Ancient Truth | Modern Sound

The Little Girl and The Good Man
By Frank Hart

Once there was a little girl who didn’t have any family. It was dark and she was cold, sick, dirty, hungry, afraid and alone. She was very young, and it seemed as though the world had discarded her. If she had any future at all it was a future of stealing, lying, whoring, sickness and pain. If she had any future at all, that is, because the night was very cold and she laid down beside the road shivering and fell asleep.

A good man came upon her lying there and saw that she was in danger. He reached down and picked her up, covered her with his coat, and carried her to his home. The man and his family cared for the little girl and helped her to get strong and healthy. He told her that she was welcome to stay in his home, that it was her home now, that she was part of the family. (This is a fairy tale, so we will ignore ideas like government agencies and missing person reports.)

When she was strong enough to get out of bed the man invited the little girl to a great feast. He gave her a pretty white dress and brought her into a massive dining room. There were many tables filled with every kind of wonderful food you can imagine. There were chairs filled with children of every age and every race. The little girl had never seen such a splendid sight. Her eyes were particularly drawn to a table that had an assortment of chocolate cakes. She took her plate and filled it with several pieces of the most luscious layered chocolate cakes. She was filled with joy and happiness as she hungrily ate the dessert. She filled her plate three times, and didn’t notice that she was getting the dark brown icing on her pretty white dress and that she had it smeared all over her face. She had never had the freedom to eat so much cake before, and somewhere in the middle of her third helping she started to not feel so good. Then she noticed how she had ruined her dress. She was feeling sick and starting to be very sad.

Many of the other kids had noticed her and the way she was making a mess while gorging on desert. Some were laughing at her. Some were mad at her because they didn’t get as much cake as she did. Other kids were saying things like, “First you eat your supper, then you have one desert. Everyone knows that!” Two of the older kids helped clean her up a little and gave her some cold milk to calm her tummy ache. She went back to her room and lay down. After a little while she started to feel better.

She couldn’t really sleep though, so she got up and started walking around the house. There were a lot of rooms. It was a huge house. There were rooms filled with books, rooms filled with music and movies, rooms with video games, musical instruments, art supplies, power tools, basketball courts, hockey rinks, and so many other rooms. She was a little girl, though, so the room that really caught her eye was a room that was filled with shelves and shelves of neatly stacked games, tubs of Legos, building blocks, and containers of well cared for crayons and markers. There were boxes of paper, cabinets of art supplies and plastic storage bins filled with puzzles and toys. It was all so inviting and she wanted to play with everything. She spent the next few hours in total bliss. She had never had so much fun in her life, she didn’t know that she could be so happy.

She played all night, and when morning came some of the other children woke up and wandered into the room. They looked around the room and couldn’t believe what they saw. The checkers were mixed up with the Legos, and all of the Play-Doh was mashed together in a grey blob drying out along with the markers that had no lids on them, on top of the broken crayons all over the floor, the puzzles were all dumped out and mixed together. Nothing was left on the shelves, things were ruined and it was a total mess.

Some of the kids got mad and stormed away, some of them yelled at the little girl saying things like, “You’re supposed to play with one thing at a time, and then put it away! Everyone knows that!” Some of the older kids starting sorting through the puzzle pieces and putting things away. The joy and the bliss turned to embarrassment and shame as the little girl stood there in the mess she had made.

She started to cry and she ran down the hallway toward the front door. She was going to leave this wonderful place that was making her feel so terrible. With all the tears in her eyes she couldn’t see where she was going and she ran right into the good man who brought her into his house.

“What’s wrong?” the good man asked.

“I don’t belong here” the little girl said. She continued in a flurry of tears, “I’m very thankful for you inviting me into your home, and it is very nice, but I don’t belong here. I keep messing everything up. All the other kids hate me, and I just keep doing terrible things.”

The good man picked her up, took a tissue from his pocket and wiped the tears from her eyes. He carried her a room full of books and walked over to a bookshelf where he pulled out a big heavy book.

“I invited you to be part of my family. We are now your family, this is your home and you do belong here. And now that you are here, it will take some time to learn the rules of the house. They are in this book.” The good man said this and then he sat down with the girl on his lap. He placed the big book on the table in front of them.

“This book is so big. How many rules are there?” She asked.

“Well, it covers every possible situation that will ever happen” the man answered. “Some people think there are 613 rules, other people only count 10.” Then he told her to open the book.

She turned the heavy cover and looked at the first page. The print was really small. She leaned in close and read the first line: “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and love your neighbor as yourself.” Then she read on … it said the same thing … over and over and over. She turned the page, it said the same thing on the next page, and the next page. Every page in the giant book said the same thing. “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and love your neighbor as yourself.”

She was confused, the good man had said that everything was covered, “but what about the rules for cake, and puzzles?” the little girl asked.

The good man smiled and said, “Oh, love covers a multitude of cake and puzzles.” (He laughed as though he had made a joke, then he continued talking) You didn’t do anything to earn your way into this family, and there is nothing you can do to earn the right to stay, either. But, now that you are here and safe in this home you simply have to measure the things you say and do with love. Love for God who gives us all things and love for others that we have to share it all with.”

The good man and the little girl talked for a really long time, and the little girl came to realize that she was loved and she was safe, and that she had a whole lifetime to learn how to live in love.

The End, Happily ever after, World without end, etc.

Matthew 5:17
[ Jesus said] “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

Matthew 7:12
[ Jesus said] So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

Matthew 22:36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

The Point (in case you missed it)
There are always at least two ways to sin; you can be the person who makes life a mess by selfishly grasping, hording, staining yourself with chocolate, and ruining all the toys, or you can be the impatient brat who looks down their nose with anger and self righteousness at the new kids who don’t know the rules as well as you do.

As we invite new people into our family, our church, our staff, our circle of friends, may we show them the same grace, mercy and compassion that we have been shown.

As we look at “the rules of the house” or God’s law, may we learn to view it through the lens of Loving God and loving others. The lens of Jesus.

AMEN