#424 - Kyle Thompson // Find Your Telemachus

We use The Odyssey to show what happens when a home loses its protector and predators move in to take advantage of the weak. We connect Telemachus’s fatherless reality to Scripture’s fierce defense of widows and orphans, then challenge men to repent of small-scale “suitor” behavior and step into the gap. 
• Odysseus’s absence and the suitors devouring the household 
• Telemachus as a picture of a fatherless, undefended home 
• Exodus 22 and God’s direct warning against exploiting widows and children 
• Isaiah 1:17 as a command for men to seek justice and protect the vulnerable 
• Fatherlessness as a present-day crisis with sweeping social consequences 
• The uncomfortable mirror of benefiting from someone else’s lack of protection 
• Two assignments: stop acting like a suitor and show up for a nearby “Telemachus” 
Before you go, if you want to help equip other men for the fight, share this podcast around and leave us a five star rating and review.

Transcript

Copy

Welcome And The Blade Metaphor

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to the Daily Blade. The word of God is described as the sword of the spirit, the primary spiritual weapon in the Christians' armor against the forces of evil. Your hosts are Joby Martin and Kyle Thompson, and they stand ready to equip men for the fight. Let's sharpen up.

Why We’re Back In The Odyssey

SPEAKER_01 0:20

Welcome back to a new week of The Daily Blade. Last week we spent the entire time looking at stories from Homer's epic poem The Odyssey and discovered the biblical themes therein. We're going to continue on doing that the same for this week. So hopefully you guys have enjoyed last week because we're doing it again. Last week ended discussing godly hospitality. And this week we start off with a house being eaten alive because the man that is supposed to defend it isn't even there. Instead, a boy is trying to hold the line all by himself. And for all of you fathers and husbands out there that have looked away from a fight because it wasn't technically yours, I want you to pay especially close attention to this episode today.

Telemachus And A House Under Siege

SPEAKER_01 0:58

So while Odysseus was gone from Ithaca for 20 years, his palace, his home was under siege. Now it wasn't under siege, you know, from a warring faction from another Greek island, but by the 100-plus suitors that had moved into the palace. So they were eating his livestock, drinking his wine, harassing his servants, and pressuring his bride, Penelope, to remarry. And they were doing this because everyone assumed that Odysseus was already dead. So Odysseus also had a son named Telemachus, and Telemachus doesn't really have a memory of his father because he was too young when Odysseus left for the Trojan War. Telemachus is just stuck watching as his inheritance is being devoured by the ravenous suitors of his mother. And here's a quote from Telemachus. Jove, again, that's Zeus, has made us a race of only sons. Hence it comes that my house is in the hands of numberless marauders. So he didn't have any brothers or uncles to turn to, and his dad was MIA. He was just stuck watching these wolves circle a house because there was not a strong man there to defend it. And Emmaeus, who is Odysseus's swineherd, he describes the suitors as, quote, wasting his estate by force without fear or stint, unquote. And actually, Queen Penelope says it in her own words in Book 17, quote, we have now no Ulysses to protect us, unquote. And you would be wrong to categorize this as an emotional complaint from any of these people. That's not what it is. This is just an across the board acknowledgement from everyone that they are indeed defenseless.

God’s Warning To Those Who Prey

SPEAKER_01 2:33

And then we see a direct biblical corollary to this situation in Exodus 22. So this is God talking, you shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. If you do mistreat them and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with a sword, and your wives shall become widows, and your children fatherless. So again, this is God talking, and he doesn't say, Hey, you know, I'll consider it. I'll consider the cries of the widow or the fatherless. This is one of the few places in Scripture where God removes the authority of, you know, local magistrates and enforcement agents and says, I'll take care of this myself. And by definition, a fatherless household is undefended. And the thrust of Scripture is that God is the great defender. And we see the prophet Isaiah turn this into a command for men in Isaiah 1. Let's look at verse 17. Learn to do good, seek justice, correct oppression, bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause. So this is a direct instruction here. So an undefendable household is your assignment, men, and you will help protect that household with God's help and direction. So this shouldn't be a spoiler because you know the Odyssey is thousands of years old, but Odysseus will eventually slaughter all the suitors. We'll get to that later on this week. This is Homer's version of the same reckoning, both traditions promise for men who prey on the weak and undefended. But here we have pagan Ithaca and the God of Israel landing on the same, or really on the same place on the same issue. And that's it, there will be vengeance, there will be justice, and there is a bill coming

When We Act Like Suitors

SPEAKER_01 4:17

due. And I don't want you to miss the point here. There's very likely a Telemachus near you in your life right now. So it could be a fatherless kid at your church, it could be a widow in your neighborhood, it could be a single mom that you work with who, you know, is working two jobs just to keep the lights on and food on the table for her young children. And fatherlessness isn't some sort of an ancient Greek problem, right? I mean, I've said this before, and many people have also echoed it, but if you could just like snap your fingers and solve fatherlessness right now in the United States, or you could just say right now in the entire world, essentially every social ill would disappear instantaneously. But here's the uncomfortable mirror for some of you. Sometimes we ourselves are the suitors. We may not be moving into someone else's house and taking their resources, but we are taking advantage of those that are weaker than us. Maybe we're taking credit for something at work because we have more seniority than the new guy that actually did the work. Like maybe we're cutting corners on a project because you know, we've had this client for a long time and they're probably not even gonna raise a fuss, even if they noticed. I mean, you see, because anywhere where you are benefiting from someone else's lack of a protector is just a small version of what these suitors did at scale.

Two Assignments: Repent And Protect

SPEAKER_01 5:37

So I have two assignments for you based on this message today. Number one, stop acting like a suitor in certain areas of your life, even in small ways, and even in especially in ways that you could easily get away with. And number two, go and be the man in the gap for a household that doesn't have one. This isn't just some check that you ride and forget about. I want you to show up. I want you to go fix the thing. I want you to put gas in the tank, I want you to help them as is appropriate and counsel them through their situation. Show a young man what it means to be a godly man. And I know I I gave a bunch of different scenarios, a bunch of different kinds of people that could utilize your help, and I stand by all those. But I especially want you to key in on seeing what you could do for a fatherless Telemachus in your orbit. Because of some sort of sin or brokenness, there are loads and loads of young men, boys, without the godly direction of a father. Do everything you can to pour into the lives of those children. Show them that a man keeps their word. Show them that a man shows up on time, show them that a man works hard. Show them that a man is a protector and a provider. Show them that real men love God and love people. Show them that the manliest man that ever lived was Jesus Christ and that they can put their faith in the finished work of Jesus on Golgotha. Point them to the truth of the gospel and keep them from perpetuating the destruction of a household without a defender.

Share The Show And Stay Sharp

SPEAKER_00 7:12

Thank you for listening to today's episode. Before you go, if you want to help equip other men for the fight, share this podcast around and leave us a five star rating and review. Stay sharp.