TODAY IN THE WORD
The characters in Flannery O’Connor’s stories are often described as grotesque, but O’Connor explained that they are intended to highlight the spiritual condition of modern humanity: “The novelist with Christian concerns will find modern life distortions which are repugnant to him, and his problem will be to make these appear as distortions to an audience which is used to seeing them as natural; . . . to the hard of hearing you shout, and for the almost-blind you draw large and startling figures.”

For the next few days we’ll see how God uses grotesque exaggerations to teach His people the truth and to combat a distorted sense of what is natural. Our passage today presents three darkly comedic characters: the sluggard, the meddler, and the joker.

The sluggard is characterized by making excuses. In verse 13, the excuse is exaggerated to reveal the preposterous situation of someone too lazy to engage his responsibilities. Is it possible that a lion might be in the street? Yes . . . but it’s also extremely improbable. A sluggard will seize on any remotely plausible excuse to shirk his task.

Likewise, the sluggard can’t make any progress in life; he is like a door that can only turn from side to side. It’s as if this lazy person is tethered to the bed, unwilling—and therefore unable—to get anything done. In fact, a sluggard can’t even accomplish the basic necessities of life (v. 15). Laziness will impair our ability to function at even the most fundamental level.

The meddler has no more sense than someone who provokes a dog. Inserting yourself in the affairs of others is hazardous to your own well-being (v. 17)! The final character in our passage depicts the dangerous consequences of inappropriate joking. This person deceives others and then attempts to gloss over the situation by claiming, “I was only joking!” The devastation caused by such deceit is compared to a madman wildly shooting flaming arrows. Humor is never an excuse for lies, manipulation, or deceit.

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TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Modern sensibilities encourage joking at the expense of others and justifying deceit with the excuse of humor. In fact, it’s a natural human tendency—even little children will make a cruel remark and then say, “I was only joking!” The reality is that such jokes are not funny; they are as dangerous as lobbing firebombs into the lives of others. If you struggle with these comments, reflect on Colossians 4:6: “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”

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