Those meddling kids!

Scooby-Doo is one weird cartoon. Talking dogs? A “Mystery Machine” van? A floppy haired dude who’s always got the munchies? I’m not sure this is stuff for kids…

What gives me a kick is how every single episode of Scooby-Doo has the exact same plot. After Scooby and his friends reveal the masked “spook” and uncover his evil plot, the villain often says something like, “…and I would have gotten away with it, too, if it hadn’t been for you meddling kids!”

Yesterday I held two sessions of our Bible study on the Gospel of Mark. Both sessions were well attended and we had some very rich spiritual conversations. Any of you who have been to my Bible studies know that after getting through the teaching portion of the session we always take a moment to look back and reflect.

Yesterday I offered four “Questions for Reflection.” The first three were pretty mundane. But I decided to let fly with a zinger for the final question:

The first disciples dropped their nets in order to follow Jesus. What are you holding onto that is preventing you from following Jesus?

Both sessions of our Bible study accused me of meddling. They realized that I had just poked a very sensitive spot in everybody’s life of faith.

The real beauty for me was the diversity of responses. Some saw this as a material question: my checkbook, my job, the security I find in work. Others saw this as an emotional question: a past wrong that I haven’t forgotten, a mental obstacle, some thing in the past I’ve done.

So yeah, I meddled. I ripped the mask we wear on our spiritual lives and exposed the truth – dropping our nets is the hardest thing we will ever do.

You would have gotten away with an easy Bible study if it hadn’t been for that meddling priest!