Episode 11:
Cocktail Bunny
Judith 8:11-20
When
the officials arrived, Judith said to them,
Please listen to me. You are the leaders of the people of Bethulia, but you were wrong to speak to the people as you did today. You should not have made a solemn promise before God that you would surrender the town to our enemies if the Lord did not come to our aid within a few days. 12 What right do you have to put God to the test as you have done today? Who are you to put yourselves in God's place in dealing with human affairs? 13 It is the Lord Almighty that you are putting to the test! Will you never learn? 14 There is no way that you can understand what is in the depths of a human heart or find out what a person is thinking. Yet you dare to read God's mind and interpret his thoughts! How can you claim to understand God, the Creator? No, my friends, you must stop arousing the anger of the Lord our God! 15 If he decides not to come to our aid within five days, he still may rescue us at any time he chooses. Or he may let our enemies destroy us. 16 But you must not lay down conditions for the Lord our God! Do you think that he is like one of us? Do you think you can bargain with him or force him to make a decision? 17 No! Instead, we should ask God for his help and wait patiently for him to rescue us. If he wants to, he will answer our cry for help. 18 We do not worship gods made with human hands. Not one of our clans, tribes, towns, or cities has ever done that, even though our ancestors used to do so. 19 That is why God let their enemies kill them and take everything they had. It was a great defeat! 20 But since we worship no other God but the Lord, we can hope that he will not reject us or any of our people.
Please listen to me. You are the leaders of the people of Bethulia, but you were wrong to speak to the people as you did today. You should not have made a solemn promise before God that you would surrender the town to our enemies if the Lord did not come to our aid within a few days. 12 What right do you have to put God to the test as you have done today? Who are you to put yourselves in God's place in dealing with human affairs? 13 It is the Lord Almighty that you are putting to the test! Will you never learn? 14 There is no way that you can understand what is in the depths of a human heart or find out what a person is thinking. Yet you dare to read God's mind and interpret his thoughts! How can you claim to understand God, the Creator? No, my friends, you must stop arousing the anger of the Lord our God! 15 If he decides not to come to our aid within five days, he still may rescue us at any time he chooses. Or he may let our enemies destroy us. 16 But you must not lay down conditions for the Lord our God! Do you think that he is like one of us? Do you think you can bargain with him or force him to make a decision? 17 No! Instead, we should ask God for his help and wait patiently for him to rescue us. If he wants to, he will answer our cry for help. 18 We do not worship gods made with human hands. Not one of our clans, tribes, towns, or cities has ever done that, even though our ancestors used to do so. 19 That is why God let their enemies kill them and take everything they had. It was a great defeat! 20 But since we worship no other God but the Lord, we can hope that he will not reject us or any of our people.
Jonah
1:1-16
One day the Lord spoke to
Jonah son of Amittai. 2 He said, “Go to Nineveh, that great
city, and speak out against it; I am aware of how wicked its people are.” 3 Jonah,
however, set out in the opposite direction in order to get away from the Lord. He went to Joppa, where
he found a ship about to go to Spain. He paid his fare and went aboard with the
crew to sail to Spain, where he would be away from the Lord.
4 But the Lord sent a strong wind on the
sea, and the storm was so violent that the ship was in danger of breaking up. 5 The
sailors were terrified and cried out for help, each one to his own god. Then,
in order to lessen the danger, they threw the cargo overboard. Meanwhile, Jonah
had gone below and was lying in the ship's hold, sound asleep.6 The captain found him there and said to him, “What are you doing asleep? Get up and pray to your god for help. Maybe he will feel sorry for us and spare our lives.”
7 The sailors said to each other, “Let's draw lots and find out who is to blame for getting us into this danger.” They did so, and Jonah's name was drawn. 8 So they said to him, “Now, then, tell us! Who is to blame for this? What are you doing here? What country do you come from? What is your nationality?”
9 “I am a Hebrew,” Jonah answered. “I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made land and sea.” 10 Jonah went on to tell them that he was running away from the Lord.
The sailors were terrified, and said to him, “That was an awful thing to do!” 11 The storm was getting worse all the time, so the sailors asked him, “What should we do to you to stop the storm?”
12 Jonah answered, “Throw me into the sea, and it will calm down. I know it is my fault that you are caught in this violent storm.”
13 Instead, the sailors tried to get the ship to shore, rowing with all their might. But the storm was becoming worse and worse, and they got nowhere. 14 So they cried out to the Lord, “O Lord, we pray, don't punish us with death for taking this man's life! You, O Lord, are responsible for all this; it is your doing.” 15 Then they picked Jonah up and threw him into the sea, and it calmed down at once. 16 This made the sailors so afraid of the Lord that they offered a sacrifice and promised to serve him.
