Today I learned that one of the most popular of the parabes of Jesus, the Prodigal Son, is not just about forgiveness, but about mercy, pride and legalistic adherence to the law without any human compassion. 

Compassion does not mean we face no consequences for our actions, the younger son certainly did so. He suffered for his sins, terribly. There is no greater shame for a Jew than eating with and sleeping with pigs. A young man of privilege disobeys his father, lives in sin and loses everything he thought he had. Not just that, but he is brought low, as low as it is possible for a Jew to go. His fall was his own doing. 

The elder son committed the same sins, he hated his father, indeed he had no interest in sharing meals with him, s is the tradition in a Jewish family, rather he wanted to eat and drink with his friends. This son is the Pharisees, writ large. Like the younger son, he wanted his father out of the way so he could eat and party with his friends. He obeyed the LETTER of the law by strictly obeying his father but there was no love there, at least not from the son. We fail to see the sins of the son, as he is always assumed to be "obedient" yet Jesus always reserved his most scathing remarks for the Pharisees. 

The older son obeyed the letter of the law, but lacked love for his father or brother. Despite the unconditional love the father had for him. He lacked mercy for his brother, whose sin was more obvious, but no less serious than that of the older brother. The difference was the simple act of repentance. This is the core message of the Lenten season, Like the two brothers, we have all sinned, whether openly, or in the secret parts of our hearts. We all sin against our Father. 

The fact that the younger son was not only forgiven but honored leaves us confused. Should not obedience and adherence to the law be rewarded? No, that is expected, rather, we are to love and show mercy. "Love one another , and you have fulfilled the Law" We are shown mercy as we show it. "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us". The sins of the Pharisees  are subtle, devious and oh so easy to fall into. We are proud of not being proud. We are better than our neighbor  because we do not do the sinful things our neighbor does, but is that really true? We are not.

One of the lessons we need to learn from Lent is that we are no better than those we look down upon as sinners. That is not to say we should approve of the sins, but that we should realize we also sin, and are equally in need of repentance and forgiveness. 

Did the elder son renounce his hatred of his brother and father? Did he also repent and become reconciled with his brother and Father? Jesus doesn't tell us that. He leaves us to work out the nuances of His parables. The teachings of Jesus are not simple or straightforward by any means, but they are worth study, for they are rich in teachings. 

May your Lent be joyful and lead to a closer walk with God. Amen. 
 

"Hammerheads" an early description of the Liberal Democrats

Our time has come, age of the hammerhead
This is our mission, to be the darlings of God
Too late for silence, too late for anything
It's all too much for me, its roots go down too deep for me

 

A punishing fire, an animal frenzy
These hammerhead people know what danger is for
You let them in and now they're everywhere
If it's mineral or vegetable it's back a little up a little

 

Shout, push, hammerheads, bold and resolute
Marching, balancing, in too far to go back
Yes, yes, hammerheads, swimming, kissing
We are big and clever and we don't know anything

 

Purification by immersion in our filthy demon seed
We know the only things you like are paranoid sex and childish greed
Our own worst enemies, they hollowed us out of wood
Look at all the grease inside us, gonna get us this time but good
Whether we pull it out or push it in it all ends up the same
You know a hammerhead is a hammerhead by any other name

 

Shout, push, hammerheads, bold and resolute
Marching, balancing, in too far to go back
Yes, yes, hammerheads, swimming, kissing
We are big and clever and we don't know anything

 

Onward hammerheads, bright and dangerous
Jumping running in the field and factory
God save hammerheads, keeping going
We are sleek and special and we're sure of something

 

Blessed are the apemen
Blessed are the shit kickers
Blessed are the jack hammers
Blessed is the big damage
Blessed are the faith healers
Blessed are the moon walkers
Blessed are the snake people
Blessed are the heat seekers

Shout, push, hammerheads
Yes, yes, hammerheads

 

Shout, push, hammerheads, bold and resolute
Marching, balancing, in too far to go back
Yes, yes, hammerheads, swimming, kissing
We are big and clever and we don't know anything

 

Shout, push, hammerheads, bold and resolute
Marching, balancing, in too far to go back
Yes, yes, hammerheads, swimming, kissing
We are big and clever and we don't know anything

 

Onward hammerheads, bright and dangerous
Jumping running in the field and factory
God save hammerheads, keeping going

"Hammerheads" Shriekback

Best description of Liberals I have ever heard.

