The Good Shepherd

Charlton Heston, John Charles Carter in his real name, was a popular actor in the second half of 20th century. He is the lead actor in several award-winning films – The Ten Commandments, El Cid, Ben Hur, and others. During his prime in Hollywood, the Rev. Billy Graham also became a well-known preacher-evangelist honored by all evangelical church denominations. There was one event in Washington where they were invited. Most probably, their names were in the list of special guests. During the event, Charlton Heston was asked to recite Psalms 23. He agreed, on one condition that the Rev. Billy Graham would recite it too, after him. Rev. Billy Graham agreed. With his award-winning voice that earned him millions of dollars, Charlton Heston recited Psalms 23 with emotion and enthusiasm. The applauding crowd roared in standing ovation. Then it was Rev. Billy Graham’s turn to recite. With his convincing voice that God used to earn millions of souls into the kingdom of Christ, he recited Pslams 23 in the same manner as Charlton Heston did. The crowd did not applaud, the hall did not roar, and there was no standing ovation. But almost everyone had tears rolling down their cheeks. At the end of the event a journalist approached Charlton Heston and asked what could have made the difference. He politely answered, "Sir, I know Psalms 23 by heart but my friend, the Rev. Billy Graham; he knows the Shepherd by heart".

The Good Shepherd is Practically Responsible for His Sheep! Sometimes the gauge of poverty and prosperity can be relative to the law of economics - the law of supply and demand. If demand is high and supply is low, prices soar - life is tough. But if supply is high and demand is low, prices slip - life is easy. In the biblical perspective, what are the determining factors to appraise poverty and prosperity?

One sunny Saturday afternoon during harvest season in a remote barrio in a northern province of the Philippines, a Chinese rice trader in town, Mr. Ong, came. He came with his driver and two laborers in a half lorry purposely to buy freshly sun-dried grains. They parked their truck beside the barrio hall just across the plaza. Mr. Ong’s laborers worked together to offload the "Baskula", an old-fashioned rusty weighing scale, which the driver claims it is newly calibrated. Mang Minong, a father of five has just finished re-bagging his fifty sacks of freshly sun-dried un-milled rice. His two sons were with him, helping him. They were drinking ice-cold "Pop" cola and each one munching a packet of "Boy Bawang" under a shaded concrete bench when Mr. Ong approached them. Mang Minong and Mr. Ong bargained. They agreed at a price, Php. 5.35 per kilo, provided that Mang Minong would sell twenty-five sacks of his freshly dried commodity. Twenty-five sacks were weighed on the rusty "baskula" – 1,250 kilograms. At first, Mang Minong had a bit of doubt on the total weight. He was almost sure based on his previous transactions that each bag weighs more than fifty kilos. But when Mr. Ong brought out a bunch of 100 peso bills (the highest peso denomination at that time) and a few smaller bills, all of Mang Minong’s doubts were obliterated. Mang Minong and his two sons were all smile counting the Php. 6,687.50 handed to them by Mr. Ong. The Chinese trader looked to the eyes of the farmer and asked, "What are you going to do with your money?". The farmer answered, "I’ll go home to my wife and discuss what we need to buy". "How about you, where are you going after loading my twenty-five sacks?", the farmer asked the Chinese. "I’ll go to the next barrio and try to buy some more rice", he answered. Mang Minong laughed mockingly and said to the Chinese, "Mr. Ong, now I am richer than you". Confused at what the farmer said, Mr. Ong asked, "How can you say that when you only got nothing comparing to how much I have?". Mang Minong answered in great delight, "Now, I have more than what I want, but you, you still want more than what you have."