Sunday, August 5, 2012: 2 Samuel 11:26-12:13a
Like many parents, I’ve ingested my fair share of VeggieTales, and I confess that I have a favorite: the episode in which Larry the Cucumber plays King George, who has an irrational fondness for his outsize collection of rubber duckies.
The story is an allegory of King David and Bathsheba. George peers out the window of his palace and sees Junior Asparagus taking a bath with an irresistible rubber ducky that George decides he must have. So George sends Junior to the front lines of a battle where Junior is obliterated by blueberry “bullets.” The ducky now belongs to George.
Enter Pa Grape, a piece of fruit voiced by Phil Vischer, who sounds a lot like James Earl Jones. When Pa Grape tells George a story about a man who’s misused his power and pilfered sheep, an outraged George is ready to wield his power in the name of justice. Then the bomb drops. Pa Grape announces: “You are that man.” There is something haunting about this announcement, even in the veggie version.
