The Fox and the Eagle

Aesop's Fables are a collection of short, allegorical stories, often featuring animals, that teach moral lessons. You know who loved Aesop’s fables, and even translated them so more people could read them? Martin Luther.

Transcript

Aesop's Fables are a collection of short, allegorical stories, often featuring animals, that teach moral lessons. Aesop was a Greek storyteller who lived around the time of the Jewish Exile in the 6th century before Jesus. 

You know who loved Aesop’s fables, and even translated them so more people could read them? Martin Luther himself. He one wrote:

“It is a result of God’s providence that the writings of Cato and Aesop have remained in the schools, for both are significant books… Aesop contains the most delightful stories and descriptions. Moral teachings, if offered to young people, will contribute much to their edification. In short, next to the Bible, the writings of Cato and Aesop are in my opinion the best…”

The Fox

One of the animals that features prominently in the fables is the Fox. There is a fable about the Fox and the Crow. A fox uses flattery to trick a crow into dropping a piece of cheese, highlighting the dangers of believing in empty compliments. There is the fable of the fox and the goat. A fox trapped in a well tricks a goat into joining him, showcasing the dangers of blindly trusting someone, with the moral "Look before you leap.”

What are the foxes like in these fables? The fox is cunning. The fox is a trickster. And above all, the fox is sneaky. Who can know the real intentions of the FOX? 

At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.”  And he said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course.  

Herod has plans within plans within plans. The Pharisees, for good or ill, warn Jesus of the outcome of those plans. Jesus sees through them all. He knows he will die. But not today. He knows he will die at the hands of governing authorities. But not Herod’s. At Pilate’s. Foxy Herod is a vile trickster. But Jesus will not play his games.

The Eagle

There is another animal that shows up in Aesop’s fables, and that is the Eagle. Although the personality of each eagle is different, their physical characteristics are not. They are the lions of the sky, strong, proud, violent when needs be. 

The Eagle and the Crow

An Eagle, swooping down on powerful wings, seized a lamb in her talons and made off with it to her nest. A Crow saw the deed, and thought he was big and strong enough to do as the Eagle had done. He came down swiftly on the back of a large Ram. But when he tried to rise again he found that he could not get away, for his claws were tangled in the wool. 

The Shepherd saw the fluttering Jackdaw and at once guessed what had happened. Running up, he caught the bird and clipped its wings. That evening he gave the Jackdaw to his children. "What a funny bird this is!" they said laughing, "what do you call it, father?" "It’s Crow, children. But if you should ask him, he would say he is an Eagle."

Jesus knows that his death will come in Jerusalem. Even the so-called righteous children of God hated the Lord’s voice. They hated Jeremiah. Isaiah was sawn in two by the king. Micah was killed by the King of Judah. Zechariah (not the prophet) was stoned in the temple courtyard.

But Jesus is no fox. Instead, he compares himself to (in our translation) a hen. When you and I hear hen, we tend to think chicken. But a hen is any female bird. Given the psalm we sung last week, and how often the Lord talks about eagles, it seems more likely that’s what Jesus is comparing himself to.

“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty…He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge.” (Psalm 91:1–13, ESV)

The Contrast

This is not just a zoological contrast between Herod and Jesus. It is a contrast between the ways of the world and the work of the Lord.

We tend towards sneakiness. Underhandedness. The white lie. We want to take our enemies down, but “real quiet like.” We are cautious about saying “the quiet part out loud.” And when we do say it, it can be ugly. Vicious. Meant to cut, not heal. An early Christian writer once spoke of how a murderer uses a knife to kill, but a surgeon uses it to heal. The fox is no surgeon. They use their sneakiness for evil, not for good.

But the Lord is like an eagle. You see it coming. You see it soaring. It has no need of hiding or subterfuge. It is fast and powerful enough to do its work openly. When Jesus is arrested, at night, sneakily, by the foxy guards, he says:

“Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs?  When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.” (Luke 22:51–53, ESV)

Today and tomorrow he performs cures and casts out demons. On Good Friday, he finishes his course.

                “Uplifted for the WORLD to see he hands in strangest victory. 

                For in his body on the tree he carries all our ills.” 

Do not seek after the protection of the fox. You will find none. You may find your eggs stolen, your chickens dead, your cheese stolen. You may even find yourselves tuck in an eternal whole with Satan, the greatest trickster of them all, with no way out.

Seek first the one who is the rule of God: Jesus, who even today longs to gather you together as a mother eagle longs to gather her chicks. She is willing to cover you in her blood and deliver you from every fox. Amen.