FROM THE PASTOR
Old Man and Scorpion
When I am conversation with friends and family and many of you at St Luke’s I hear from you a weariness and a kind of spiritual tiredness as we, in fits and starts, come out of this pandemic. But it is about more that the pandemic. We are tired of this graceless public square in which we live, where there are so many lies paraded as vehement truth, such hostile daily encounters, such divisive politics, and so many echo chambers as we get our news and opinions. It is soul crushing and we are tired of it. There are days when I just want to shut it all out, retreat into my own shell. Good Shepherd Sunday reminds us that we are still a part of the Good Shepherd’s flock, loved and protected, and that the church and it’s disciples-us-are called to build an oasis of grace in this fractured world of war and divisiveness. I share a story to help us remember that our presence with those who touch our lives, our very nature, is that of the Good Shepherd.
Once there was a very old man who used to meditate early every morning under a large tree on the banks of the Ganges River in India. One morning, having finished his meditation, he opened his eyes and saw a scorpion helplessly floating in the strong current of the river. As the scorpion was pulled closer to the tree, it got caught in the tree roots that branched out far into the river. The scorpion struggled frantically to free itself but got more and more entangled in the complex network of the tree roots.
When the old man saw this, he immediately stretched himself onto the extended roots and reached out to rescue the drowning scorpion. But as soon as he touched it, the animal jerked and stung him wildly. Instinctively, the man withdrew his hand, but then, after having regained his balance, he once again stretched himself out along the roots to save the agonized scorpion. But every time the old man came within reach, the scorpion stung his so badly with its poisonous tail that his hands became swollen and bloody and his face distorted with pain.
At that moment, a passer-by saw the old man stretched out on the roots struggling with the scorpion and shouted: “Hey, stupid old man! What’s wrong with you? Only a fool risks his life for the sake of an ugly, useless creature. Don’t you know that you may kill yourself to save that ungrateful animal?”
Slowly the man turned his head, and looking calmly in the stranger’s eyes, he said: “Friend, because it is the nature of the scorpion to sting, why should I give up my nature to save?”
In the love of Christ, the Good Shepherd,
Pastor Stephen Paul Bouman
