In the old tales, it is the knight, that stalwart of special training and skill, who sorties out against the dragons. But the dragons are not the "big bad." In graphic novels, it is the Dark Knight, and those like him, who stands between us and those who would prey on us. But neither are these predators the "big bad."
On television, it was Buffy the Vampire Slayer and her "scooby gang" who fought our fears-personified and made us fervently hope those things stayed firmly in the realm of fiction. But even they of the sharp teeth, as frightening as such might be, are not the "big bad."
For the answer, let's look at this week's Lectionary scriptures; they're packed full of the big bad. Here's what we find:
The big bad is the realization that you and your child are not going to survive, when even those you thought were your friends seek to harm you, when your family shuns you. It is knowing, now that your family and friends have turned against you, that no one stands with you; it the inescapable death by dehydration when there is no longer any water; it is the drowning when the mighty waters rise above you. It is the sure knowledge that no knight, whatever his or her stripe, can save you from what is to come. It is when the realization dawns that all is lost, the moment when clarity shows us there is no escape, that ...
... we need to remember ... there is another.
If we have been waiting for just the right time, there is no more margin for waiting. It is the day of your trouble. Call on The Lord. In this week's Jeremiah passage, he declares that if he tries to withhold the message of God, it becomes like "a burning fire shut up in his bones," a fire he cannot hold in. That message, the one so hot he cannot contain it, is that God continues to care about us, cares enough to "deliver the life of the needy from the hands of the evildoers."
There was a time when death was the big bad ---the biggest bad--- the true inescapable fate. But that time has ended. That bone-burning message eventually took human form, and it was the sacrifice of Jesus that turned what was once an inescapable prison into a mere way-station.
And that is why, today, we can have confidence that the "big bad" can never overcome the "big good."
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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 7 (12) (June 25, 2017)
http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/
Genesis 21:8-21
Psalm 86:1-10, 16-17
Jeremiah 20:7-13
Psalm 69:7-10, (11-15), 16-18
Romans 6:1b-11
Matthew 10:24-39
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Lectionary Breakfast continues to meet Friday mornings at 8:00 at the Waco "Egg and I" restaurant. Please join us for an hour that will leave though energized and ready for the coming week.
Blessings,
Steve
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Photo credit: St. George and the Dragon by Notke Britannica.com
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A very different version of this reflection appeared three years ago as "The Big Bad."
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