Turning a Prince of Thieves Into Family

Suggested Reading: Nehemiah 5:1-8

In spite of the fact that he couldn't speak with an English accent, my favorite Robin Hood movie of all time is Kevin Costner's Robin Hood: Price of Thieves. While many of the relationships change throughout the course of the movie, the relationship which changes most dramatically is the relationship between Robin and Will Scarlett. From the moment Will Scarlett is introduced, the viewer can tell that he hates Robin, that he loathes him. Seemingly before he has any reason, Will would just as soon slit Robin's throat as acknowledge him as leader of their band of merry men. But all of that changes when Will is released by the Sherriff of Nottingham to track down and kill Robin Hood.

When Will appears in the woods where Robin and Little John are burying their dead and trying to regroup, Robin is ready to let John kill Will as a traitor. But when Will reveals that he is Robin's half-brother, the son of the woman who comforted Robin's widowed father, everything changes. Robin grabs Will and hugs him closely and says, "I will stand with you. Side by side to the end." In that one moment, when Robin realizes that Will is family, a precious treasure he thought he had lost, everything changes.

Back in Nehemiah chapter 5, when Nehemiah was forced to confront the nobles and officials who had been exploiting the people, listen to the language he used, "You are exacting usury from your own countrymen! As far as possible, we have bought back our Jewish brothers who were sold to the Gentiles. Now you are selling your brothers, only for them to be sold back to us!" (Nehemiah 5:7-8, ESV). "Your own countrymen." "Our Jewish brothers." "Your brothers." Nehemiah wanted to remind these nobles and officials that the people they were exploiting were their family. Not only were they members of the same ethnic group, but they were all descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They had all been adopted as God's chosen people. They were family. And family is supposed to treat each other right, even if they don't treat anybody else right.

Unfortunately, we often get that backwards. We treat everybody else right but treat the members of our own family badly. And it can get even worse when we talk about members of our church family. Too many of us rarely stop to think about the fact that the people we are supposed to worship, work, and witness with are family -- that we are all brothers and sisters in Christ, adopted by the same Heavenly Father. We should treat our family well. We should cut them more slack than we do because they are our family. We should go out of our way to be understanding and forgiving, to be supportive and considerate.

We should treat our families, both physical and spiritual, well. We should be able to say to one another, like Robin said to Will Scarlett, "I will stand with you. Side by side to the end."

Dealing with Worry like Little John

Suggested Reading: Luke 21:29-36

There is a great scene in the Kevin Costner movie Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves where Robin and Azeem are trying to cross a river. They and are challenged by a gang of outlaws led by John Little and required to pay "taxes." Robin agrees to fight John on the condition that, if he wins, he doesn't have to pay. After taking an initial walloping, Robin finally manages to win the fight by taking John's legs out from under him. John, who doesn't know how to swim, is deathly afraid of drowning in the water. He panics and finally yields the fight to Robin who tells him, "Good. Now put your feet down." John does and discovers that in all of his panic and thrashing about, he failed to realize that the water was barely waist deep. John was so scared of the water that he simply couldn't think straight.

I was reminded of that scene when reading the words of Luke 21:34-35, where Jesus warned his listeners about the end times, "Be on your guard, so that your minds are not dulled from carousing, drunkenness, and worries of life or that day will come on you unexpectedly like a trap" (HCSB). Though some translations say "so that your hearts are not weighed down" instead of mind being dulled, they all pair up the equivalents of drunkenness, carousing, and the worries of life. Most of us completely understand the effects of drunkenness and carousing on the mind, but how often do we think about the fact that worry, the little sister of fear, has a similar effect?

When we worry, neither our brains nor our hearts can function at full capacity. We are just like John Little, thrashing, and yelling, and desperate to escape, and unable to realize that if we just put our feet down we would be fine. Worry prevents us from being able to see the world as it truly is. And though worry may not have quite the same debilitating effect as abject panic, both are on the same spectrum of fear and both distort the way we think and the way we see the world.

What have you been worried about?  How has your view of reality been affected by your own sense of worry and doubt? What have you failed to realize because you were so focused on the object of your worry? Stop. Take a deep breath. Put your feet down and stand up.  You might just be able to see reality a little clearer.