The above image is from Revealed: A Storybook Bible for Grown-Ups compiled and written by Ned Bustard. The image is called “The Monkey and the Bride” and was created by Ned Bustard as well.

1 Corinthians 5:9-11, 6:9-11

⁹ When I wrote to you before, I told you not to associate with people who indulge in sexual sin. ¹⁰ But I wasn’t talking about unbelievers who indulge in sexual sin, or are greedy, or cheat people, or worship idols. You would have to leave this world to avoid people like that. ¹¹ I meant that you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer^[j] yet indulges in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worships idols, or is abusive, or is a drunkard, or cheats people. Don’t even eat with such people.

⁹ Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, ¹⁰ or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God. ¹¹ Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Dear God, I read this passage and then I spent some time looking at this image. What did I see?

1. A woman bent over
2. A monkey riding on her back as if riding a horse and using her hair as reins (the monkey is holding a banana with his/her tail for good measure)
3. I see a broken piggybank below her
4. There is some kind of portrayal of a round man next to the piggybank. Is this gluttony? A false god? Not sure, but it doesn’t seem good
5. Is that a church in the backgroud, down the road? The Holy Spirit fire coming out of the top?
6. Certainly, there is a dove representing the Holy Spirit (triangle for Trinity) offering the woman a crown

One thing I didn’t notice without Bustard’s description of the piece is that the woman is “bruised and battered by the ravaging effects of sin.” Isn’t it funny that the part of me that is still sexist expects the sinful person to be portrayed as a man and not a woman. I just don’t think about women being in sin as much as men. For example, when I think of alcoholics, I think of men and not women. My wife visits a treatment center for women once a month, and when she first started doing it I was just having a harder time thinking about the women being so flawed. What it is about me that sees men as much more flawed and sinful than women? Is it my knowledge of myself and knowing how awful I can be? How awful men can be?

Regardless, there is the Holy Spirit in the bottom of the picture, positioning himself where the woman can see him. Not flying in from above, circling the woman. Not waiting over by the church. No, Bustard put the Holy Spirit on the ground, right below her, right in her line of sight, offering her the crown that you offer to all of us and a path to your community (the church). Will she accept? Will she reject the monkey, confess the things that bring her shame and then move towards your peace? Or will she continue to walk on by, rejecting the Holy Spirit’s offer?

Father, this is the part when I try to put myself in the woman’s place. What monkeys are riding me and using my hair as reins to control me? Are they the sins of sexual immorality, greed, or idolatry? Maybe it’s the sins of lethargy and self-indulgence. Even today, I’ve had all day to spend with you, but I waited until a slow moment in the afternoon–after 4:00pm–to break from my own selfish agenda and discipline myself to sit here. But I am here now. I’m sorry it took me so long to get here. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for nudging me and bringing me in here. Thank you for the freedom you offer me from the monkeys/demons that want to destroy me and steal the joy you have for me. Thank you for…well, everything.

I pray all of this through the grace of Jesus,

Amen