 A post by a very wise friend of mine:

Gary Gobel

Favorites  · 16h  ·

Allow me to educate you. All of what needs to be done, can be accomplished by a constitutional convention of the states repealing the 17th Amendment: We've watched the political nest of party politics that the Senate has become and wondered how to fix it. Term limits? No, the founders set it up properly and we messed it up properly with the 17th amendment.

That change made the senators elected by general election for terms of 6 years and today with uninformed, name recognition voters, they enjoy a re election rate around 80%. The constitution as written had the senators chosen by the state legislatures to represent the sovereign state in the national legislature and if the senator failed to do this to the pleasure of the state, they were recalled and replaced.

Repeal that product of a progressive liberal administration and return the checks and balances of state representation to our national legislature.

This current system, under the 17 Amendment, was put in place in 1913 by the Wilson Progressive Liberal Misadministration and it has turned the states into provinces with no direct voice in our national legislature.....an abomination of the founder's intent for the sovereign states to be a check on an out of control federal government.

Now, we angst about the stacking of the Supreme Waste to keep this government within the narrow lanes of the constitution.....the fox watching the hen house.

In the same era, we passed and then later repealed Prohibition (18th and 21st Amendments). Repeal of the 17th would put the Senate back as a representative of the sovereign states with the state legislatures having full control of selection and recall of senators..... and immediately check the out of control federal government. Most of the adjustments will be on the part of the Deep State and the Senate lobbyists and that's fine with me.

We screwed with the system and now it is not working...…$27 trillion federal debt, military scattered across the globe in expensive and unnecessary bases, 1 year military occupation of Afghanistan with no stated goal, involved in everyone's business and can't control our own borders or spend adequate tax revenue on our own nation......this needs to stop.

Repeal the 17th. G.Gobel

Now one can ask, what good would repealing the 17th Amendment do? 1. It will force the government back under the restrictions of the 10th Amendment. 2. It will cede the intrusive powers being abused by the Federal Government to the states. 3, The COS can then reinforce the Bill of Rights, establish Castle Law and "Stand Your Ground" protection for appropriate self and property defense as originally intended by the Founding Fathers. 4. The COS can require any legislation be reviewed and voted on by the people to prevent another California style authoritarian state. 5. The COS can impose term limits so we never again have to deal with a Pelosi, Schumer, Schiff or any other self declared dictator in Congress. 

An early day musing

I find myself on a woodland path I know not where. Nor do I know how I got there, but here am I. It be no land I recognize nor do I feel I am at home here. Beautiful as it my be, it’s not my home, and I know not why I am here. Yet I feel I must go on, for to go back to something I do not remember is no solution. As I go on, I meet no one and no animal greets me, only silence without peace, quiet without solace. The miles grow beneath my feet, and I grow weary, hungry and sore. Yet nothing changes, the path goes on and I can only follow. In time (who knows how much) I begin to stumble, to limp and to lose my strength, the way is darker now, more forbidding, but I still go on. At last I take my last step, falling into the leaves and pine needles on the path. I am weak and spent, and I know not how to go on. I cannot sleep, for dreams I wish not to see, but yet I cannot but crawl along the way. Dark, it is so dark, my lungs ache and my legs are numb, so I sit, waiting for the Hunter, for He must be near. I feel a tearing deep in my chest, and all begins to darken, I am dying. Still I find myself on a woodland path I know not where, and I still know not why I am here, nor where I go.