I recently passed an assembly of carolers. They                 sang a familiar tune:

                  We wish you a merry Christmas…
                  Oh bring us some figgy pudding…
                  We won’t go until we get some,
                  so bring it right here.

“A pretentious, showy life is an empty life; a plain and simple life is a full life” (Proverbs 13:7, MSG).

     The vote is in. “Goblin mode” has been chosen as Oxford’s word of the year for 2022. Goblin mode is an unapologetic rejection of idealized versions of self-improvement. Goblin mode is like waking up in the middle of the night, wearing nothing but a torn tee shirt and sweats, while making a weird snack like peanut butter on graham crackers. Goblin mode is the practice of being one’s true self without regard to what others may think.

     I have a picture of Jesus carrying a sheep on his shoulders. Sheep are skittish creatures. The sound of a wolf or coyote can propel these animals into an anxious fit. To calm the sheep, a shepherd will often place the animal upon his shoulders. In no time, the nervous mutton will fall asleep.

     This image of a shepherd carrying the sheep is at the heart of today’s passage from                    Deuteronomy 33:12:

“The beloved of the LORD rests in safety—

the High God surrounds him all day long—

the beloved rests between his shoulders.”

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’   But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also” (Matthew 5:38-39, NLT).

     It’s not hard to figure out what Jesus is saying in the first few verses. Don’t strike back. Don’t verbally counter-assault your enemy. Don’t exchange one level of harm for another. Most of us get that. What many people struggle with, however, is whether Jesus extending this teaching to say, “Don’t retaliate, just let the other person roll all over you. Let them hit you on the right cheek, then let that same person hit you, again, on the left”.

“How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:4, NIV).

     A few days ago, I was waiting for my wife’s vehicle to be serviced. A woman walked into the shop as she quarreled with her husband on the phone. Her car had broken down and the husband was upset that she had not taken it to a mechanic sooner. In defense of her delayed action, the woman shouted, “Well, what about you? You promised to fix the faucet in the kitchen weeks ago, yet it’s still broken!”