Words of the Mouth and Meditations of the Heart

    Lent 3: The Odyssey of Schadenfreude Luke 13:1-9       Desecrating the dead. Towers falling and killing people. The Gospels are not for lacking in violence and gore, but not the gratuitous kind of violence.The examples that Jesus gives in the gospel reading sounds like he’s saying that bad things happened to people because they were sinners. He goes on to say that it could happen to the people there, listening to him. Jesus appears to be speaking about what we call theodicy today, or trying to figure out why God punishes, smites, destroys, or otherwise punishes the faithful. And sometimes our reaction to theodicy, when it involves others, is summed up in the bouncy German word “schadenfreude” which means to take pleasure or delight in the suffering of others. When we find ourselves at the wrong end of fate, our reaction to theodicy involving us can be self-pity, or anger, or withdrawal, or apostasy - walking away from God. It isn’t fun being the p...

Lent 2 readings: Luke 13:31-35 Philippians 3:17-4:1 Today’s gospel reading sounds like we’re on a farm. Jesus refers to Herod as a fox, and then uses the  metaphor of a hen gathering her chicks under her. There could be joke in there somewhere about the fox watching the henhouse, except that in this case, this henhouse turned tables on that fox. Being a city boy,  I have never been around chickens, or a barnyard, or chicken in a barnyard so I had to go to Youtube to  see what hens gathering their brood looks like. So, for a few minutes, I could live vicariously on a farm  and understand what Jesus was referring to in his metaphor. And yes, hens do gather their adorable  chicks under them in a tight group. It reminded me of going to Nashville on Thanksgiving Day, and sitting  at a large table with all of my cousins, all of us crammed together, laughing, eating, enjoying being a  family. We were gathered under the wings of my Aunt Su...

Lent 1 readings: Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16 Luke 4:1-13 This Sunday in Lent is at the beginning of a familiar part of the church year: giving something up for Lent. The church sanctuary is stripped down, there is a more solemn tone to the service, and we hear about Jesus being tempted in the Gospel reading. This passage follows Jesus’ baptism in Luke’s Gospel, where we are told that at his baptism, God speaks and says that Jesus is his son. Jesus, Light from Light, true God from true God, is tempted by the devil and what happens is remarkable. The devil in this story we also know as satan, with a little “s”. This is the same satan that  caused Job’s afflictions, loss of wealth, family, and eventually his health. The word “satan” is  Hebrew for “adversary” or “accuser” and takes the role of testing the faith of both Job and  Jesus. In Luke’s account, satan tests Jesus’ righteousness, his “rightness” with God, and  Jesus responds. Now, recall that I just...