‘LIGHT FOR THE JOURNEY’

You know that old saying, you learn something new every day? Well, have I got a story for you! Okay, so maybe you know this already. I didn’t, so please humor me. Until a couple of weeks ago, I knew nothing about a tola’ath, towla, crimson worm or scarlet grub or the scientific name, 'coccus ilicis.' I have surely read Psalm 22 a gazillion times and never questioned why Jesus would refer to Himself as a worm. Clearly Psalm 22 is a Messianic Psalm, prophesying Christ’s crucifixion. Some call it the Psalm of Sobs. This Psalm was written one thousand years before the birth of Christ. Jesus told us in John 14:29 why we are given prophecy. “I am telling you what is going to happen (prophecy), so when it does happen, you will remember I told you and believe that I AM.” (My paraphrase.)

When we consider the magnitude and magnificence of God’s creation how can one not be stricken with awe. I have a friend who was an atheist until one day when he was eating an orange and began to examine its construction. As he pulled apart each section and studied the tiny pods inside, it occurred to him that an orange couldn’t have just happened. There had to be a Creator to make the orange. He was transformed by examining an orange. “How many are your works, Lord! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. There is sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number - living things both large and small” (Psalm 104:24-25).

God’s creativity is beyond human understanding. Which brings me to the tola’ath, the Crimson worm or Scarlet grub and Psalm 22: Again, written 1,000 years before Christ’s birth, the Psalmist wrote the entire Psalm prophetically, however, for now, let’s look at verses 6 and 7. “But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they sneer and shake their heads: “He trusts in the LORD, let the LORD deliver him; let the LORD rescue him, since He delights in him.” Nearly every mention of a worm in the Bible is speaking of a rimmah which means maggot. This was not the worm the prophecy speaks of here, but the tola’ath, the Crimson worm or Scarlet grub. The tola’ath, a very special worm, is more of an insect than a worm. The male tola’ath has wings and flies, while the female looks more like a grub and cannot fly.

The amazing symbolism here is a beautiful illustration of the sacrifice Jesus would make for mankind and God has woven the message into nature, specifically here, in the life death of the tola’ath worm. When the female is ready to produce her young, she fastens herself to a tree or branch. She prefers a particular type of oak tree found mostly in Israel. Her body is fastened so tightly to the tree, she can never get loose. Jesus died on a wooden cross to which He had voluntarily nailed Himself. Love would not let Him off the cross. “And when they came to the place called Skull, they crucified Him there” (Luke 23:33).

The mother crimson worm only has babies once in her life. After she attaches herself to the tree, she forms a steel hard shell around her body. She is so permanently stuck to the wood, she cannot be removed without tearing her body apart, which would kill her. She lays her eggs under her body inside the protective shell. When the larva hatch they are white and they stay under the shell where they are protected. The mother provides their food, her own body. The baby worms feed on the living body of the mother worm. When they can take care of themselves, the mother worm dies. As she dies, she curls into a heart-like shape and oozes a scarlet red dye that colors the babies and stains the wood she is attached to.

The babies are scarlet red for the rest of their lives.

“Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever” (John 6:53-59 NKJV).

After three days, the scarlet shell loses its red color and turns into a white waxy substance that falls to the ground like snow. “Come now, let’s settle this,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool” (Isaiah 1:18 NLT).

Some theologians believe that Jesus quoted all of Psalm 22 from the cross. There are no records that I can find but it certainly seems likely. The likeness of Jesus giving up His life on a tree in order to wash His “offspring” with His crimson blood, that their sins be white as snow, is quite like the Crimson worm giving her life for her young and covering them with crimson at her death. As recorded in Matthew and Mark, Jesus cried out from the cross, the first verse of Psalm 22. “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

There is so much to learn from the Scarlet worm, the tola’ath, and the Psalm 22 prophecy, perhaps one of the strangest of the Messianic prophecies. What an incredible message and beautiful time to be reminded of what Jesus paid for His beloved children.

As you celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ this month, remember the tola’ath and her sacrifice. Her sacrifice is an act of nature. Our Lord’s sacrifice, a gift of love. Have you received that gift? “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13).

© 2023 Jan McLaughlin. Jan can be contacted at (719) 649-2937 or (719) 275-6971

And by e-mail at JansMail@Reagan. com. Also visit PrayerForPrisoners.org

BETTY JO TUCKER Pueblo award winning film critic

(However, J-Lo does sing a little in the closing credits.).

Action wins out here. Almost every scene includes shooting, fighting, running, etc. At the same time, J-Lo and Josh’s characters are funny while arguing about the wedding and trying to decide if they belong together.

And who is responsible for the pirates? Could it be the bride’s ex? Critic law forbids me to tell.

The jungle-like setting works fine here and helps us believe in the film’s story. Plus, some of the stunts are quite exciting.

Directed by Jason Moore (Pitch Perfect) from a script by Mark Hammer (Two Night Stand), Shotgun Wedding manages to ring a bell on comic and romantic mo-

IAM DEDICATING this review to my dear husband, Larry Tucker, who passed away in January. He was a longtime Jennifer Lopez fan, and I wish he could have seen SHOTGUN WEDDING. Both of us knew J-Lo could play tough (remember “Enough”), but this offering shows her doubling down in that area. Darcy Rivera is not the popular star of “Marry Me,” which both of us loved last year. I can’t help wondering how long J-Lo’s movie wedding theme is going to last.

Also starring Josh Duhamel as Tom Fowler, the would-be groom, Shotgun Wedding involves a wedding party and “interesting characters played by Cheech Marin, Lenny Kravitz and Jennifer Coolidge, who steals the show in her flowery glory. Imagine the surprise when the entire group is captured by pirates!

J-Lo not at her best but fun in action film. Glad that it’s done. “Shotgun Wedding” finds her angry at groom’s big plans that you will see.

Her wedding dress is just too much. White and fluffy and do not touch

It’s ruined slowly in scene by scene

I wanted to shriek at the screen.

Destination wedding? Oh yes!

A great one if you’d like to guess.

The Philippines was chosen here ments while concentrating on its exciting action sequences.

But pirates capture them. Oh, dear!

J-Lo’s character yells a lot. She has to for that’s in the plot.

But why not even one great song?

I do not think that would be wrong.

Of course, it’s not the best wedding movie of all time. That place is already taken by Four Weddings and a Funeral. Or The Wedding Singer. Or Bridesmaids. Or The Wedding Crashers. Or ??????

I better close with some words of wisdom, so here’s what Benjamin Franklin said about marriage.

“Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half shut afterwards.”

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