you enjoyed your fish. You cared for them, worried about them, even loved them.

But, over time, things got out of balance. Unwanted species of algae, parasites, and bacteria moved in. You woke up one morning and your aquarium was an algae choked, fetid mess. You couldn’t see your fish for the scum. In fact they were struggling to stay alive. They had even begun to eat one another.

At this point you have two options:

Flush the fish down the toilet, dump the aquarium in the backyard, and take up stamp collecting.

Stick your hand down into the fetid, septic mess and clean the aquarium.

Option 1 is certainly the easy choice.

Option 2 is no fun. It even involves some personal risk. I know a guy who got a horrible infection cleaning his aquarium……almost lost a hand.

But, he saved his fish.

This is much like the quandary that confronted God toward the end of the old testament. Flush his creation, including us, down the toilet or clean up the mess…….at a significant personal cost.

God chose to clean up the mess…….our mess.

He stuck his hand into the fish tank. This is clearly not the face of God that dominates the old testament. This is not the God that Dawkins describes in “The God Delusion”:

“The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.”

I have often marvelled that Dawkins would unleash such a stream of invective at an entity that he doesn’t even believe exists…….a discussion, perhaps, for another day.

Jesus, in the New Testament. is a completely different face of God……but, make no mistake, he is the same God.

So, why the big change…….what was God’s motivation?

Justice

Persistence

Mercy

Love

Obviously, not Justice. Possibly persistence At least in part mercy.

But, behind that mercy, the driving force was, is, and always will be love. Love is the motivating force behind every act of God, from creation, to incarnation, to ministry, to resurrection, to pentecost, to paradise, and yes…….to hell. Jesus is that face of God incarnate.

Jesus is the love of God incarnate.

God’s love is a parental love. This is the central feature of God’s character. He wants…….demands…..relationship with us so that we can participate in his love. If we reject that relationship……..we reject his love.

And that is a good working definition………of hell.

In the story of Lazarus and the rich man, as told by Jesus, Abraham talks to a soul who is burning in hell. The tenor of the conversation is a sadness for the suffering of the soul in the flames.

I believe that God wakes up every day hoping that we will do better.

That hope…..is the reason why God hasn’t dumped the aquarium.

I believe that God is sad for the souls in hell…….sad that souls whom he loves are suffering. I don’t believe that God enjoys the reality of hell.

And the love behind that sadness is what drove God to stick his hand into a fetid aquarium two centuries ago.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.John 3:16, ESV

For my entire life I have been told how the human race has evolved from primitive protozoans. This idea is the theory of Darwinian Evolution. It is so commonly accepted……and taught as fact….. that we rarely take a critical look at it. Today, I want to challenge you to do just that. First, some definitions:

Genotype: the DNA that dictates the construction of your individual body and all of its functions. This is the human genome.

Phenotype: the collection of traits manifested by the expression of your genotype. This is you.

Darwinian Evolution: a theory describing the accumulation of traits as a result of random mutations in our DNA which produce traits that spread through the population and displace less adaptive traits.

Some of this is true. Random mutations do occur. They are passed on to subsequent generations. These mutations result in new traits. They result in modifications to both the genotype and phenotype of subsequent generations.

Some of this is partially true. And that is where I want to go today. Particularly, I want to explore the spread of new traits through a population.

Imagine two women. Both are struck by cosmic radiation which causes a mutation in the DNA of an egg cell.

The first mother gives birth to a baby who lacks a critical enzyme. The baby cannot metabolize food. This baby dies in a few days. The mutation and its subsequent change to the baby’s genotype and phenotype are quickly eliminated from the population. Darwinian evolution has worked. It has improved the population by eliminating a “bad” change to the human genome. This true……. this is Darwin’s theory at work.

The second mother gives birth to a baby who can see and hear through walls. This is a highly adaptive trait that gives the child and later the adult a profound competitive advantage. The mutation has produced an earthshaking improvement to the genotype and phenotype of the baby. And it will be passed to the next generation…….and so on. So far, so good…..for Darwin.

The problem is the spread of this trait through a world population of 8 billion souls. How many generations will it take for every human on the planet to be able to see and hear through walls? Perhaps tens of thousands of generations. How long will it take for the trait to reach an isolated tribe of cannibals in Africa? And this process has to happen over and over. Each change to the phenotype must be additive. Each and every new trait must work its way through the entire planet before the next trait begins its journey. And there are hundreds of billions of atoms in the genome resulting in millions of traits. Each of those traits must spread though the entire human race.

The propagation of such a highly adaptive trait throughout the entire world population has never been documented in human history……not once. And, even if it had, there just hasn’t been enough time to repeat that process millions of times.

And yet we accept Darwin. We teach Darwin to our Children. And worse, we laugh at those who look for a different explanation.

Darwinian evolution, as an explanation for the elimination of maladaptive changes to the human genome is demonstrably true. It happens every day.

Darwinian evolution, as an explanation for the conversion of pond scum to Angelina Jolie is statistically impossible. It has never been demonstrated in a human population in the history of man.

