Short Story: An Appointment with the King

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An Appointment with the King

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works?  Can faith save you?  If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill," and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that?  So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.

James 2:14-17 (NRSV)

God, I hear You calling out to me

In the voices of the least of these

Calling me to reach beyond my world

To the beautiful stranger

From "Beautiful Stranger" by Rebecca St. James

One day, three men were summoned to the king's palace.  Two of them served at the city's holy shrine.  One was a priest who presided over worship, and the other was a teacher who taught the ways of God to the people.  The third man was from a tribe of outcasts who, for the past three centuries, had been denied citizenship in the kingdom and had been forbidden entry to the shrine.  The priest and the teacher kept their distance from him as they walked to the palace.

Upon entering the palace, the three men were escorted to the throne room, where they knelt before the king.  The king instructed the priest and the teacher to stand to his left, and he instructed the third man to stand to his right, by himself.

The king turned to the outcast at his right and said, "I would like to extend an invitation to you to serve on my royal court.  You and your family will live among the nobility, and you will serve as my advisor as I work to reconcile my people and yours."

"I am honored by your invitation, my liege," the man said, "but I do not understand why you have asked me, of all people, to serve on your court."

"I have chosen you, because one day, when I was bleeding to death by the side of a dangerous road, you saved my life," the king replied.

"When did I ever see you bleeding to death?" the man asked.

The king replied, "Not long ago, I set out in disguise to visit a neighboring kingdom.  Just outside the city, a robber attacked me, beat me savagely, and left me there to die.  The man you found at the side of the road that day was I, the king.  It mattered not to you how my people had treated your people.  When you saw me, you stopped; you treated my wounds; and you put me up at a safe place where I could heal.  Because of your acts of kindness, I know that you have the courage and the character to serve as my advisor."

"You two, on the other hand," the king said, turning to the already perplexed men at his left, "have neither courage nor character.  You two, left me there to die."

"Sire," the priest spoke up, "when did we ever see you dying?"

"Do you take me for a fool, priest?" the king asked.  "You were traveling on the same road that day, and, when you saw me, you immediately moved to the other side, pretending that you never noticed me.  You, teacher, did the same when you passed by moments later.  What you did not know was that the man you left dying was I, the king."

The two men fell to the floor and prostrated themselves before the king.  The priest said, "My lord, surely you know the rules of the holy shrine.  If we had come into contact with blood, we would not have been able to return to our duties.  If only we had known that you were the one at the side of the road, we would have sent someone -"

"Silence!" the king interrupted.  "It should not have mattered to you who was at the side of the road.  You, priest, represent our people to God, and you represent God to our people.  And you, teacher, impart the ways of God to our people.  You two should know better than anybody that God regards all people equally, be they peasants or kings, and that God values mercy and kindness over ritual or purity.  The man at my right has shown that he is a better teacher in these matters than either of you.  Had I died, you two would be no less responsible for my death than my attacker.  You will not return to your duties at the shrine this day, for a prison cell awaits you."

"Guards!" the king shouted.  "Escort these two to their new home, and shackle them beside the man who attacked me."

---

As you read the preceding story, something about it probably seemed familiar to you.  It actually contains elements from the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats¹ and the Parable of the Good Samaritan,² with the second chapter of the Epistle of James sprinkled in for good measure.  I recently read the two parables within a few days of each other, and, having heard a very interesting sermon on the latter,³ I considered connections between them.  What if, in the former parable, the Son of Man meant it literally when He said, "Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me"?  What if He was the very same person who was beaten, robbed, and left for dead in the latter parable?

In a 1988 interview with Time magazine, Mother Teresa said, "The dying, the cripple, the mental[ly ill], the unwanted, the unloved - they are Jesus in disguise."⁴  What if we thought of every person as "Jesus in disguise"?  What if we treated even the "least of these" as the greatest of these?


Notes:

1. Matthew 25:31-46
2. Luke 10:25-37
3. Rimes McElveen.  "Lord, Have Mercy."  Travelers Rest United Methodist Church, 07/15/2019.
4. Edward Desmond.  "Candid 1988 Mother Teresa Interview Reveals Her Thoughts on Reason for Her Success."  National Catholic Register, 09/06/2016.

The illustration of the castle is believed to be public domain.

Perspective: Higher Needs

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.

Comments are always welcomed.

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Higher Needs

Don't chase after what you will eat and what you will drink.  Stop worrying.  All the nations of the world long for these things.  Your Father knows that you need them.  Instead, desire his kingdom and these things will be given to you as well.

Luke 12:29-31 (CEB)

All of You is more than enough for all of me

For every thirst and every need

You satisfy me with Your love

And all I have in You is more than enough

From "Enough" by Chris Tomlin

In the Gospel of Luke, we read that, one day, while Jesus is teaching a crowd, a man approaches Him and asks Him to tell his brother to share his inheritance with him.¹  Jesus, who has no interest in being drawn into this dispute, says to the crowd, "Watch out!  Guard yourself against all kinds of greed.  After all, one's life isn't determined by one's possessions, even when someone is very wealthy."

