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A Pet Poem for Easter
Good morning, listeners. Today’s poem is a poem for Easter. It was originally written in response to a poetry prompt in which we were to write a “pet poem.” At the time I was preaching a series from the book of Job and was thinking a lot about the monsters in that book: Rehab, Behemoth, and Leviathan. I was really taken by the image of Leviathan in Job chapter 41.
Up to that point in the book of Job, Job has been suffering calamities, suffering so-called good friends trying to set him straight, suffering the silence of God, pleading his case, but in Job chapters 38-41 God asks Job some questions, and in Job 41, the Lord asks this,
1 “Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook
or press down his tongue with a cord?
2 Can you put a rope in his nose
or pierce his jaw with a hook?
3 Will he make many pleas to you?
Will he speak to you soft words?
4 Will he make a covenant with you
to take him for your servant forever?
5 Will you play with him as with a bird,
or will you put him on a leash for your girls?
Job 41:1-5
The image of the Lord making Leviathan nothing more than a pet for young girls sealed the deal for me. I had to write a pet poem about Leviathan.
At about that same time, I was looking for the ways aritists imagined Leviathan. I found one image I particularly liked that was included in a 12th Century manuscript titled, Hortus Deliciarum (The Garden of Delights), a book was compiled by Herrad of Landsberg. In this image of Leviathan, some artistic monk drew Leviathan being fished for with a hook featuring Jesus’ human nature on the cross as the bait. I’ve included the imagine in the episode’s notes. The fishing line is composed of several patriarchs and prophets which resemble a Jesse Tree or a chain of prophecies in the Old Testament foretelling Jesus’ coming. Leviathan attempts to swallow Jesus, but in so attempting, Leviathan pierces his own jaw on the hook. In looking at the image, you can see how the text and image relate.
One other thing, seemingly random but really related. Have you ever caught those TV shows about “noodlers”? Noodlers are catfishers who catch these huge catfish by sticking their hand in a catfish hole until the catfish bites their arm. Once the catfish bites, they pull the fish out of the water. Do they use dough balls? Chicken livers? [Nope.] They use themselves. They are the bait. In some way, that is just what Jesus Christ has done. He became the bait so that we might get the catch. In a manner of speaking, I’m saying, that Jesus’ resurrection on Easter morning means, the catfish hole of death is empty. Life has swallowed up the grave. Jesus makes death no more dangerous than a tame bird or a pet your little girls lead around on a leash.
So, I’d like to wish you a Happy Easter. Hallelujah! Christ is risen!
A Pet Poem
Tied like bait and fastened to a tree
He descended, cast himself to the depths
Of this world’s chaos and calamity
Sank ‘neath its waves and breathed his last breath.
Swallowed by the gaping mouth of death
In the dark of its belly he lay
Until the barbed hook of justice set
On the morning of the third day.
Holding his rope in the beast’s jaw fixed fast
The one who went down, was drowned, arose
Bursting death’s belly, the scorned and outcast
Led Leviathan out by the nose.
In our loving, Redeemer’s victory
The fears we fear, the terrors and threats
Are of no more concern for you and me
Than a bird a young boy might get,
And Leviathan that dragon of death
Is led for your girls on a leash like a pet.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit backwardmutters.substack.com
Description: God fishing Leviathan, using Jesus Christ’s human nature as bait. Jesus is depicted crucified, at the bottom of a w:Jesse Tree. Miniature from Hortus deliciarum. between 1167 and 1185. w:Herrad of Landsberg.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit backwardmutters.substack.com
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By Randall EdwardsGood morning, listeners. Today’s poem is a poem for Easter. It was originally written in response to a poetry prompt in which we were to write a “pet poem.” At the time I was preaching a series from the book of Job and was thinking a lot about the monsters in that book: Rehab, Behemoth, and Leviathan. I was really taken by the image of Leviathan in Job chapter 41.
Up to that point in the book of Job, Job has been suffering calamities, suffering so-called good friends trying to set him straight, suffering the silence of God, pleading his case, but in Job chapters 38-41 God asks Job some questions, and in Job 41, the Lord asks this,
1 “Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook
or press down his tongue with a cord?
2 Can you put a rope in his nose
or pierce his jaw with a hook?
3 Will he make many pleas to you?
Will he speak to you soft words?
4 Will he make a covenant with you
to take him for your servant forever?
5 Will you play with him as with a bird,
or will you put him on a leash for your girls?
Job 41:1-5
The image of the Lord making Leviathan nothing more than a pet for young girls sealed the deal for me. I had to write a pet poem about Leviathan.
At about that same time, I was looking for the ways aritists imagined Leviathan. I found one image I particularly liked that was included in a 12th Century manuscript titled, Hortus Deliciarum (The Garden of Delights), a book was compiled by Herrad of Landsberg. In this image of Leviathan, some artistic monk drew Leviathan being fished for with a hook featuring Jesus’ human nature on the cross as the bait. I’ve included the imagine in the episode’s notes. The fishing line is composed of several patriarchs and prophets which resemble a Jesse Tree or a chain of prophecies in the Old Testament foretelling Jesus’ coming. Leviathan attempts to swallow Jesus, but in so attempting, Leviathan pierces his own jaw on the hook. In looking at the image, you can see how the text and image relate.
One other thing, seemingly random but really related. Have you ever caught those TV shows about “noodlers”? Noodlers are catfishers who catch these huge catfish by sticking their hand in a catfish hole until the catfish bites their arm. Once the catfish bites, they pull the fish out of the water. Do they use dough balls? Chicken livers? [Nope.] They use themselves. They are the bait. In some way, that is just what Jesus Christ has done. He became the bait so that we might get the catch. In a manner of speaking, I’m saying, that Jesus’ resurrection on Easter morning means, the catfish hole of death is empty. Life has swallowed up the grave. Jesus makes death no more dangerous than a tame bird or a pet your little girls lead around on a leash.
So, I’d like to wish you a Happy Easter. Hallelujah! Christ is risen!
A Pet Poem
Tied like bait and fastened to a tree
He descended, cast himself to the depths
Of this world’s chaos and calamity
Sank ‘neath its waves and breathed his last breath.
Swallowed by the gaping mouth of death
In the dark of its belly he lay
Until the barbed hook of justice set
On the morning of the third day.
Holding his rope in the beast’s jaw fixed fast
The one who went down, was drowned, arose
Bursting death’s belly, the scorned and outcast
Led Leviathan out by the nose.
In our loving, Redeemer’s victory
The fears we fear, the terrors and threats
Are of no more concern for you and me
Than a bird a young boy might get,
And Leviathan that dragon of death
Is led for your girls on a leash like a pet.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit backwardmutters.substack.com
Description: God fishing Leviathan, using Jesus Christ’s human nature as bait. Jesus is depicted crucified, at the bottom of a w:Jesse Tree. Miniature from Hortus deliciarum. between 1167 and 1185. w:Herrad of Landsberg.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit backwardmutters.substack.com