|
Scripture: Mark 10.44-45 (CEV)
And if you want to be first, you must be everyone's slave. The Son of Man did not come to be a slave master, but a slave who will give his life to rescue many people.
Story: The Monkey King
There was a kingdom of monkeys in the forest. The King of the Monkeys was huge, very kind, and wise. The King, one day walking along, noticed mango trees along the side of a river. He noticed a human castle downstream, also. He proceeded to order the monkeys to remove all the mangoes from the trees, "or there would be disaster," spoke the Monkey King. The monkeys did not understand their King's intention, but they did as told. All the mangoes were taken off except one hidden behind a nest.
The hidden mango ripened and fell into the river. The mango flowed downstream where the human King was bathing. He noticed the mango and asked the Prime Minister of its identity. The latter said it was a "mango," a fruit of wonderful taste. The King ordered the mango be cut into small pieces, and he gave a piece to each of his ministers. When satisfied the mango was not poisonous, the human King ate the rest. He realized how tasty it was, and he craved for more.
The next day, the human King and his troops went upstream for more of these fruits. There were lots of mango trees, but lots of monkeys, too. The human King did not want to share the mangoes with the monkeys. So, he ordered them to be killed. The troops killed them all.
The sad news reached the wise Monkey King, and he said, "The day has finally arrived." The thousands of monkeys were chased to the edge of the forest, where there was a deep cliff and a bamboo forest on the other side. The Monkey King saw that if his subjects could cross over, they would be safe.
With his huge body, the Monkey King formed a bridge and thousands of monkeys walked upon him to the safety of the bamboo forest. He endured the pain, gladly. One monkey did not like the King, and he saw this as an opportunity to get even. As he was crossing over, he pierced a spear through the King's heart. The King screamed in pain, but he endured the pain until all his subjects were safely across. He, then, collapsed.
The human King witnessed this whole event. It touched him so that he ordered the Monkey King saved. When the Monkey King recovered consciousness, the human King asked him, "You are their King, why would you bother to die for them?" The Monkey King replied, "Because I am their King." Then, he died.
This so moved the human King he decided to be a good king from that day. And he ordered the monkeys in the bamboo forest protected from harm forever.
Comments: A Prayer
Spirit of Christ Jesus, wherever compassion to give oneself sacrificially is present, there you, Living Word, are. Your Presence is not bound in religion, even as the human heart cannot be led to True Love by the reins of mere rite or teaching, or the errant compass of custom; even as no inert theory of morality can give Enabling Grace to deny ourselves for the life of the other. You are Living Presence entering, ceaselessly, into our lives and living in them. And by our entering into your Life, as response of love to Love, we plunge into the suffering of all creatures, in which suffering you are joyfully and painfully ushering creation toward infinite stations of perfection. Revealing your Self in such birth pangs through your Mystical Body, transformed from individuals into Community, the Living Church--not that erected of human artifice and guided by human reason, but born and nurtured and led by Divine Ingenuity--, you call us each to follow you, leading others through your ceaseless laying down of your Life to ceaseless resurrection--for your Passion and Resurrection historically is a type of eternal Verities--, from life to death, from lostness to the joy of being found and, thereby, your Communion of Saints of this earth and all other realms, wherever they made be, as a Single Body. Grant us, dear Jesus, the courage and kindness to give ourselves for this perfecting of creation, and to do so transcending the boundaries that divide us--those of land, politics, race, economics, culture, religion, ... and all others--, and in giving ourselves to creation find ourselves living in you and you in us: you, the One giving yourself in us within our self-giving. Amen.
Suggestion for Meditation:For whom are you especially, at present, laying down your life for his or her, or their, well-being?
*The story The Monkey King is a well-known Buddhist story.
*For joining or removal from the OneLife daily reading list, send request to brian7777@earthlink.net .
*OneLife writings are offered by Brian K. Wilcox, a United Methodist pastor serving in the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church. He writes in the spirit of John Wesley's focus on the priority of inner experience of the Triune God; scriptural holiness; ongoing sanctification; the goal of Christian perfection (or, wholeness). Brian seeks to integrate the best of the contemplative teachings of Christianity East and West, from the patristic Church to the present. Brian lives a vowed contemplative life with his two dogs, Bandit Ty and St. Francis, in North Florida. OneLife writings are for anyone seeking to live and share love, joy, and peace in the world and in devotion to God as she or he best understands God.
*Brian's book An Ache for Union, a book of poems on mystical union with God through love, can be ordered through major on-line booksellers.
|
