Living with Jonah: Mad as Hell

From my new book, Thus Sayeth the Lord — I''m sharing a sample chapter this week. (Previously: part 1, part 2.)

Let's dig into Jonah's story and see what it can tell us about our own lives, here and now.

Living with Jonah

Mad as Hell

Let’s face it: Jonah himself is not a great person. He hates the Ninevites so much. It’s hard to blame him, because the Ninevites are the worst, a lot like ISIS and the Nazis rolled into one. So he runs.

Jonah isn’t simply being disobedient. He knows Scripture well enough to deeply disagree with God’s probable attitude to the Ninevites. In Exodus, God gives Moses the tablets and describes his nature: “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty.”

It’s the only place in the Old Testament where God describes his own nature,* and you can bet Jonah knew it. Did Jonah want that for the Ninevites? Heck no!

It’s ironic that Jonah’s absolute faith in God’s true nature is horribly justified when God forgives them at the first opportunity. Jonah comes right out and says, “Is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that thou art a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and repentest of evil.”

Mic drop.

What a powerful message this is for the Israelites reading this book. Their whole culture revolves around being God’s chosen people, whether or not they actually obey him very well. Now this clever book preaches a subversive message of God’s equal love for all peoples, all nations, and all creation.

Unfortunately, I understand Jonah all too well. I haven’t had a lot of violence enter my life, but his feelings about the Ninevites match the thirst for vengeance I felt on 9/11. I hated the terrorists, and I equally hated the Middle Eastern women I saw on TV exulting in the death and destruction of my beloved countrymen. How dare they!

It seems to be human nature, doesn’t it? We want justice. Mercy isn’t even on our radar. The troubled look in a gentle friend’s eyes when I told her my feelings finally made me stop and reconsider my lust for vengeance. I was able to let my hatred go when I leaned on the truth expressed by God at the end of Jonah: “And the Lord said … ‘And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?’” Those women didn’t know any better, and I did. That made it my responsibility to take control of my feelings.

* J. Carl Laney, “God’s Self-Revelation in Exodus 34:6-8,” Bibliotheca Sacra 158 (January-March 2001): 36-51, https://www.galaxie.com/article/bsac158-629-03

Tomorrow in part 4 we'll see what Jonah shows us about God's nature toward us and looking at our own behavior compared to Jonah's.

Thus Sayeth the Lord comes out on March 31. Preorder your copy now!

Roman Forum

Roman Forum, Scott Danielson

Quick Take on Jonah

From my new book, Thus Sayeth the Lord — I''m sharing a sample chapter this week. (Read part 1 here.)

Let's get a quick look-see at what the book of Jonah is about.

Quick Take on Jonah
God tells Jonah to preach in Nineveh. Nineveh’s the capital of Assyria, the most powerful and ruthless nation of the time, which all Israelites reading this book would’ve known. Not a place you just want to pop into. Jonah, as we have seen already, hot-foots it in the opposite direction to a ship at the edge of the known world. God raises a huge storm, causing the pagan sailors to toss Jonah overboard, where God saves him by having a huge fish swallow him. Bonus: The sailors begin worshipping God.

After three days and three nights, the fish vomits Jonah onto dry land. (Vomits. You’ve got to love the way the Hebrews keep it real. Jonah gets zero respect.) God repeats his command and, unsurprisingly, Jonah finally obeys.

And — are you ready for this? — the people of Nineveh surprise everyone, probably including themselves, by believing Jonah the very first day and promptly doing penance. They also make their animals do penance. These Ninevites are all in. This might be a first in the history of biblical prophecy.

God forgives them, which makes Jonah hopping mad. He furiously sits on a hill, watching the city, wishing he were dead, and complaining to God that this is why he ran away. “I knew you would forgive them,” he says. God has a plant grow, providing Jonah with much-needed shade, and then has a worm attack the plant so it withers and dies. Jonah gets even more infuriated, giving God some great talking points. The ensuing conversations provide God’s point of view.

We'll skip tomorrow since it will be Ash Wednesday - and pick up on Thursday in part 3 we'll see what Jonah has to do with our own lives.

Thus Sayeth the Lord comes out on March 31. Preorder your copy now!

Rome at Night

Rome at Night, Scott Danielson

Jonah: Mad as Hell and Running From God

From my new book, Thus Sayeth the Lord — I'll share a sample chapter over this week. Let's start with someone we might all be able to relate to — a less enthusiastic prophet we'll never see.

JONAH

Mad as Hell and Running from God

But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went on board, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.

Jonah 1:3

What to Read

• All four short, exciting chapters.

I’ve got to hand it to Jonah; he doesn’t mess around. God gives him a prophecy to deliver, and in the second sentence, Jonah’s on the run, “fleeing.” Look at how the next verse almost trips over itself to get all the information out. No question about it. Jonah’s getting away from God as far and fast as he can.

The Book of Jonah is not only short, it is a story. That’s a huge win when it comes to the prophets, who usually just give us their long, long speeches. Jonah is suspenseful, exciting, and funny. It also invites us to examine our own response to God when we’re asked to do something we don’t like. That’s a lot for four short chapters, but Jonah delivers.

You might think you know the story. Who doesn’t hear “Jonah” and think “swallowed by a whale?”

