Certain images slip by our attention until we discover their depth. One such image might be the parable of the hen and her chickens in the Gospel of Matthew – but only until we realise the extraordinary nature of the hen’s care for her brood.
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, 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)
The verse above is likely familiar to many, but surely few take a moment to reflect on the deeply loving and heart-wrenching picture it paints of the hen and her chicks.
When these words were spoken, ethology as a concept did not yet exist, yet the chickens, of course, were unaware of any such thing, and their behaviour was no different from what we observe today.