Job 30:20-25
I call to you, O God, but you never answer;
and when I pray, you pay no attention.
21 You are treating me cruelly;
you persecute me with all your power.
22 You let the wind blow me away;
you toss me about in a raging storm.
23 I know you are taking me off to my death,
to the fate in store for everyone.
24 Why do you attack a ruined man,
one who can do nothing but beg for pity?
25 Didn't I weep with people in trouble
and feel sorry for those in need?
1 Kings 21:1-16
Near King Ahab's
palace in Jezreel there was a vineyard owned by a man named Naboth. 2 One
day Ahab said to Naboth, “Let me have your vineyard; it is close to my palace,
and I want to use the land for a vegetable garden. I will give you a better
vineyard for it or, if you prefer, I will pay you a fair price.”
3 “I inherited this vineyard from my
ancestors,” Naboth replied. “The Lord
forbid that I should let you have it!”
4 Ahab went home, depressed and angry
over what Naboth had said to him. He lay down on his bed, facing the wall, and
would not eat. 5 His wife Jezebel went to him and asked, “Why
are you so depressed? Why won't you eat?”
6 He answered, “Because of what Naboth
said to me. I offered to buy his vineyard or, if he preferred, to give him
another one for it, but he told me that I couldn't have it!”
7 “Well, are you the king or aren't you?”
Jezebel replied. “Get out of bed, cheer up, and eat. I will get you Naboth's vineyard!”
8 Then she wrote some letters, signed
Ahab's name to them, sealed them with his seal, and sent them to the officials
and leading citizens of Jezreel. 9 The letters said: “Proclaim
a day of fasting, call the people together, and give Naboth the place of honor.
10 Get a couple of scoundrels to accuse him to his face of
cursing God and the king. Then take him out of the city and stone him to
death.”
11 The officials and leading citizens of
Jezreel did what Jezebel had commanded. 12 They proclaimed a
day of fasting, called the people together, and gave Naboth the place of honor.
13 The two scoundrels publicly accused him of cursing God and
the king, and so he was taken outside the city and stoned to death. 14 The
message was sent to Jezebel: “Naboth has been put to death.”
15 As soon as Jezebel received the
message, she said to Ahab, “Naboth is dead. Now go and take possession of the
vineyard which he refused to sell to you.” 16 At once Ahab went
to the vineyard to take possession of it.
Why does Jaye
‘torture’ the wax lion?
(Note: She’s
trying to get the lion to reveal the reasons why everything is happening around
her.)
Reflect on this
quote: “tell me there’s a reason.”
What does
Judith say about trying to force God to reveal His mind to us?
(Note: She says it
is a waste of time, since we cannot even understand our own mind, much less
God’s.)
How do the
people try to ‘hold themselves hostage’ before God?
(Note: They think
that if they are in mortal danger, that God will save them anyways, so it is no
use to actually try to do anything at all.)
What does
Judith think about this?
(Note: She sees it
as presumptuous, as if anyone could actually know God’s mind.)
What has become
of Jaye? Where has everything taken her to this point?
(Note: She is a
broken person, lost as to where she is or what she wants. Her missions are now
causing her great pain, and she doesn’t understand. What hurts her most is the
lack of understanding. She is so lost that she’s actually opening up to the
therapist.)
Reflect on this
quote: “he’s praying, and you know how he feels about that sort of thing.”
What does it
say that Aaron is praying?
(Note: Obviously,
Aaron’s views on things have radically changed. He’s a very different person
than he was at the beginning of it all.)
What was the
result of Jonah’s running from God, for the men on the ship? What is the
significance of this change?
(Note: Jonah
brought the men to God, they are now praying to Jonah’s God. It is ironic,
because Jonah had been running from a mission to bring God’s Word to Gentiles,
and that is exactly what he ends up doing.)
Reflect on this
quote: “you’ll never get rid of all of us.”
(Note: The animals
are not Jaye’s problem, but rather the Force behind them all. And that Force is
not something Jaye can escape.)
How does Jonah
try to run from God?
(Note: He tries to
sail as far from God’s Temple as he possibly can.)
Why, do you
think, Jonah believed this would work?
(Note: Jonah thinks
God literally lives in the Temple, and that the Temple is real locus of God’s
activity and power. But God is no more limited to the Temple than Fate is
limited to the animals Jaye has in her house.)
How does God
respond to this running away?
(Note: He creates
a giant storm that stops the ship.)
