Scripture: Isaiah 41:14-15 – “Do not fear, you worm Jacob, you maggot Israel! I will help you, says the Lord; your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. I will make of you a threshing sledge, sharp, new, and having teeth; you shall thresh the mountains and crush them, and you shall make the hills like chaff.” (NRSVue)
When in times of doubt, humor can be a good antidote. I was thinking about one of the classic comedies, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, specifically the encounter with the Knights Who Say “Ni!”. In case you have not seen it, the movie is a parody of the heroic adventures of King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table, and at one point in the movie, all the knights go off to have their own adventures. King Arthur and Sir Bedivere are trying to pass through a forest when they are confronted by the inscrutable knights, who demand a sacrifice and will be appeased only by the presentation of a shrubbery. Arthur and Bedivere go off on this seemingly easy task and after meeting the helpful Roger the Shrubber bring the shrubbery to the Knights. However, while they were gone, the rules were changed. The Knights are now The Knights Who Say “Ekke Ekke Ekke Ekke Ptang Zoo Boing,” and they want not only a second shrubbery but also for Arthur to cut down the mightiest tree in the forest with a herring. Arthur complains that it cannot be done and is saved only when he learns the word “it,” terrifies the Knights.
The Monty Python crew meant this as a ludicrous take on the bizarre quests in the Arthurian legend, but I think the scene gives us some wisdom for our own lives. When we are faced with a task, it often seems simple enough, but even if we succeed, we find the rules have changed and things are impossible. Think of all the fruitless and impossible tasks we must face. We are told “we can cancel at any time,” but when we try, our phone calls are mysteriously dropped, our replies must be notarized and faxed, and the address has changed. There is endless bureaucratic red tape. We are told to eat healthily, but then whatever we eat is actually terrible for us. And there are more universal issues to overcome like financial struggles, disease, and old age. Sometimes, our survival seems to depend on something as impossible as cutting down a tree with a fish.
But this is where God comes in. In the Book of Isaiah, the prophet speaks to the Israelites who have been ground down by generations of exile in Babylon. They have lost everything and feel insignificant and powerless. Through the prophet, God says to them, “Do not fear, you worm Jacob, you maggot Israel!” These lowly worms will act as a powerful threshing sledge. I had to look this up, but a threshing sledge is board which has little blades on one side, kind of like a piece of sandpaper, which is used to separate grains from straw by dragging it over the crops. But the threshing sledge of Israel will not crush grain but will grind down mountains. Indeed, an impossible task, but anything is possible with God.
King Arthur had only to say the slightest word, “it,” and his problems were solved. While merely saying the name of God does not immediately cause our challenges to vanish, it does give us the power to face them. With God, we no longer feel like worms. Our feelings of fear and frustration subside, which is often what we need to begin facing our obstacles. And often a solution will present itself from an unlikely place. We feel like a worm armed with a floppy herring, but with God, we can cut through red tape, mighty trees, and towering mountains.
What do you need help with today and how might prayer make you feel powerful?
Prayer: Lord, through faith in you, we can overcome any challenge. Amen.
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