Under Christ's Wings

[Jesus said,] "How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings."
MATTHEW 23:37
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Under Christ's Wings
See how the natural mother hen acts. Hardly any other animal takes such great interest in her young. She changes her natural voice and adopts a miserable and plaintive voice. She looks, she scratches [the ground], and calls her chicks. When she finds something, she does not eat it, but leaves it for the chicks. With all earnestness she battles and cries against the hawk, and willingly spreads out her wings and lets her chicks crawl under and on her, no matter what she suffers. This is indeed a delightful picture. So also Christ has adopted a plaintive voice, has preached repentance to us, and from His whole heart pointed out to everyone their sin and misery. He scratches in the Scriptures and calls us to them and lets us eat them. He spreads His wings over us with all His righteousness, merit, and grace, and takes us lovingly under Him, warms us with His own natural heat—that is, with His Holy Spirit, who comes through Him alone—and fights for us against the devil in the air (see Ephesians 2:2).

From the Church Postil, sermon for St. Stephen's Day on Matthew 23:34-39 (Luther's Works 75:337-38)