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.
And we sleep soundly in our wholeness!
Those who are healed have a tendency to become selfish with healing!
Have we forgotten that the thing that validates us as princess material is found in John 13:35 when Jesus says it is our strong love one for another that proves we belong to Him! In other words, we can't sleep when others are in pain. We must become aware of the pea. The small reminders of the needs around us. It wasn't a major disaster. It wasn't a catastrophic event. It was a small thing that kept a real princess awake. A small thing made her toss and turn in spite of apparent comfort. In spite of position. In spite of being whole.
I submit that too many of us are like the others who claimed to be princesses or like the crowd around Jesus the day recorded in Mark! We sleep through or worse yet try to quiet those in need. Too many of us have become way to comfortable in our blessed condition. We allow distraction to distract. We allow our pursuit of pleasure to keep us from feeling. Our own anger, peace, safety results in those of us who claim to be whole and claim to have sight to be blind!
The sign that someone has the heart of the King is someone who feels the pain around them.
It is someone who is unsettled by the discomfort around them. It is someone who is unable to sleep, ignore, or rest when we see . . .
Fathers, brothers, sons beaten, mistreated, killed in the streets. Don't talk to me about their past until first we stop and talk about the fact, they are humans. Broken, sinful and like us created in the image of God. Have some of those being mistreated made mistakes? Have they cast aside the laws of the land? Perhaps, but does that lessen the pain, the plight? Let's be moved by the pain of loss of a human life or the disregard for human compassion. Let's not let our comfort cause us to not be moved by pain we may never experience. Don't be distracted by those who would use the pain of people to promote their own evil agendas. Don't be distracted by those who use their pain to tear down, destroy and inflict pain on others. Instead let's notice real pain in real people. Instead, let the pea move you. Instead let the sincere cries be heard and don't try to silence them.
It is someone who is unable to sleep, ignore, or rest when we see . . .
When servants are lumped together with wolves. Bashed as if one is the same as the other. No thought given to or thankfulness for daily sacrifices made selflessly or unbearable stress in face of unknown dangers and evil they not only experience but navigate daily.
It is someone who is unable to sleep, ignore, or rest when we see . . .
Children who have their innocence stolen from them so that monsters who only care about their own pleasure or pocketbook can find moments of pleasure. Don't let the lack of attention by those in power keep us from noticing the pea. Don't take the stance that as long as mine are safe then I can sleep!
It is someone who is unable to sleep, ignore, or rest when we see . . .
Neighbors divided, hatred spewing out of their mouths, anger setting up strongholds in their hearts. Misplaced hope. We hear their cries and are angry at the noise they make and forget about the fact that the cries only reveal their true need. They have no hope! And too often, since they are on the other side of the aisle from us, our response is be quiet because we are comfortable with your sickness, your sin, your eternal destination and we want you to be as well!
It is someone who is unable to sleep, ignore, or rest when we see . . .
Vast numbers of frightened and terrified members or our communities who are siloed and silenced. Suffering from no rest. Forgotten and fettered by chains of loneliness. Locked up in lack of love. Have we become so comfortable in our community, our circles, our condition that we forget those on the fringe that go home alone, who tremble in fear, who cry with no one to wipe their tears?
Our position must shift if we want to be the bride of Christ. We can't conclude that a person's dire situation doesn't matter to us, so we are sure it wouldn't matter to Jesus.
What if those we are trying to quite are those who Jesus wishes to hear? What if the very cry that irritates us is the cry that causes compassion in the King? What if the cry that angers us is the cry that moves the King? What if the cry that doesn't register with us is the cry that causes Jesus to stop and intervene?
A real member of the royal family would be as equally moved and would not be able to sleep soundly until something is done so that others can experience the comfort of real rest!
Perhaps we need to remember the admonition to members of the royal family made by Paul.
In Romans 12:14-15 (TLB) he told us . . . If someone mistreats you because you are a Christian, don’t curse him; pray that God will bless him. When others are happy, be happy with them. If they are sad, share their sorrow.
Or perhaps even more blunt when John says in 1 John 3:17 (MSG) . . .
If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God’s love? It disappears. And you made it disappear.
They are simply calling us back to be bothered by the pea. They are saying we should feel!
One of Jesus’ defining traits and characteristics was that He was so often moved by compassion. He viewed crooked, mean, abusive, rich, poor, healthy, sick, accepted and rejected people and felt for them. As Jesus followers we can feel no less!
"God does not comfort us to make us comfortable, but to make us comforters." (J. Henry Jowett)
We are struggling to have empathy in the public places, and it is carrying over to the private places. We are struggling to have empathy in the place of work and in the place of worship! I don’t have to get it to feel it. I don’t have to get you to feel your pain!
My questions for us today . . .
Are you sleeping soundly? What are you sleeping through?
What is your pea? Is there anything that keeps you awake or unsettled? What are you going to do about it?
Are you trying to silence someone you should be assisting to get to the King?
May the King help us to push past the cushion of our comfort, the buffer of our blessings, the mattress of our miracle and the shield of our salvation so that we hear who He hears! May who moves Him move us and, in the process, we are verified as a true follower!