But Jonah’s packed with details I never noticed until I sat down and read it with full attention. Every one of them matters. The last time I read it I fell in love with the sailors, because they try rowing to shore instead of automatically tossing Jonah overboard, even when they know he’s the reason for the storm. I never even noticed those sailors before. It’s always worth reading Scripture more than once, because you don’t know what you’ll find that makes the story come alive.

Tomorrow in part 2 we'll get a quick overview of the whole story.

Thus Sayeth the Lord comes out on March 31. Preorder your copy now!

Orvieto Neighborhood

Orvieto neighborhood, Scott Danielson

Scott Danielson, my partner in crime at A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast, went to Rome and took some great photos. I'll share a few of my favorites this week.

Khakee - it's not just a color, it's a Bollywood police movie

So, of course, Hannah and Rose are discussing it as part of their cop movie series. It's about four police officers who have to transport an accused terrorist safely to trial in another city. Amitabh Bachchan, Ajay Devgn, Akshay Kumar, Aishwarya Rai - what a cast!

Get it at An American's Guide to Bollywood.

MY NEW BOOK! Thus Sayeth the Lord: A Fresh Take on the Prophets

This fresh take on the prophets will introduce you to our biblical role models in a way you might find startling, challenging, and probably not to your grandmother's liking. In this book, you will meet:

• Moses - eighty-year-old freedom fighter
• Elijah - nuking the pagans
• Deborah - kicking ass and taking names
• Hosea - not family friendly
• Samuel - the only hope in a desperate hour
• Amos - sticking it to the man
• Anna and Simeon - God's tag team
• Jonah - mad as hell and running from God
• And a dozen more

We’ve lost touch with what it meant to encounter a prophet, or to be one. Let’s take a fresh look at the familiar prophets in our Bible. Every single one has a message for us in our lives today, because that’s how God rolls. He’s a multi-tasker, and the Bible is one of his main tools in speaking to us. Those very same prophets aren’t just for everyone who came before. They’re for us, too. These ancient, Hebrew prophets can help bring us closer to God’s love and his purpose in our lives — right here, right now.

I'm really excited about this book. I can't tell you how I've come to love the prophets while I was writing about them. It turns out they're not just a bunch of grumpy-pants who want to yell at us. Eighteen good prophets. One bad one. And every single one can help you today in very concrete ways.

It comes out March 31, though, of course, you can order it now.

And I'll have a giveaway so stay tuned for that!

Excerpts available here:

• Jonah: Mad as Hell and Running from God — part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4
• Deborah: Kicking Ass and Taking Names — part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4

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And I just discovered, checking the copyright page of my own copy, that it scored an Imprimatur and Nihil Obstat. All of which are official declarations that it is free from doctrinal or moral error.

Of course, if you've been reading the excerpts you know that doesn't mean they are agreeing with all of my takeaways and opinions — but we're totally starting from the right place in looking at these prophets.


Here are a few people who've had an advance look and liked it enough to say so.

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Here is Julie Davis at her best: reading stories and telling stories. She knows that narrative is the lifeblood of a family. She shows us where we fit in God’s grand scheme. The words of the prophets were music and poetry when they were first delivered. They hit the heart with a wallop — in this retelling they still do. Highly recommended. – Mike Aquilina, executive vice-president, St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology

Julie Davis is inviting us to take a walk on the wild side of the life of faith by investigating the prophets — those major and minor “Mouths of God” — who populate scripture. Davis’ wit and the casual accessibility of her language make this a galloping read that is both fun and intelligent. Spending time with the prophets was never so painless. – Elizabeth Scalia, Editor-at-Large, Word on Fire Catholic Ministries, Author of Little Sins Mean a Lot

Julie Davis offers an innovative perspective on a time-honored but often misunderstood tradition in our Church. Accessibly executed with terrific storytelling and useable takeaways, this book helps us learn ever-current lessons from ancient prophets, while keeping our hearts open to new encounters with modern prophetic opportunities. – Lisa M. Hendey, Author of I Am God's Storyteller

Julie Davis’s latest book is an energetic, wise, and utterly delightful look at the Biblical prophets, a guide that explores why these holy men and women are relevant today and why they are so important in the development of our own spiritual lives. Thus Sayeth the Lord not only informs, it entertains and inspires. – Gary Jansen, author of Life Everlasting and MicroShifts: Transforming Your Life One Step at a Time

If you've run screaming from the Old Testament prophets, but you have a niggling idea that there has to be something there, this is the book for you. If you find yourself wondering why those OT guys are such a hot deal, this book is for you. If you like diving into scripture so deeply that you float inside and laugh outside, this book is for you. Julie Davis has successfully and artfully woven together what we know, put it in context, and jumped in with both laughs. Enjoy! - Sarah Reinhard, author and blogger, SnoringScholar.com

I hear all the time how the prophets of the Old Testament are a vast treasury waiting to be unlocked, but I've never been able to find the key. Thankfully, Julie Davis has come to the rescue with her book Thus Sayeth The Lord. Finally, I have a way to approach and appreciate the prophets that is clear, accessible, and captivating! – Tommy Tighe, author of The Catholic Hipster Handbook and Catholic Hipster: The Next Level

Hannah & Rose discuss high school romance, the ravages of cancer, and ...

... how to woo the most obnoxious boy in school as they watch A Walk to Remember (2002) on More is More bad movie podcast. It's the perfect bad love movie for Valentine's Day!

Coffee, Two Creams

Coffee, Two Creams; Duane Keiser

The Destiny of the World

The destiny of the world is determined less by the battles that are lost and won than by the stories it loves and believes in.

