Vengeance is Mine says the Lord


There was a mouse running along a country lane when an eagle swooped down and carried him into the high sky. It was so cold up there the mouse began to freeze.  Then the eagle dropped the mouse and the poor thing fell into a large cow pat. The heat from the recently deposited bovine excrement resuscitated the mouse. Then along came a cat and took the mouse out of the poop. And ate it.

So you see, not everyone who drops you in the shit is your enemy and not everyone who takes you out of it is your friend.

And the point of  that story is that we are quick to attribute value to actions and slow to take a step back and think.

The idea of forgiving your enemies is, as Pastor Nadia Bolz Weber says, fucking offensive. It’s not fair.

Like that loser who took his father’s money and lost it all. Then when he went home his father put on a massive lamb barbie. That really pissed off his goody-goody brother.

And the old man  be like ‘What? You got a problem that I’m generous?’

Where do we get off second guessing God?

Heaven is not a bank. Faith is not a sin management system. Jesus didn’t spend a lot of time with ‘good people’.

But when we see what we think is injustice we get all Book of Job and go…

“Therefore I will not restrain my mouth;
    I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;
    I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.”

with a touch of

“Why do the wicked live,
    reach old age, and grow mighty in power?
Their offspring are established in their presence,
    and their descendants before their eyes.
Their houses are safe from fear,
    and no rod of God is upon them.”

But God dropped the microphone on Job with

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
    Tell me, if you have understanding.
 Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
    Or who stretched the line upon it?
 On what were its bases sunk,
    or who laid its cornerstone,
when the morning stars sang together
    and all the sons of God shouted for joy?”

Maybe we should see that the measure of our darkness is the extent to which we protest at injustice.  Maybe the pain I feel that that bastard used me and rejected me is another example of God’s peculiar education system – first the exam and second the lesson.

Vengeance is mine said the Lord. His. Not ours. And who wants it anyway?