Darwinian evolution is a one way street. You need to begin looking for a better explanation for Angelina Jolie…….try intelligent design.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis, 1:1, ESV

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Genesis, 1:26,ESV

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

John, talking about Jesus and creation. John, 1:1-3, ESV

Every now and then, someone tells me something that is way out there……unbelievable. And I say to myself, “you must be kidding”. Sometimes I even say it to their face, though usually, out of courtesy, I just smile. Today, I want to talk about one of those things. This is something that 9 out of 10 people accept as a fact…..but that, in my opinion, is utterly absurd.

When I was young, somebody was explaining large numbers to me……it was an unusual conversation for a redneck kid growing up in western Kentucky, to say the least. They said, “if you give enough monkeys enough typwriters and enough time and enough paper, they will type the “Encyclopedia Brittanica”.” For those of you who grew up with cell phones, you can google typewriter and encyclopedia.

So……I looked it up……..on Google. The Encyclopedia Brittanica has about 1/3 of a billion characters. We’ll forget about the graphics for now. And it’s true. Given enough time and monkeys, the Encyclopedia Brittanica could be generated by a cumulative series of random keystrokes……theoretically speaking, of course. And yet, if I showed you a set of the Encyclopedia Brittanica and told you that it was typed by monkeys, you would think I was nuts. You certainly wouldn’t believe me. Because you and I both understand the difference between what is theoretically possible and what is practically achievable. We understand the difference between an abstract theory and a hard fact. The monkeys and the typwriters is an entertaining intellectual exercise……..a fun theoretical discussion, but it would be unwise to run your life based on that type of analysis. It would be unwise to wager your future on such a theory.

And then…….there is the human genome……not to mention the trillions of other genomes out there. The human genome is basically a chemical alphabet……a chemical language that contains the instructions for the construction, operation, and maintenance of the human body. It contains roughly 200 billion atoms…..200 billion characters. The human genome is roughly 600 times larger than the Encyclopedia Brittanica.

I reject the concept that monkeys could type the “Encyclopedia Brittanica” on the grounds that the theory behind it is not practically scalable. The problem with evolution of the human genome is the same. It is not practically scalable. There just hasn’t been enough time.

The great minds of our culture tell us that the human genome accumulated by a series of cumulative, positively adaptive, random biochemical accidents. They tell us that there is no creative intelligence behind it. They call this theory evolution. It is the intellectual equivalent of saying “the monkeys did it”.

The truth is that Darwinian evolution is a theory……not a fact.

But, most of us buy it. Some even ridicule those of us who reject it.

And I say, “you must be kidding! There just aren’t enough monkeys.”

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Genesis, 1:27, ESV

Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

Genesis, 2:7, ESV

“There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.”

Charles Darwin

I’ve heard it said that the most valuable things in life cannot be seen, touched, held, or possessed. I am convinced that this is true. It is also true that we spend most of our energy and resources chasing things that are far less valuable. We get distracted by the shiny trinket and fail to see the treasure sitting beside it.

When I look at a list of the greatest valuables in the cosmos and then look at the truly bad things going on in our society, or in our world for that matter, I can see a connection. All of the bad in our world…….all of the evil……is a direct result of our failure to pursue the truly valuable treasures that are right in front of us.

So…….what is truly valuable?

God……father, son and spirit……creator, redeemer, and teacher.

Our soul…….the only part of us that is permanent.

Eternity……..paradise and hell……where we will spend all but a brief moment of our existence.

Love……..the motivating force behind all of it.

We discount, we ignore, these things because we cannot see them. So…….I have an exercise for you. Write down the one thing, relationship, idea that you would miss the most…….if it were gone…….forever. Then search your world and find something more precious to you. Keep repeating this until you find the most precious thing in your world. You will find that it is likely something that is not physical…….it is not something that you can see.

If your most precious thing is a physical object, then I challenge you to abandon the shallow water and dive deeper. Because the best things in life are not physical objects………even better…….they are free.

If your most precious thing is a Maclaren roadster that you can probably never afford, then you shouldn’t be surprised if your life seems shallow…….meaningless. To find meaning, to find joy, to find fulfillment……..pursue a loving relationship……..first with God, the inventor of love……then with someone in your world……..then with everyone else.

Because that is what your soul was created for……..any other pursuit………is a waste of your time.

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

Jesus, Matthew 13: 44-46, ESV

An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels.

Proverbs 31:10, ESV

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Jesus, Matthew 6:19,-21, ESV

For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?

Jesus, Matthew 16:26, ESV

Let’s face it……..there are really rotten people out there. And there are many more who are sometimes unkind.

Fact is…….there are a lot of them.

You will meet and interact with one of them today…….tomorrow at the latest.

Consider the last person who treated you badly:

He cut you off in traffic……..then gave you the finger.

She said things about you that weren’t true…..behind your back.

He took credit for something special that you did at work.

She excluded you from a social event that everyone else attended.

I didn’t return your call.

