Princess And Pea Series

Fairytales 2

Pt. 1 - Princess and Pea

I. Introduction

These are the stories we learned as children. Either told to us by parents at bedtime or at school as we gathered at the feet of our teachers. These tales taught us life lessons and truths that we had to think through to grasp. However, unknown to many of us they also taught us significant spiritual truths! Let's look at one of these fairytales we know so well and see if we can unwrap a spiritual truth that is in it.

Once upon a time there was a Prince who wanted to marry a Princess. Only a real one would do. So, he traveled through all the world to find her, and everywhere things went wrong. There were Princesses aplenty, but how was he to know whether they were real Princesses? There was something not quite right about them all. So, he came home again and was unhappy, because he did so want to have a real Princess.

One evening a terrible storm blew up. It lightened and thundered and rained. It was really frightful! In the midst of it all came a knocking at the town gate. The old King went to open it. Who should be standing outside but a Princess, and what a sight she was in all that rain and wind. Water streamed from her hair down her clothes into her shoes and ran out at the heels. Yet she claimed to be a real Princess.

"We'll soon find that out," the old Queen thought to herself. Without saying a word about it she went to the bedchamber, stripped back the bedclothes, and put just one pea in the bottom of the bed. Then she took twenty mattresses and piled them on the pea. Then she took twenty eiderdown feather beds and piled them on the mattresses. Up on top of all these the Princess was to spend the night.

In the morning they asked her, "Did you sleep well?"

" Oh!" said the Princess. "No. I scarcely slept at all. Heaven knows what's in that bed. I lay on something so hard that I'm black and blue all over. It was simply terrible."

They could see she was a real Princess and no question about it, now that she had felt one pea all the way through twenty mattresses and twenty more feather beds. Nobody but a Princess could be so delicate. So, the Prince made haste to marry her, because he knew he had found a real Princess.

As for the pea, they put it in the museum. There it's still to be seen, unless somebody has taken it.

Let me take you to a passage from an experience that is recorded in Mark 10:42-48.

TEXT: Mark 10:46-48 (TLB)

And so they reached Jericho. Later, as they left town, a great crowd was following. Now it happened that a blind beggar named Bartimaeus (the son of Timaeus) was sitting beside the road as Jesus was going by. When Bartimaeus heard that Jesus from Nazareth was near, he began to shout out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” “Shut up!” some of the people yelled at him. But he only shouted the louder, again and again, “O Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Those of you who are well versed in your Bible want me to read the rest of this account because we know the end of the story. It ends as it should. Jesus hears Blind Bart and responds by healing this man. However, the healing that takes place, as incredible and powerful as it is, almost distracts from the part of the account I read which is the part that reminds me of the fairytale we call the Princess and the Pea!

As we read this biblical passage the fact is, we are familiar with Bart's condition. He is blind. Sightless. A castaway. A societal reject. A beggar. A parasite. However, Bart wasn't the only blind person there that day. In fact, the crowd that pressed around Jesus was equally as blind. They were blind to the need, the pain, the plight of Bart and others like him. Or if they noticed his need, pain and plight they ignored it and refused to make any attempt to assist. His volume gets their attention, but it did not get their heart. They suffered from lack of empathy.

Now back to the fairytale for a moment. I remind you that the thing that verified the authenticity of this young lady that claimed to be a princess - the thing that validated her was her sensitivity! She was able to "feel" even when there were multiple layers of cushion and comfort between her and the pea.

May I submit to you that the folks that surrounded Jesus that day failed the "bride of Christ" test! They felt nothing! The cushions of their own lives, own desires, own ambitions, own needs disabled or distracted them from feeling anything for someone in need! The felt so little that their response was not only do we not want to be bothered by your cries for help we also don't want Jesus to be bothered by them either. Bart you need to be quiet and become as comfortable in your pain as we are. Live with it. Deal with it. Accept it. We are OK with your "less than" life. We are fine with you being handicapped, broken, outcast. As long as we have access we really don't care if your need goes unmet! As long as I get my time with Jesus, I am OK with your inability to get to him.