16th  March 2025 , 2nd Sunday of Lent, Yr C

Luke 13:31-35

A hen gathering her brood

13:31At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.”

13:32He said to them, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work.

13:33Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’

13:34Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!

13:35See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

^[31]᾿Εν αὐτῇ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ προσῆλθόν τινες Φαρισαῖοι λέγοντες αὐτῷ· ἔξελθε καὶ πορεύου ἐντεῦθεν, ὅτι ῾Ηρῴδης θέλει σε ἀποκτεῖναι. 

^[32]καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· πορευθέντες εἴπατε τῇ ἀλώπεκι ταύτῃ· ἰδοὺ ἐκβάλλω δαιμόνια καὶ ἰάσεις ἐπιτελῶ σήμερον καὶ αὔριον, καὶ τῇ τρίτῃ τελειοῦμαι· 

^[33]πλὴν δεῖ με σήμερον καὶ αὔριον καὶ τῇ ἐχομένῃ πορεύεσθαι, ὅτι οὐκ ἐνδέχεται προφήτην ἀπολέσθαι ἔξω ῾Ιερουσαλήμ. 

^[34]῾Ιερουσαλὴμ ῾Ιερουσαλήμ, ἡ ἀποκτέννουσα τοὺς προφήτας καὶ λιθοβολοῦσα τοὺς ἀπεσταλμένους πρὸς αὐτήν! ποσάκις ἠθέλησα ἐπισυνάξαι τὰ τέκνα σου ὃν τρόπον ὄρνις τὴν ἑαυτῆς νοσσιὰν ὑπὸ τὰς πτέρυγας, καὶ οὐκ ἠθελήσατε! 

^[35]ἰδοὺ ἀφίεται ὑμῖν ὁ οἶκος ὑμῶν ἔρημος. λέγω δὲ ὑμῖν ὅτι οὐ μή με ἴδητε ἕως ἂν ἥξῃ ὅτε εἴπητε· εὐλογημένος ὁ ἐρχόμενος ἐν ὀνόματι Κυρίου.

Comments

[31] ἀποκτεῖναι: aor. inf. ἀποκτείνω, strengthened, Attic form of κτείνω, ‘slay, kill off’; later ἀποκτέννω, cf. ἀποκτέννουσα, ‘she who kills off’, v. 34 below. The vb here and in v. 34 means more than ‘kill’; it means ‘kill off’.

[32] τῇ ἀλώπεκι ταύτῃ: ἀλώπηξ, gen. ἀλώπεκος, ‘fox’; female in Greek and a proverbial ‘sly person’ already in archaic Greek poetry. The demonst. pron. ταύτῃ, ‘this’, suggests that the fox has a closer relation in space or time to the hearer (the Pharisees) than the speaker (Jesus).

ἐπιτελῶ σήμερον καὶ αὔριον, καὶ τῇ τρίτῃ τελειοῦμαι: ἐπιτελῶ (έω), ‘complete, accomplish’, cl. Gk (LSJ s.v. I.1). τελειοῦμαι (όομαι), here, ‘I reach my goal, reach completeness’ (EDNT s.v. τελειόω, 2). The words share the root τελ-, ‘end’ (temporal), ‘end’ (in the sense ‘purpose, goal’). Both are in the present tense; ἐπιτελῶ… αὔριον (‘I accomplish…tomorrow’) and τῇ τρίτῃ τελειοῦμαι (‘on the third day I reach my goal’) are in the prophetic present, expressing absolute certainty.

[3] ἐνδέχεται: abs. impers., ‘it is possible’, freq. in Aristotle (LSJ, s.v. ἐνδέχομαι III.3).