How is Jaye’s
situation similar to Jonah’s?
(Note: Jaye, too,
is trying to escape the animals in various ways, to run from all that is
happening to her. But the storm around her is just growing.)
How does Jaye
see the events that have happened to her, according to her conversation with
the doctor?
(Note: She thinks
about the promotion, and then various conversations that led to the
conversations with the animals, who wear her down and force her to do what she
wants.)
Reflect on this
quote: “Do you do everything [the animals] tell you to do…even if it causes you
pain?’
What concerns
Jaye’s parents about her situation? What do you think of these concerns?
(Note: They are
worried that her episodes are indicative of a broad psychological disorder.
They are concerned for her safety, but they also worry about how this reflects
on them. They are good people, if a little self-centered.)
What do you
think of Jaye putting on a brave face for her parents and others?
(Note: She isn’t
doing a very good job of it.)
What is the
scene like where Mahandra holds her as she grieves?
(Note: It is
beautiful. Mahandra obviously cares about Jaye.)
What kind of
service is it to grieve with a person?
(Note: The highest
we can possibly know.)
What does it
say that Job lists this as proof of his virtue?
(Note: It is a
virtue that Job gave to others, that was not returned to him. The people around
Job are trashing him in his suffering.)
Reflect on this
quote: “my sins have been paid for.”
(Note: Heidi is
full of it. She’s trying to salve her conscience. She wants to feel everything
is alright.)
What do you
think of Heidi’s attitude towards Jaye?
(Note: She is a
nasty person. She is blaming Jaye for her problems, which are all her own fault.)
What kind of
person is she?
Reflect on this
in light of the Job passage.
(Note: Heidi is a
terrible person who is winning. Job was a good person who lost. Jaye is a
not-great person who lost because she did the right thing. Irony abounds.)
Why does Jaye
react as she does to Aaron’s ‘shrine’?
(Note: She trusted
Aaron to destroy these things, and instead he’s using them for his own ends.
She wanted him to help her get rid of the problem, when he doesn’t see it as a
‘problem’ at all, but something he wants for himself. Is this selfish
spirituality?)
What was Aaron
doing with the shrine?
(Note: He was
looking for evidence of the animals coming to life.)
What do you
think of this?
(Note: Again,
Aaron is looking the wrong place. The power is not in the animals, at all. Jaye
is where the study needs to take place.)
How does
Judith’s exposition reveal the difficulties of dealing with a God like Yahweh?
(Note: God does
what God wants to do. You can’t figure it out simply, or contain it in some
exact formula. There is no straightforward A-B-C route to getting where God
wants you to go.)
What is the
evil of framing someone? Why is watching it on film so particularly abhorrent?
(Note: To inflict
injustice on another while hurting someone else is a compounded sin. The idea
of getting pleasure from it, seeing someone else hurt for what you did, it is
disturbing.)
What did
‘salvation’ mean for Jonah?
(Note: It meant
living, surviving.)
What did it
mean for Jaye?
(Note: It means
understanding why things are happening the way they are.)
How did Jonah
bring salvation to various people in spite of himself?
(Note: The sailors
are brought to God as Jonah runs from him, the Ninevites are saved from
destruction and change their ways despite Jonah’s hatred of them and God’s
unambiguous warning to them.)
How did Jaye?
(Note: Jaye saved
the psychologist though she was only focused on Eric and her own problem, she
brought many people to an awareness that there may be something more to life
than they thought.)
Reflect on this
quote: “why me? Why do you talk to me?”
How and why
could Jonah and Job have asked these same questions?
(Note: Jonah was a
bad guy who had no reason to be chosen by God. Job knew God was there but God’s
behavior makes God inscrutable to him. They both have very different reasons
for asking the same question: “Why?”)
What do you
think of the monkey’s answer?
(Note: It is
perfect. There is something special about Jaye, but it is not that she is good,
or smart, or capable. It is that she attuned. But the question is: “WHY is SHE
attuned?” The monkey answered without really answering.)
How would this
appeal to the Biblical prophets as well? How does this enlighten the lives of
people like Job and Jonah?
(Note: The only
thing that really sets prophetic figures apart, and the only thing that they
have in common is that they can hear the voice of God. But why could they hear
Him?)
Reflect on
Jaye’s mother’s conversation with the killer.
(Note: Jaye’s
mother is brilliant and wise. She says just the right things to the killers,
realizes her own shortcomings. She opens up and makes herself vulnerable and
thereby saves the day. Her statements about the profundity of life and her own
penitence maker her monologue very moving.)
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