Harold C. Goddard, The Meaning of Shakespeare, Vo. 2

Listen Up: Bix Banderson Vs. The Universe

The biggest, baddest, most-all consuming Cosmic Empire ever known is about to meet its match:

An eleven-year-old Earth Boy, on the run from summer camp.

Decoder Ring Theatre presents Bix Banderson Vs. The Universe, an intergalactic adventure par excellence.

I've enjoyed Decoder Ring Theatre for a long time, specifically for the noir-style adventures of Black Jack Justice and girl detective Trixie Dixon. Gregg Taylor writes and presents all-new audio adventures in the tradition of the classic programs of radio's Golden Age. They are full-length, full-cast tales of mystery and adventure.

Right now, I've been enjoying the adventures of Bix Banderson. Cleverly playing on a lot of the tropes we know from science fiction, Bix Banderson is both an adventure and comedy. It is really well done and perfect for both kids and adults.

Their website is here. And you can find them on iTunes or other podcast providers.

Imaginative literature and our reactions

Who has not caught some odd resemblance in an ink blot — to a tree, or a lizard, or a map of Florida? A Swiss psychologist has devised a personality test based on the "reading" of especially receptive ink blots prepared in advance. You tell what you see int he blots and unconsciously you expose your innermost self. The psychologist need not have taken all that trouble. The supreme imaginative literature of the world is a survival of the fittest ink blots of the ages, and nothing reveals a man with more precision than his reaction to it.

Harold Goddard, The Meaning of Shakespeare, vol. 1

Anemones in a Vase

Leon Jan Wyczolkowski, Anemones in a Vase
via Arts Everyday Living

Black Woodpecker

Black Woodpecker, Remo Savisaar

We want the definite ...

To our age anything Delphic is anathema. We want the definite. As certainly as ours is a time of the expert and the technician, we are living under a dynasty of the intellect, and the aim of the intellect is not to wonder and love and grow wise about life, but to control it.

Harold Goddard, The Meaning of Shakespeare, vol. 1

Gospel of Matthew: Building on Rock

Matthew 7:24-29

The practicalities of how Galilee is physically situated shed interesting light on this parable. Martin's comments make me think about how this also ties in with Jesus' previous words cautioning against taking "the broad and easy way."

Illustration by "Miss Stevenson", Bell Rock Lighthouse

24 ... The Greek word for wise could also be translated as "prudent" (see 24:45); this man's prudence lay in his choice of a site to build his house (real estate has always been a matter of location, location, location). Galilee is dotted with limestone hills covered by an uneven layer of soil. Houses commonly had stone walls; an outcropping of rock provided a stable base for such walls. This wise builder picked a site where he could build his house on rock.

25 The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock. The rocky hills of Galilee do not readily absorb rain; a heavy rainfall can become a flood of water crashing down hillsides and filling ravines. A stone house built on rock can withstand floods and windstorms.

Jesus says that those who listen to his teachings and act on them, "will be like" (verse 24) a wise builder whose house withstands a storm; the phrase "will be like" points to something that will happen in the future. Prophets used storms as an image for God's judgment (Isaiah 28:2; 29:6); 30:30; Exek 13:10-16). Jesus is again speaking of the last judgment (see verses 13-14, 19, 21-23), now by means of a comparison or parable. Those who take Jesus' words to heart and act on them will withstand God's judgment, just as a house built on rock withstands a storm.

26 And everyone who listens to these words of mine but does not act on them will be like a fool who built his house on sand. Rain flushed soil and sand down from hills to the floors of valleys and ravines, providing some temptingly level places to build a house. A foolish builder might choose such a site, laying the lowest course of house walls directly on sand.

27 The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. Storm runoff surged against the house, washing way the sand beneath its walls and undermining them, and the house collapsed and was completely ruined. Just as a house built on sand will collapse in a flood so those who do not live according to Jesus' teachings will face utter ruin at the last judgment.

Quote is from Bringing the Gospel of Matthew to Life by George Martin. This series first ran in 2008. I'm refreshing it as I go.

Red Squirrel

Red Squirrel (1578), Hans Hoffmann

Men of the ages and the unconscious mind

Only very ingenious persons will think that the wise men of the ages did not know of the existence of the unconscious mind because they did not call it by that name or formulate its activities in twentieth-century terms.

Harold C. Goddard, The Meaning of Shakespeare, vol. 1

A Movie You Might Have Missed #4 - Serenity

It's been 10 years since I began this series highlighting movies I wished more people knew about. I'm rerunning it from the beginning because I still think these are movies you might have missed.

4. Serenity

Is it a western? Yes. Is it sci-fi? Yes. 500 years in the future, society is a mixture of "core" planets with all the luxuries and those on "the rim" where life is more like living in a old time Western. The Alliance, the totalitarian government, controls everything in the core and would like to exert the same control over all the planets.

Simon and River Tam are on the run from The Alliance. They take refuge on a spaceship whose crew will do anything, legal or illegal, to keep fed and in the air. As a survivor from the losing side in the recent civil war, the ship's captain, Mal Reynolds, doesn't mind going against the authorities but has to rethink his decision when the Alliance sends an assassin to track River down. What follows is a fantastic, fast moving adventure crackling with wit. It is also one that examines what different men choose to put their faith in, how strong that belief is, and what it means to live an unexamined life. (My complete review is here.)

