Deliver Us from Evil

Rebecca Sheridan
Sunday, March 16, 2025
Luke 13:31-35

    Growing up in Nebraska, we did regular tornado drills at school along with fire drills.  While I’ve never experienced a fire drill put into action because of a real fire (thankfully!), we inevitably have tornado warnings where we have to do what we’ve been practicing because there’s an actual tornado.  I have one particular memory in elementary school of going to the library where there were no windows (there was no basement), sitting in an orderly line kneeling down with our arms over our heads.  That was a scary day, and of course, it seemed like we were in that position for hours.  After the school shooting at Columbine when I was still in high school, we added “active shooter” drills.  We sadly still do them even here at our Nursery School – we call it “quiet time,” and we are required by State law to practice this “shelter in place” every six months with our students.
    How do we protect ourselves from real-life dangers around us?  This morning, I’d like us to focus on the last petition in the Lord’s prayer, “Deliver us from evil.”  What is the evil we need deliverance from today?  If we think back to those school drills, it could be natural disasters like hurricane, tornado, or fire.  Gun violence, terrorism, war (my parents and I’m sure some of you practiced duck and cover drills because of nuclear bomb concerns back in the ‘50s and ‘60s).  We could think of societal evils like racism, poverty, and religious persecution.  Our list of the evils around us that we need protection from could get long pretty quickly. 
In our gospel for today, we hear how those in power like King Herod want to kill Jesus.  Rome as an oppressive and unjust government is picking up on the threat of this Jesus who is confronting evil through his prophetic preaching and teaching, casting out demons, and curing illnesses.  This King Herod is the son of the previous King Herod who also wanted Jesus killed as a baby – the newborn king Jesus flees with Mary and Joseph to Egypt for safety, because Herod cannot tolerate another king in his territory.  In this gospel passage, it appears that the religious authorities want to protect Jesus. However, out of their own fear of Herod and the Roman government, and perhaps desire for Jesus to go away because he’s confronting the corrupt practices of the religious institution of his day, they, too, fail to be prophetic against the evil powers of this world but rather submit and collude with this unjust government against Christ and his way.  It is important to note that throughout the Bible, Old and New Testament, the most powerful and wealthy in the world are generally not in line with God and God’s ways.  Jesus is not afraid to confront these earthly powers.
    And so I ask again, how can we protect ourselves from these real-life evils around us?  Well, the short, scary answer is, we can’t. We have security cameras, locked doors, gated communities, FDIC insured investments, self-defense classes, safety drills, you name it to try to protect ourselves from evil.  But if we think we are OK on our own to resist these evils, without any reliance on Christ and his strength, we will fail.  We cannot save ourselves.  The evil within us and around us sometimes seems so great it is overwhelming.  And so Jesus’ plea to us is actually quite comforting: “How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing.”
    We are like little defenseless chicks with hungry foxes running around us.  We are exposed in our need.  Jesus longs for us to come under his wings.  Are we willing?  We can take safety precautions, but our ultimate goal as Christians is to serve, love, and trust Christ.  Our greatest confidence and strength is in him.  Jesus calls us to return to him and to trust in his protection and deliverance.  When we think about it this way, why on earth would we run away from Jesus’ saving love and grace?  Jesus begs us to come back to him.
    I admit, when you think about images for Christ, we refer to him as the lion of Judah, the good shepherd, and even the Lamb of God, but “chicken” does not readily come to mind.  “Chicken” has a relatively weak connotation in our understanding, but have you ever been around a mama hen protecting her chicks?  I don’t want to be around her claws and beak, that’s for sure!  A mother hen will defend her chick to the death.  Jesus is speaking these words in Jerusalem to people who want to kill him AND his followers; to the people who want to stop the Jesus movement.  He is preparing himself and his disciples for his journey to the cross which is coming soon.  Like a mother hen, he is willing to fight to the death for his weak and vulnerable chicks.  He will give of his very life and body to save us.  He is going to the cross not just to save people for the moment from one oppressive ruler, but to save all people for all time from ALL evil.  Are we willing to come into the protection of his loving arms?  Because we are certainly not OK, when we look at the state of our country and the state of our world, on our own.
    And so we pray, “Deliver us from evil.”  When we are faced with struggles in our life, and we see no good way out on our own, we pray, “deliver us from evil.”  In the small Catechism, Martin Luther wrote that evil is whatever affects our body, soul, property or reputation.  We face the evil within ourselves – our bad choices, mistakes and sinful tendencies—and the evil outside of us.  Jesus pleads with us to seek protection and deliverance under his wings, in his self-sacrificial love – we recognize that this is his gift to us.    
As Easter is almost one month away, there is another image for Christians related to Jesus our mother hen that may encourage us – the Easter egg!  Whether you are getting into the Easter spirit by coloring real eggs (maybe this year we’ll paint wooden ones due to egg prices!) or filling plastic eggs with goodies for an Easter egg hunt, the Easter egg has been a Christian symbol to celebrate Christ’s resurrection for centuries.  Eggs are not just what the Easter bunny brings.  The egg symbolizes new life and hope for the future.  Under Christ’s wings, we as Christians can “hatch” and mature into people who seek to live like Christ in our community, as Christ’s resurrection people! In Christ, thanks be to God, we have ultimate victory!  No matter how powerful the evil forces seem to be within us and around us, the Easter story tells us that our citizenship is in heaven, and we will be transformed as Christ makes all things subject to himself, as Paul writes.  Jesus confronts earthly powers and tells them his work is not done until all is accomplished on the cross.  He moves forward with selfless love despite the dangers.  Similarly, with Christ’s protection and strength, we can move forward (even if we are still afraid) and seek to serve like Christ, protect those who are more vulnerable in our society – the lonely, refugees, children, the poor – confronting evil with God’s Word and love surrounding us.  May we go out with good courage in the shelter of Christ’s wings.  Amen.