Kicking Mules and Kissing Frogs (a Steve Orr scripture reflection)

 

I like this scene in the movie, Jesse Stone: Lost In Paradise. Police Chief Jesse Stone (Tom Selleck) attempts to mend a broken relationship with a woman he previously upset. But she’s frosty, at first saying she’s “kissed a few frogs” in her day and wondering aloud if Chief Stone is such a reptile. When he offers to make it up to her “over a cup of coffee,” she quotes Mark Twain in response: “There's no education in the second kick of a mule.”

 

You’ll need to watch the movie for the full effect, and for the resolution of the encounter. In romance, we always want  conflicts to be resolved. It is our hope they will finally find what they’ve been looking for. But experience can be a cruel teacher, and some of us are slow to learn. 

 

That seems to be a running theme in this week’s Exodus and Jeremiah passages. God’s people were supposed to be in a committed relationship with God. But they just kept being drawn away to false gods, over and over. 

 

They spent a lot of years “kissing frogs” before God had Moses lead them out of Egypt. In fact, they kissed frogs for so long, they came to believe that was how things were supposed to be. Perhaps we can understand how they were so easily drawn to those bad boys. It’s a hard habit to break. Still, you have to wonder. It’s not like they did these things in a vacuum. God kept giving them reasons to know that He was the real deal. He kept showing them that those false gods never delivered—that, at best, they were just frogs claiming their kisses would produce princes. 

 

Hopefully, we can read these passages and learn the lessons they teach. There’s no need to subject ourselves to a bunch of lies and liars trying to take God’s place in our lives. We should be able to lean into the teachings of Jesus in the Luke passage and the example of the Apostle Paul in this week’s 1st Timothy selection. 

 

Because, after all, there really is nothing new to learn in the second kick of a mule. 

 

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PHOTO: Steve Orr

DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast meets Friday morning on Zoom** and at Our Breakfast Place. The hour starts at 8:00 and includes food, fellowship, scripture, and a robust exchange of ideas. Plus, there’s always the chance of some possibly inappropriate laughter. 

 

Join us. 

Steve

 

**Contact me for the Zoom link

 

NOTE: Zoom allows you to mute the camera and the microphone if you don’t wish to be seen or heard.

 

SCRIPTURES FOR SUNDAY AND THE COMING WEEK

Find them here:

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts.php?id=279

 

Print them here:

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/pdf//Cx_Proper19.pdf

 

Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28

Psalm 14

Exodus 32:7-14

Psalm 51:1-10

1 Timothy 1:12-17

Luke 15:1-10

Proper 19 (24) (September 11, 2022)

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