Catherine of Siena

Catherine of Siena by Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale,
from her "Golden Book of Famous Women", published in 1919.
Via J.R.'s Art Place

A Poem About Fire Ought to Burn

It is the crowning virtue of a work of art, as it is of a man, that it should be an example of its own doctrine, an incarnation of its own main symbol. A poem about fire ought to burn. A poem about a brook ought to flow. A poem about childhood ought not just to tell about children but ought to be like a child itself, as are the best of Blake's Songs of Innocence.

Harold C. Goddard, The Meaning of Shakespeare

Listen Up - The Episodic Table of Elements

The Episodic Table of Elements is a science-history podcast exploring the culture and chemistry behind every element on the periodic table. Explore wild tales of scientific adventure that stretch back to the beginning of time itself. We’re traveling the periodic table in order of increasing atomic number: Episode 1 is hydrogen, episode 2 is helium, and so on.

The episodes for this podcast range from 12 to 25 minutes each and that was almost a deal-breaker for me. 25 minutes about a scientific element? Booooring!

But not so. As it turns out these are wonderfully told stories that begin with an element and then follow it to surprising places. For example, the hydrogen episode looks at the development of balloonists, zeppelins, and ends up with the Hubble Telescope's first clear image of The Pillars of Creation. It ends with links to where you can do an experiment to get the element for yourself.

This is science in the way we all wish we could learn it, with engaging delivery and interesting stories.

The website is here. The iTunes link is here.

View of the Thames and The Six Jolly Fellowship Porters

Jacques Matthias Schenker - View of the Thames [1885]
Via Gandalf's Gallery, some rights reserved

Did anyone else flash on Our Mutual Friend?

The Six Jolly Fellowship Porters, already mentioned as a tavern of a dropsical appearance, had long settled down into a state of hale infirmity. In its whole constitution it had not a straight floor, and hardly a straight line; but it had outlasted, and clearly would yet outlast, many a better-trimmed building, many a sprucer public-house. Externally, it was a narrow lopsided wooden jumble of corpulent windows heaped one upon another as you might heap as many toppling oranges, with a crazy wooden verandah impending over the water; indeed the whole house, inclusive of the complaining flag-staff on the roof, impended over the water, but seemed to have got into the condition of a faint-hearted diver who has paused so long on the brink that he will never go in at all.

This description applies to the river-frontage of the Six Jolly Fellowship Porters. The back of the establishment, though the chief entrance was there, so contracted that it merely represented in its connexion with the front, the handle of a flat iron set upright on its broadest end. This handle stood at the bottom of a wilderness of court and alley: which wilderness pressed so hard and close upon the Six Jolly Fellowship Porters as to leave the hostelry not an inch of ground beyond its door. For this reason, in combination with the fact that the house was all but afloat at high water, when the Porters had a family wash the linen subjected to that operation might usually be seen drying on lines stretched across the reception-rooms and bed-chambers.

Chapter 6

Gospel of Matthew: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets."

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place."

Matthew, 5:17-18

Maybe I've always loved this explanation from Jesus because I like to think of the people saying, "Now we can live a new way. No more of the 10 commandments!" Every time I see something that reminds me people acted just the way we do today, it makes me smile.

I've also got a real love of the Old Testament and I hate it when people say that the Old Testament God was mean while New Testament Jesus is nice and loving. I hear this a surprising amount, many times from a particular priest during homilies which finally led to a conversation afterwards.

Because Old Testament or New — God is the same. Three persons but one God and one essence. Also, that means that people haven't been reading their Old Testament very well. Yes, there are a lot of examples of the way ancient people settled things which doesn't match our ideas of justice or mercy very well. But all through out, God is saying the same thing over and over.

That is part of why Jesus follows the Beatitudes, which are so revolutionary sounding, with the reminder above. He's connecting the weight and meaning of his lawgiving ("I say to you...") with what came before.

Below are a few examples of Old Testament mercy that might sound familiar. There are many more examples, but these will give you a sample.

Moses and the Ten Commandments
±1600 - ±1624, Museum Catharijneconvent, Utrecht, Netherlands

• Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against your own people. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD. — Leviticus 19:18
• But the poor will inherit the earth, will delight in great prosperity. — Psalm 37:11
• If your enemies are hungry, give them food to eat, if thirsty, give something to drink; For live coals you will heap on their heads, and the LORD will vindicate you. — Proverbs 25: 21-22
• It is good for a person, when young, to bear the yoke, To sit alone and in silence, when its weight lies heavy, To put one’s mouth in the dust—there may yet be hope—To offer one’s cheek to be struck, to be filled with disgrace. — Lamentations 3:27-31

Bible verses are from The New American Bible, Revised Edition. This series first ran in 2008. I'm refreshing it as I go.

Unexpected Meeting in January

Unexpected Meeting in January, Remo Savisaar

Writers and the states of their souls

All good writers express the state of their souls, even (as occurs in some cases of very good writers) if it is a state of damnation.

G.K. Chesterton, Appreciations and Criticisms 

of the Works of Charles Dickens

A Movie You Might Have Missed #3: The Castle

It's been 10 years since I began this series highlighting movies I wished more people knew about. I'm rerunning it from the beginning because I still think these are movies you might have missed.

3. The Castle
(Australia)

An understated comedy about a man whose home truly is his castle. Any normal person would jump at the chance to sell his property when the local airport wants to buy, as it sits at the end of an airport runway and directly under gigantic power lines. However, this man fights in court for the right to keep his home.