Jesus goes on to tell a parable as a warning to people who are rich in things and poor toward God.  In this parable, a farmer has an abundant harvest and ends up with a lot more grain than he needs.  Instead of sharing his abundance with others, he decides to build bigger barns to store his grain and then to take it easy for a while.  As he gets ready to relax and enjoy his life, having built his new barns stored up enough grain for the next few years, he hears from God, "Fool, tonight you will die.  Now who will get the things you have prepared for yourself?"

In the words of Alanis Morissette, "Isn't it ironic, don't you think?"²

Jesus then encourages the crowd to not worry about their basic needs saying, "Don't worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear.  There is more to life than food and more to the body than clothing."  He encourages the crowd to trust in the provision of God, who feeds the birds and clothes the grass with flowers.  He then says, "Don't chase after what you will eat and what you will drink.  Stop worrying...  Your Father knows that you need them.  Instead, desire his kingdom and these things will be given to you as well."

For me, Jesus' teachings about greed and worry call to mind psychologist Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of human needs.  Maslow's hierarchy is typically illustrated as a pyramid on which our basest, most urgent physiological needs are placed at the bottom and on which our higher, more complex needs are placed at the top.  Maslow argued that our more basic needs must be met before we can even consider our higher needs.³

Jesus teaches us to not worry about things like food and clothing but to instead trust in God's provision.  Both food and clothing are among our physiological needs, which make up the basest category on Maslow's hierarchy.  Jesus teaches us to be on guard against greed and warns us not to hoard what God has provided us.  I suspect that often, beneath a person's temptation to hoard, there is a desire for security.  Security is classified as a "safety need," which is the second basest category of needs on Maslow's hierarchy.⁴

Regarding our physiological needs, Jesus says that "there is more to life than food and more to the body than clothing."  Regarding our safety needs, He says that "one's life isn't determined by one's possessions."  I wonder if maybe Jesus is encouraging us to reach higher.  More than once in His teachings on greed and worry, He tells us that there is more to life than our baser needs.  In another Gospel, He says, "I came that [people] may have life, and have it abundantly."⁵

I wonder if maybe one reason Jesus encourages us not to worry about our basest needs and warns us not to be greedy in our search for security is that He wants us to recognize that we have other needs.  Perhaps things like greed and worry keep us preoccupied with our baser needs and prevent us from pursuing our higher needs.  The higher categories of needs on Maslow's hierarchy are needs related to love and belonging, esteem, and self-actualization.⁶  Perhaps Jesus wants us to realize our need for things like love, community, self-worth, and purpose, and maybe He even invites us to come to Him and have those needs met.

Christ calls us into community with each other and teaches us to love one another.  In Christ, we see that we are all beloved children of God.  We are individually gifted by the Holy Spirit so that we may to work together as the Body of Christ to reflect God's love to the world.  We are blessed by God to be a blessing to the people around us.  When we share our excess with those in need, we become the hands and feet with which God meets their needs.

God loves us and cares about our needs.  May you, dear reader, trust in God to provide not only what you need to survive but everything you need to be what God created you to be.


Notes:

1. Much of this perspective is based on Luke 12:13-34.  Quotations are taken from the Common English Bible.
2. From the song "Ironic" by Alanis Morissette
3. Wikipedia: "Maslow's hierarchy of needs"
4. ibid
5. John 10:10 (NRSV)
6. Wikipedia: "Maslow's hierarchy of needs"

The diagram of Maslow's hierarchy of needs was created by Wikimedia user Chiquo and is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.  The creator is in no way affiliated with this blog.

Introspection: Rethinking Destiny

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.

Comments are always welcomed.

If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

Rethinking Destiny

Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Matthew 11:28-30 (NRSV)

If you want, then start to laugh

If you must, then start to cry

Be yourself; don't hide

Just believe in destiny

Don't care what people say

Just follow your own way

Don't give up, and use the chance

To return to innocence

From "Return to Innocence" by Enigma

This year, I've made it a point to read more fiction.  A few months ago, I read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.  In this novel, a young shepherd named Santiago has a recurring dream in which he is told that there is a treasure buried near the pyramids of Egypt.  One day, Santiago stops in a city on his way to sell his sheep's wool, and he meets Melchizedek, the immortal king of Salem, who tells him that finding the treasure mentioned in his dream is his "Personal Legend."  According to the king, your Personal Legend is "what you have always wanted to accomplish."¹  "God has prepared a path for everyone to follow," the king tells Santiago.  "You just have to read the omens that he left for you."²

What Coelho calls Personal Legend others might call destiny.  When I use the word destiny, I do not use it in a deterministic sense.  In other words, I am not referring to what will inevitably happen in a person's life.  As a good Methodist, I've never been a big fan of determinism or predestination.  Destiny, as I have come to understand it, is what a person was born to do - that is, if the person has the determination and the courage to do it.

