Tantalus

 There are many gods in Greek mythology.  The god Zeus had mighty powers and handed down cruel punishments.  Tantalus was a king that was wicked and always testing Zeus.  One time Tantalus killed his own son, Pelops and served him in a stew.  He did this to see how smart the gods were.  The gods could tell that the stew wasn't right, but Demeter wasn't paying attention and ate the shoulder of Pelops.  That is why when the gods put Pelops back together, his shoulder was missing.  So he wore a prosthetic made of ivory.

To punish Tantalus, Zeus made Tantalus go forever thirsty and hungry.  In Hades, Tantalus stood in a pool of water and every time he bent to take a sip the water receded away from him, and every time he went to take a bite of the succulent fruit hanging right in front of him, he couldn't reach it.

Aren't you glad we have our Lord, Jesus Christ, who is all merciful?  Did you note that Tantalus' sin was to test the gods?  That's hubris.  Tantalus thought he was smarter than his gods.

But we shouldn't feel smug that we know our Lord is omniscient and we would never test Him.  After all, we test God every time we do what we want, when we know God wouldn't approve.  Who do we think we are?

                                                     by Gioacchino Assereto public domain