The father's unconditional love and approval for every person in his family is reciprocated by each of them. Watching the local news the father turns to his daughter, the only family member with a "college degree" (from hairdresser school), and tells her that they have "ripping bodies" but their hair really could use fixing up to be like hers. Needless to say, the daughter's hair is horrendous but her pleased and loving reaction underscores the family's complete happiness. If they think about the outside world at all it is to be sorry that the world doesn't have a share in their contentment and "riches". If more families were like this one then the world would be a better place. This movie is rated "R" for language.

Green Gown

Childe Hassam, Green Gown

Separating Eggs

This recipe is certainly silly. It says to separate two eggs, but it doesn't say how far to separate them.

Gracie Allen

A Perfect Popcorn Movie — War

Top agent Major Kabir is the head of a team hunting terrorists. Khalid is the eager, new recruit who must overcome the stigma of a father who was a traitor. When Kabir suddenly goes rogue, Khalid is the student who knows him best so it becomes his job to track Kabir down and try to stop him.

This movie pairs Bollywood veteran star Hrithik Roshan with up-and-coming Tiger Shroff. The result is a wonderfully entertaining Borne/Mission Impossible/Bond style action thriller accented with Bollywood masala. There's a good dose of patriotism for Mother India, an actual mother who is as loyal a patriot as you're ever going to find, and plenty of dancing.

If you want an action thriller with a lot of over the top lines, big in Bollywood acting, and two top male stars in exotic locations doing impossible stunts ... then this is your movie. We really enjoyed it, including my 85 year old mother who laughed through a lot of it (as we did too - over the top, remember?) and said she never needed to watch another action movie. "This one captured the essence of all of them," she said.

Rating — Introduction to Bollywood (come on in, the water's fine!)

Hannah and Rose discuss this in episode 41 of An American's Guide to Bollywood podcast.

Cliff Near Fecamp

Claude Monet, Cliff Near Fecamp
via Arts Everyday Living

It is not true to say that Mr. Reeder had ever engaged a secretary.

it is not true to say that Mr. Reeder had ever engaged a secretary. It was Miss Gillette who engaged him. By one of those odd coincidences which are unacceptable to the lovers of fiction but which occur in everyday life, she arrived at Mr. Reeder's office on the day and at the hour he was expecting a temporary typist. For some reason the agency lady did not arrive or, if she did, was interviewed by Miss Gillette who, fulfilling the practise of the young queen bee, destroyed her rival in the nicest possible sense.

Edgar Wallace, Red Aces

Figaro Dream

Jean Béraud, Figaro Dream
via Gandalf's Gallery, some rights reserved

Rice Noodles and Chopsticks

Duane Keiser, Package of Rice Noodles and Chopsticks

Gospel of Matthew: No Room for "Righteous" Anger

Matthew 5:20-21

I have come across many Christians who feel that righteous anger is justified by Jesus' anger at the moneylenders in the temple ... and that their own anger is equally righteous. I, myself, certainly have struggled with the impulse to nurture my own anger because it is justifiable. "Hey, I'm right! That makes it ok!"

However, this bit of the gospel from Matthew, as examined by George Martin, surely should give us all pause before we give ourselves permission to be angry. Or even to sling around a mild insult.

Jesus Speaks Near the Treasury, James Tissot

22 But I say to you: the I is emphatic; Jesus is proclaiming something on his own authority. Not only murderers but also whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. At issue is consciously harbored anger, not an unbidden and passing emotion. Deliberate anger can lead to murder; by prohibiting anger Jesus eliminates a source of murder. But what about when we think we have cause to be angry? Jesus does not seem to leave room for "righteous anger," which is often really "self-righteous anger," anger we wish to justify. Jesus' condemnation of anger is sweeping and covers whoever is angry. Matthew's first readers would have understood the word brother to mean a member of the church. For Christians to be angry with each other impairs the mission of the church to be the light of the world, which requires behaving in a way that leads others to glorify God (5:14, 16).

Jesus takes up verbal expressions of anger: and whoever says to his brother, "Raqa" will be answerable to the Sanhedrin. The Aramic word raqa is roughly equivalent to "blockhead" -- an insult, but not the worst thing someone can be called. Those who hurl this insult will be answerable to the Sanhedrin, which was the highest Jewish executive and judicial council. Similarly, whoever says, "You fool," will be liable to fiery Gehenna. The expression you fool is equivalent to raqa, not a worse insult, yet those who call another a fool will end up in fiery Gehenna. Some Jewish writings used Gehenna (the Hinnom Valley on the south and west sides of Jerusalem) as a symbol of punishment in the age to come. Jesus' words might be paraphrased in modern terms as, "A disciple who insults another disciple will be hauled before the Supreme Court in this life and go to hell in the next." Jesus seems to be exaggerating to make the point that abusive speech is a far more serious matter than one might think. (See 7:3-5 for another example of Jesus using exaggeration to make a point.)

Quote is from Bringing the Gospel of Matthew to Life by George Martin. This series first ran in 2008. I'm refreshing it as I go.

Singham

Dirty Harry meets Bollywood. Singham is a righteous policeman from a small village who takes on the biggest criminal in Goa.

This movie is ridiculously entertaining. I've seen this three times and it remains entertaining each time.  Ajay Devgn carries it all off with style. This movie added "tight slap" and "Welcome to Goa" to our household vocab.

