But, REALLY

Psalm 68

6 God settles the solitary in a home;
he leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a parched land. (ESV)

I remember being struck before by the first line of verse 6, and so of course I was drawn to the same verse.. but what stood out for me this time was the phrase, “the rebellious.” I immediately recognized those rebellious types eking out their time in the dry land, because that’s where I am right now. But I wasn’t thinking along the lines of staggering survivors with cracked lips and sunburn blisters. No, it was more like I imagined being in a bare, unadorned, ordinary place; a mundane locale; a bit dreary. I had to ask myself, “Am I here in the dry land because I’m rebellious, or am I rebellious because I’m here in the dry land?”

At this point, Old Man Zen suddenly turns into Coyote; sneaks up behind my back; steals my canteen, and then runs up to the top of the mesa, looks down at me, and cackles —

“Now you’ve really got something to whine about, don’t you?”

1 Kings 19:9-18 (Elijah in the cave)

¹¹ He said, “Go outside, and stand on the mountain before Adonai”; and right then and there, Adonai went past. A mighty blast of wind tore the mountains apart and broke the rocks in pieces before Adonai, but Adonai was not in the wind. After the wind came an earthquake, but Adonai was not in the earthquake. ¹² After the earthquake, fire broke out; but Adonai was not in the fire. And after the fire came a quiet, subdued voice. (CJB)

Old Man Zen shows up again— not Coyote this time, but a wizened monk way back in the shadows of a tiny cave in the badlands; wearing shabby robes and chanting

“not in the wind; not in the earthquake; not in the fire— no eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind. No sights, sounds, smells, tastes, objects of touch…” He doesn’t look at me, and I’m not sure whether he knows I’m there— standing in the entrance; afraid to say anything.

Ephesians 4:17-32

¹⁷ Therefore I say this — indeed, in union with the Lord I insist on it: do not live any longer as the pagans live, with their sterile ways of thinking. ¹⁸ Their intelligence has been shrouded in darkness, and they are estranged from the life of God, because of the ignorance in them, which in turn comes from resisting God’s will. ¹⁹ They have lost all feeling, so they have abandoned themselves to sensuality, practicing any kind of impurity and always greedy for more. (CJB)

 “: do not go about as the populace goes about, in the futility of their minds, being darkened in their understanding; strangers to the life of God due to the ignorance that is in them because of the hardening of their hearts. No longer feeling grief, they have abandoned themselves to *insolence, taking up the practice of utter pollution along with extortion.” (adapted from Mounce Greek Interlinear)

(*“aselgeia”— intemperance, insolence)

It struck me just how good a description this is of our present world. It paints a vivid picture of people going around in futile social media circles; murky-minded, disrespectful strangers to one another, ignorant of each other’s human worth; spitting pollution at each other; scamming and being scammed; while their hearts slowly petrify. At that point in my examination of the text, I noticed that the phrase ‘which in turn comes from resisting God’s will’ does not appear in the Greek. Even so, I was intrigued by the conflation of ‘hardheartedness’ with ‘resisting God’s will’— it has the appealing implication that, somehow, agreeing with God’s will softens our hearts; or maybe it’s that having a soft heart embeds us, willy nilly, in God’s will. And then, as I studied the implications of softheartedness vs. hardheartedness, I found myself slowly and inexorably comforted.

Old Man Zen, out in the kitchen, says,

“Come out here, you old soft-hearted sucker, and make us some tea.”

John 6:15-27

²⁷ Don’t work for the food which passes away but for the food that stays on into eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For this is the one on whom God the Father has put his seal.” (CJB)

“Don’t be busy eating food that doesn’t last; but really, (eat) the food that is in eternal life, which The Human gives you, for this guy has been marked with God the Father’s guarantee.” (adapted from Mounce Greek Interlinear)



(Note: the phrases “but really” and “this guy” are not just me being flippant!

Here’s Strong’s dictionary on the words— (bold font is mine, for emphasis)

• ἀλλά (alla) but; however; but still more; ἀλλάγε, at all events; ἀλλή, unless, except. Ἀλλά also serves to introduce a sentence with keenness and emphasis, Jn. 16:2; Rom. 6:5; 7:7; Phil. 3:8
• οὗτος (houtos) this, this person or thing, Mt. 3:3, 9, 17; 8:9; 10:2; 24:34, et al. freq.; used by way of contempt, this fellow, Mt. 13:55; 27:47;…)

Old Man Zen, having totally hijacked this reflection, wanders in and says—

“But REALLY, why don’t we go out to lunch?”