In years past, I stopped believing in such things because I was afraid that God wanted for me something I did not want for myself.  One way I went wrong back then was that I was listening to other people too much and listening within too little.  Though it is true that other people can help us to see things we might not see in ourselves, people sometimes have hidden agendas.  People might want us to fill roles in their lives that were never ours to fill in the first place.  I've learned the hard way that, if we do not have a purpose in life, we will be given one.

Reading The Alchemist has caused me to reconsider the possibility that each of us has destiny, that each of us was born to fulfill a unique purpose in life.

Speaking to a crowd, Jesus once invited all who "are weary and are carrying heavy burdens" to come to Him and to trade their heavy burdens for the yoke He offers, promising, "My yoke is easy, and my burden is light."  In a recent paraphrase of the Bible, The Voice, He says, regarding this yoke, "It might appear heavy at first, but it is perfectly fitted to your curves."³  In other words, the yoke He invites a person to take on is perfectly tailored for the person.  Maybe Jesus is inviting us to lay down the burdens we were never meant to carry and to embrace the purposes that were actually meant for us.

Once, for a sermon illustration, Shane Hipps used a guitar to hit wiffle balls to the people in his congregation, effectively demonstrating that a guitar can serve as an adequate wiffle ball bat.  He then gave the guitar to someone who started playing a song with it, making it obvious that the guitar was meant not for playing wiffle ball but for making music.  Similarly, though there are many things a person could do, maybe there is something specific a person is meant to do.⁴

It seems to me that, if God did create me for a specific purpose, then I must have been designed with that purpose in mind.  My purpose must be written into my programming in some way.  If this is the case, then my purpose in life is not something other people can tell me.  It is instead something I must look inward to discover.  I imagine that, if I was indeed created for a purpose, then living out my purpose would seem right to me and make me feel alive.

Melchizedek tells Santiago that "everyone, when they are young, knows what their Personal Legend is."  The king goes on to say that most people eventually convince themselves that their Personal Legends are impossible and then choose paths in life that are more practical.  He then points out a baker in the city who, like Santiago, wanted to travel when he was young but played it safe and bought a bakery instead.⁵

I tried to remember what I wanted to do with my life before I decided in college that it would be a good idea to become a computer programmer.  When I was a child I kept changing my mind about what I wanted to do when I grew up.  I probably came up with a new idea whenever someone with a particular profession came to speak at my school or whenever a particular occupation was featured on a show on PBS.  Had I followed my heart in college, I probably would have majored in either religion or philosophy, neither of which are especially practical fields of study.

A few things stand out in my memory.  I remember that, when I was a little boy, my grandfather built a tiny podium for me.  Apparently I envisioned myself as someone who spoke in front of large crowds - a teacher, a preacher, or maybe a game show host.  I also remember playing school a lot.  Incidentally, when I realized that computer programming is not all it's cracked up to be, I started teaching Sunday School and preaching occasionally at my church.  I think that such things draw me because I love sharing knowledge with people and inviting people to look at things in new ways.  I later learned that my spiritual gifts are knowledge and teaching.

A song by Switchfoot suggests that "the shadow proves the sunshine."  In other words, sometimes a noticeable absence of something is evidence of its existence.⁶  I'm still wrestling with the idea that there is one particular thing I'm meant to do with my life, but I've reached the conclusion that there are things I was not put on this planet to do.  Perhaps the latter is evidence of the former.  Furthermore, the restlessness I sometimes feel would seem to suggest that, if there is something I'm meant to do, I'm not doing it.  The fact I still feel it at times also suggests that, if I have a destiny, I haven't lost it yet.

I enjoyed reading The Alchemist, and I would recommend it to anyone wrestling with his or her purpose in life or to anyone who simply enjoys a good story.  It challenged me to reconsider the possibility that there is something I was born to do; it reminded me that the journey is at least as important as the destination; and it warned me that pursuing my destiny, if I indeed have one, will mean turning my back on what is safe, comfortable, and predictable.


Notes:

1. Paulo Coelho.  The Alchemist (25th Anniversary Edition).  2014, Harper One.  p. 23
2. Coelho, pp. 31-32
3. Matthew 11:29 (The Voice)
4. Shane Hipps.  "Wiffle Guitar."  Mars Hill Bible Church, 06/27/2010.
5. Coelho, pp. 23-25
6. C.S. Lewis makes such an argument at the beginning of Mere Christianity.

The photograph of the Pyramids of Giza has been released to the public domain.  The photographer is in no way affiliated with this blog.