This was, however, the first Indian movie I saw that made me realize just how deeply different the base cultural values can be between America and India. The ending is a troubling one for Americans as we see that our ideas of vengeance and revenge are in some ways very different from ones Indians celebrate. This has since been reinforced by other movies but this was the eye opener.

Regardless, Rohit Shetty (and team) know how to direct well choreographed fight scenes and over the top action that are tons of fun.

Rating — for viewers with medium Indian film experience. (It's not rocket science, but without any cultural background at all you might feel kind of lost.)

ALSO 

Scott and I discuss it at A Good Story is Hard to Find.

Hannah and Rose discuss it as part of their cop movie series at An American's Guide to Bollywood.

An essential strength of America — transforming immigrant millions into self-confident citizens

The ability of America, led by New York, to transform immigrant millions, most of whom arrived penniless and frightened, into self-confident citizens, wealth-creators and social and cultural assets, was the essential strength of the expanding republic, which had now been doing the same for its own people for the best part of three centuries. As the culture of the New World became more complex, so more exciting combinations of talent—indeed genius—became feasible.

Paul Johnson,

A History of the American People

A Little Bit of Sun

A Little Bit of Sun, Remo Savisaar

The Catholic Faith of Kobe Bryant

I'm not a basketball fan but even I was shocked by Kobe Bryant's sudden death and the equally tragic death of his daughter and all the other passengers on the helicopter.

I had a more pleasant shock when I read he was a practicing Catholic who would attend weekday Mass and that he credited a priest with helping save his marriage.

Describing his fear of being sent to prison for a crime he believed he had not committed, Bryant told GQ that “The one thing that really helped me during that process—I’m Catholic, I grew up Catholic, my kids are Catholic—was talking to a priest.”

“It was actually kind of funny: He looks at me and says, ’Did you do it?’ And I say, ’Of course not.’ Then he asks, ’Do you have a good lawyer?’ And I’m like, ’Uh, yeah, he’s phenomenal.’ So then he just said, ’Let it go. Move on. God’s not going to give you anything you can’t handle, and it’s in his hands now. This is something you can’t control. So let it go.’ And that was the turning point,” Bryant said.

Read the whole story at Catholic News Agency.

Give them eternal rest, O Lord,

and may your light shine on them forever.

A Movie You Might Have Missed #2: Monsoon Wedding

It's been 10 years since I began this series highlighting movies I wished more people knew about. I'm rerunning it from the beginning because I still think these are movies you might have missed.

Monsoon Wedding

India

A large, Westernized, upper middle class Indian family is gathering for a wedding in a movie that includes Bollywood-ish singing, dancing, and romance. What may be unexpected are the strong messages about family love, protection of the innocent from sexual predators, doing the right thing and telling the truth no matter what it costs you.

 I love this movie but Tom is the one who added it to this list which tells you that it has a wider range than one might expect. The "R" rating is for the language, mostly that of the Wedding Event Coordinator and his help.

(A full review is here.)

Charlotte, Lady Milnes

Charlotte, Lady Milnes (1788-1792). Artist - George Romney.
Via Books and Art

God creates for a reason

Tollkien saw natural things freighted with the depth of meaning that all things possess, being rooted in the mind of God. God does not create things simply to fill up space. God creates for a reason, and the ultimate reason for his creation is love. Each thing, and especially each living thing, is a word, a symbol, a revelation. Each is a note, or a theme, in some great music. At any rate, it is more than itself: that is, more than the thing most people see when they look at it.

Stratford Caldecott,

The Power of the Ring

The Cat

Henriette Ronner-Knip, The Cat
via Arts Everyday Living

The fruits of the Holy Spirit and fruit as something to be enjoyed

The fruits of the Holy Spirit are the result of the virtues. To put it more poetically, the virtues are the blossoms on the tree of life, which we see in springtime, and the fruits are what come from these flowers at the time of ripeness. [...]

Interestingly enough for those who thought morality was all about gritting one's teeth and getting on with something unpleasant, tradition associates [the fruits] with the experience of delight. A "fruit" that we pluck from a tree, ripe and delicious, is something to be enjoyed, and the person who unselfconsciously possesses these fruits is a person who is able to take pleasure in life. His day-to-day existence is filled with happiness and pleasure. When we lack these characteristics we are resltless, discontented, morose and unhappy. That is a sign that something is wrong with us.

Stratford Caldecott,

Fruits of the Holy Spirit

Gospel of Matthew: Each Temptation Building on the Previous One

Matthew 4:1-11

All of the devil's temptations are adapted based on Christ's answers. Each one is an attempt to divert Jesus from suffering and obedience.

I can't recall specifically where I learned that Jesus' refusals are all given in quotations from the Book of Deuteronomy. His tests resemble those of Israel when they were wandering in the desert. So his triumph over temptation is in direct contrast to the failures of the Jewish people in the wilderness. This is something that the Jews of Jesus' time would have picked up on right away.

Of course, for us the three lessons of the temptations are the basic ones we struggle with always. Who do we trust? And who do we worship? Do we put ourselves or God first?

As a side note, I especially like Jesus' expression in the engraving below. He is serene in his knowledge, in his power, in who he is.

Christ is tempted by Satan.
Engraved drawing by Jacob de Wit after Peter Paul Rubens.