You passed judgement on something that someone else did……or didn’t do………when you didn’t have all of the facts……because you never have all of the facts.

Like it or not……..this is the human condition.

Someone treats us badly……and we get mad. Sometimes we retaliate, sometimes we just stew over it.

One of the best movies that I have ever watched is “The Shack”. I highly recommend it. If you haven’t seen it, it is about an encounter between a man who has been greviously wronged…….and the Trinity. God is played by an older black woman. Whenever a human is mentioned she says, “I’m especially fond of him/her.” And that is one of the major subplots of the film.

We are all flawed…..broken. We all carry a kernel of evil around with us…….all day………every day. Obviously, some of us are 95% evil, some are 0.0001% evil. From the perspective of a God who is completely free of evil…….the difference is inconsequential.

And yet…….God loves us…….every last one of us.

God is especially fond……..of me.

And I really like that.

What I struggle with is the fact that God loves the jerk too. God loves the jerk just as much as he loves me.

God loves jerks just as much as he loves nice poeple.

So, the next time someone mistreats you…..when you are getting ready to give them the treatment that they so desperately deserve……..remember that this rotten person is someone whom God is ” especially fond of”.

When you attack them…….you are attacking God.

I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

Jesus, Mathew 5:44-45, ESV

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”

Paul, Romans 12:19, ESV

We hear it all of the time. The Bible describes one of the key differences between the New Testament and the Old Testament as the place where God lives. In the Old Testament, God lived in the temple. In the New Testament, he lives in our hearts. Our hearts are God’s home.

Do you ever wonder……..what kind of home the heart of man is……..what kind of a home your heart is? Ideally, our hearts would be places where God is valued and loved………where he is a central actor in everything that goes on.

My meditation today is on comparing your family home with the home you are providing………for God.

First, consider what a good home looks like……..the kind of home you try to build for your family. Every member of the family is loved and valued. Just about every activity revolves about caring for the members of the family…….physically, mentally, and emotionally. We take steps to protect our family from threats that, hopefully, exist only outside. We teach our kids the skills that they will need to thrive in the world. And, yes, we discipline them when they go astray. So far so good.

Now, how does God fit into our home? What kind of a place do we find for him……….in our family?

For example:

He is a member of the family…….included in the plans and decision-making. He is included in the family conversation. We know where he is……all of the time. If we turn around and can’t find him…….we panic. We give a lot of thought to meeting his needs and wants. We work to stengthen our relationship………to make it last……as long as we have breath in us. His happiness and success are among our top goals. We cannot be fully happy if he is not happy. We spend our resources to promote his well being…….we feed him before we feed ourselves. In a word……..we put his needs ahead of our own…….we serve him.

Or

We visit him on the weekend. Maybe we have his picture on the wall. When we are in trouble we seek his help……give him a “to-do” list. We honor his advice…….as long as he agrees with us…….or, even worse, as long as he agrees with our favorite politician. If he tells us that what we are doing is wrong…….we tell him to sit down and shut up. God is to be seen…….not heard. When it comes to our resources………he gets the left overs. When it comes to our love……..he gets the left overs. In a word……..he serves us.

I think that all of us drift into the second category from time to time. But, some Christians live there every day. If they treated the rest of their family……..the way they treat God, they would be candidates for a visit from a child welfare worker.

So…….what does your family……..your home…..look like……to God?

Is it possible that you are guilty………of God abuse?

Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ

Paul, Ephesians 3:17-19, ESV

It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Paul. Galatians 2:20, ESV

the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John. 1:14, ESV

We love them. We want them to be sucessful……and happy. It doesn’t matter if they are 6……or 60. And it breaks our hearts when they mess up……..when they do something that we know is self destructive. And they do it………over and over.

I used to tell my sons that I could predict the future…….that if they were late getting home on Friday night……..that they wouldn’t be going out on Saturday night. This was usually not well received.

The rules and restrictions that Cindy and I placed on our boys were set up primarily for their protection…….were set up primarily to lead them to success…….were set up to prevent them from doing something self destructive. The rules grew out of our love.

As our sons grew into manhood, they became more and more independent……..and our rules and restrictions gradually morphed into advice. But, the motivation behind them remained the same……..we still want them to be sucessful and happy…….and to avoid self destructive behaviour. The other thing that hasn’t changed……..is that much of this advice is ignored.

We see our adult children doing something. We look down the road and can see the inevitable bad outcome. We offer advice…..and often the advice is ignored…..or outright rejected. And this breaks our heart…….because, like it or not, we can still predict the future. Pretty obvious……..this is one of the inescapable realities of parenting.

Here’s the thing………God is my parent…….my creator. He gives me advice because he wants me to be successful and happy…….because he wants to spare me from a bad outcome. God’s advice…….God’s rules grow out of his love for us. And…….from time to time……….I ignore……..I reject his advice. And I break God’s heart……..because he too…..can see the future.

And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace!

Jesus, Luke 19:41, ESV

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!

Jesus, Mathew 23:37, ESV