The focus [of the first temptation] is on the identity and power of Jesus. ... The temptation is not really about food but about turning Jesus away from the difficult road that the Father wills for his Son (26:39). His mission is not to serve himself by exploiting his divine prerogatives but to serve others by a life of heroic sacrifice (20:28).

Jesus responds with the words of Deut. 8:3: "One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the word of God." The statement is a short lesson on God's priorities for our lives, teaching us that physical needs are not our greatest needs.

[...]

Immediately one notices how the tempter adjusts himself to the one being tempted. Jesus has quoted the Bible to express his commitment to live by God's word, and so the devil turns to the Bible to press his second attack. ...

The second temptation is essentially a challenge to the trustworthiness of God. Satan wants Jesus to subject his Father's promises to verification. ...

Jesus strikes back with words from Deut. 6:16: "You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test. The original context of this passage is the rebellion of the exodus generation in the wilderness [at Massah where] ... some demanded God give proof of his presence among them.

[...]

Jesus has refused the offer to serve himself rather than his mission from, the Father and has declined the challenge to test the Father's goodwill. Now he is asked to repudiate the Father altogether by surrendering himself to the lordship of Satan, the "ruler of this world" (John 12:31).

Still Jesus remains unmoved. He responds, "Get away, Satan!" and drives the devil off with the words of Deut. 6:13: "The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve." The context of the quotation is instructive, for it prohibits the worship of "other gods" (Deut. 6:14). Bowing before Satan would be an act of idolatry, and Jesus will have no part of it.

Quote is from Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture: The Gospel of Matthew by Curtis Mitch and Edward Sri. This series first ran in 2008. I'm refreshing it as I go.

Colorful Night in the Forest

Colorful Night in the Forest, Remo Savisaar

Human ecology is inseparable from environmental ecology

For both popes [John Paul II and Benedict XVI], in fact "human ecology" in inseparable from environmental ecology, because respect for ourselves, for our sexuality, and for human life in all its stages and manifestations, is the manifestation of a respect for nature as such, which has been created in divine Wisdom: The book of nature is one and indivisible. It takes in not ony the environment, but also life, sexuality, marriage, family, social relations: in a word, integral human development. Our duties toward the environment are linked to our duties toward the human person, considered in himself and in relation to others. It would be wrong to uphold one set of duties while trampling on the other.

Stratford Caldecott,
Radiance of Being

Christopher Tolkien: A Hobbit Amongst the Urukhai

Well, there you are a hobbit amongst the Urukhai. Keep up your hobbitry in your heart, and think that all stories feel like that when you are in them. You are inside a very great story!

J.R.R. Tolkien in a letter to his son Christopher
during the Second World War

Christopher Tolkien died last week after devoting much of his life to curating, editing, and writing about his father's work. What a service he has done for mankind over his lifetime. Eternal peace grant him, O Lord.

Young Italian Woman Praying

Young Italian Woman Praying by Moritz Calisch
via Books and Art

The Chiefs, the Super Bowl, and Me

The last time the Chiefs were in the Super Bowl I remember watching it with my family in our little red house near Kansas City. My dad called every play of the game just as they ran it.

Yesterday Mom and I watched the Chiefs win the playoffs, the day after what would have been Dad's 86th birthday. That victory unleashed our memories and turned the victory into something personal.

It is wonderfully unreal that she and I will be watching them in the Super Bowl together again.

A Movie You Might Have Missed #1: Mostly Martha

It's been 10 years since I began this series highlighting movies I wished more people knew about. I'm rerunning it from the beginning because I still think these are movies you might have missed.

Mostly Martha

Germany

Martha is a chef who has a great deal of discipline, an obsession with food although she never seems to eat, and little joy in her life. When her sister dies, Martha is forced into facing unknown situations after her orphaned niece comes to live with her. Then a new chef is added to the staff and Martha's loss of control seems complete. Suddenly Martha's life is no longer under control at all with the expected growth of character resulting.

This is a slow and deliberate movie but the acting and dialogue are great and a lot of the scenes are very funny. Naturally, as this is about a chef, it is a major "foodie" film. Mostly Martha is a German movie with subtitles but don't let that scare you. Actually we liked listening to the German and picking out words that were almost the same as in English ... but that's the kind of thing our family does for fun.

Do not be fooled by the American remake: No Reservations. It completely messes up the last third of the movie.

The ends and the means

We will never have peace in the world until men everywhere recognize that the ends are not cut off from the means, because the means represent the ideal in the making, and the end in process. Ultimately you can't reach good ends through evil means, because the means represent the seed and the end represents the tree.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

via The Radiance of Being by Stratford Caldecott

Music Lesson

Music Lesson by Shirataki Ikunosuke

Why truth is stranger than fiction

"Do you believe that truth is stranger than fiction?"

"Truth must of necessity be stranger than fiction," said Basil placidly. "For fiction is the creation of the human mind, and therefore is congenial to it."

G.K. Chesterton, Club of Queer Trades

That absolutely never occurred to me. Brilliant.

Tea

Tea by Harrison Fisher, 1908
via Illustration History

Gospel of Matthew: Being Tempted Through Our Gifts

Matthew 4:1-11

I'm always struck by the fact that after baptism, Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tested. Mark uses the word "drove" which is what always comes to my mind, but Matthew, interestingly, says led. I like the idea that Jesus is obediently following step-by-step the big plan of what God has in mind.

It only recently occurred to me that this story has to come to us from Jesus in the way that he told it to his apostles. Otherwise no one would have known about it.

One of the things I like best about this story is that Jesus faces his trials in a very human way. He is the Son of God — as his baptism just made clear — and yet he wins the battle as a man. So we can do it too.

William Barclay points this out while making some other good points about temptation which are good for our own reflection in times when we're struggling against making the wrong choices.

Christ in the Wilderness by Ivan Kramskoy, 1872

We must always remember that again and again we are tempted through our gifts. The person who is gifted with charm will be tempted to use that charm "to get away with anything." The person who is gifted with the power of words to produce glib excuses to justify his own conduct. The person with a vivid and sensitive imagination will undergo agonies of temptation that a more stolid person will never experience. The person with great gifts of mind will be tempted to use these gifts for himself and not for others, to become the master and not the servant of men. It is the grim fact of temptation that it is just where we are strongest that we must be forever on the watch.

(v) No one can ever read this story without remembering that its source must have been Jesus himself. In the wilderness he was alone. No one was with him when this struggle was being fought out. And we know about it only because Jesus himself must have told his men about it. It is Jesus telling us his own spiritual autobiography.

We must always approach this story with a unique and special reverence, for in it Jesus is laying bare his inmost heart and soul. He is telling men what he went through. It is the most sacred of all stories, for in it Jesus is saying to us that he can help others who are tempted because he himself was tempted. He draws the veil from his own struggles to help us in our struggle.

Quote is from Daily Study Bible Series: The Gospel of Matthew by William Barclay. This series first ran in 2008. I'm refreshing it as I go.

Valuable truth revealed in a collar stud

The revolt of Matter against Man (which I believe to exist) has now been reduced to a singular condition. It is the small things rather than the large things which make war against us and, I may add, beat us. The bones of the last mammoth have long ago decayed, a mighty wreck; the tempests no longer devour our navies, nor the mountains with hearts of fire heap hell over our cities. But we are engaged in a bitter and eternal war with small things; chiefly with microbes and with collar studs. The stud with which I was engaged (on fierce and equal terms) as I made the above reflections, was one which I was trying to introduce into my shirt collar when a loud knock came at the door.

[...]

I had already subdued the stud, thereby proclaiming that the image of God has supremacy over all matters (a valuable truth), and throwing on my dress-coat and waistcoat, hurried into the drawing-room.

G.K. Chesterton, The Club of Queer Trades

Learned Advice

Learned Advice, Ludwig Deutsch
via Gandalf's Gallery, some rights reserved

Be sure to swing by the link for the fascinating commentary at Gandalf's Gallery.

We are tied together in the single garment of destiny

We are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality. And whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. For some strange reason I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. And you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the way God's universe is made; this is the way it is structured.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

via Stratford Caldecott, The Radiance of Being

Styled Ear-Tufts

Styled Ear-Tufts, Remo Savisaar

Give 2 Hours, Once a Year, for Life

If your area has a local March for Life, please consider going.

It doesn't take much time, especially when you consider that this may be the only physical action you take against abortion all year. (Not counting kneeling in prayer, that is.)

In Dallas, there are a variety of events for you to attend.

You will be participating in the one thing that the general public, the media, and government understand.

Numbers.

Your mere presence will help show that more people care about all phases of life than most people realize.

If everyone in Dallas/Fort Worth attended who really believed killing the unborn is wrong, I think the streets would be clogged for hours. The media, who generally ignores the thousands who attend here each year, would be unable to ignore those numbers.

We all have our reasons to stay home.

I understand. Every single year I battle the reasonable rationalizations that spring to mind. But those rationalizations are not really true a lot of the time. In my case, they always boil down to:

• It's inconvenient.
• I might get embarrassed.
• I don't like that music (now I'm clutching at straws).
• I'd rather be doing something else (anything else).

So, I'll just say it. I'm lazy, easily embarrassed, snobbish, and selfish. Welcome to my inner life.

But I can't get away from the truth of what Jesus tells me about how I'm being judged in the end.

‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’ (Matthew 25:40)

Considering Mary's situation when she said, "Yes" to bearing Christ for us, I feel as if I can't ignore these littlest ones among us and their parents who are being lied to by everyone else in our society. Who need someone to stand up for them and tell the truth.

One of the things I like about the march is that this is my chance to simply "be there." Simply taking this walk lets my presence count without having to achieve another thing. There's a symbolism about that I like. A connection with the unborn whose value is in "being."

That's worth two hours, once a year.

==============

Here is the schedule for the North Texas March for Life  which is this Saturday, January 18.

Meet Tammie Jo Shults, American Hero Twice Over

I expected to read an inspiring story of heroism. And I did. But I didn't expect this:

Shults says her own composure that day was a result of both her training and her spiritual life.

“I had that isolated moment in time, and I did think that was going to be the day I met my maker,” she says. “That headlong rush to that cliff of ‘What if’ stopped short at that thought, and I realized I wouldn’t be meeting a stranger. That really gave me a calm.”

A great story from Texas Highways. Read it here.

To talk on top of a flying hill

Basil Grant and I were talking one day in what is perhaps the most perfect place for talking on earth—the top of a tolerably deserted tramcar. To talk on the top of a hill is superb, but to talk on the top of a flying hill is a fairy tale.

G.K. Chesterton, The Club of Queer Trades

I now want to ride on top of a double decker bus.

Casual Acquaintance

Casual Acquaintance by Karin Jurick