Oh, Is that So?
Story 1
The native religion in Southeast Asia is Theavada Buddhism, an old
religion seeing the Buddha as a teacher, not a god. Buddhism has monks, religious men “in-training” of the teachings of the
Buddha. They are supposed to give up all
they have during this period of life, a period all men are supposed to follow
for two years or more of their lives. They go door-to-door, wearing orange
robes, blessing the people and receiving care from families they bless. They are the high-mark of Buddhism.
There is a story about a Buddhist monk getting into some trouble. It seems that a young girl in his village
became pregnant and when confronted by her parents, the young girl named the
monk as the father. The parents were angry!
·
For years, they had supported this man –
listening to his teachings, as if they were the teachings of Buddha;
·
For years they had provided him food,
transportation, and total support; and,
·
For years they had provided him a life!
They went to see the monk –they cursed the monk, telling all
the people the monk is fathering a child with a girl. The monk answered the assault by saying only,
"Is that so?"
Soon the girl gave birth to a baby
boy. The parents brought the child to the monk and said – "This is your
fault ‑ here, you take care of it."
"Is that so?" replied the monk.
·
For the next 10 years the monk took care of the
child.
·
His reputation in the village was gone.
·
He was no longer searched out for advice.
·
He was an outcast in his own wat, or temple.
Meanwhile, the girl grew up and began to understand her
faith. "What have I done," she
thought, and she went to her parents and confessed that the father of the child
was not the monk, but a boy in the village.
The parents went to the monk, now
living alone with the child, outside the walls of the monastery, and said, "Our
daughter slandered against you. You are not the Father of this child."
And the Monk replied, "Is that so?" The parents took the child
and raised him in their home.
Meanwhile the monk continued to be
an outcast in his own community. He was
still not allowed back into the wat. Another
in the community lambasted the monk and saying, "You have every right
to curse the family, they have defiled your name. They have made your life a nightmare. If it were I," replied the other,
"I would call the girl a slut, a harlot." To which the monk replied: "Is that so?"
Story 2
There is another story about a man
who approaches the pastor in the hall of the church, saying in a hush‑hush
tone, "Preacher, did you know that there is a woman in our congregation
who is guilty of adultery?"
"Oh, is that so?" said the preacher, "No, but now
I do know that there is a man in our congregation who is guilty of
slander."
Story 3
A third story was shared to me by one of you this past week. I changed it
a little for purposes of this message. A pastor had an old car that kept
breaking down. One night, as he headed
home, the car broke down in front of a bar.
He got out and left the car there overnight, thinking it would restart
in the morning. And, it did. He got to the office and a lady, a member,
was waiting. “Preacher, I saw your car parked in front of the bar last night. I know what you were doing!” “Oh, is
that so,” said the preacher. The
next night the car broke down again. He
got out and walked home. The car sat there all night, right in front of the
woman’s house!
Story 4
A fourth story: When I was growing up we had 3 horses. Actually, that is one of the reasons we moved
from the city to the countryside. One
day my father attended a livestock auction and ended up with three horses.
We did not have saddles or
bridles. We used a rope for a bridle and
sat bare-back. One day my brother was on
“Whitie,” my sister on “Old Red” and I was riding “Blackie.” Blackie was a black pony and was usually much
slower and gentler than the other two, we thought! After all, I was the
baby. I was about 150 yards behind my
brother and sister. He took off!
·
No matter how hard I pulled back.
·
No matter how much I shouted – I could not stop
him.
·
I flew past my sister on “Old Red.”
·
I left my brother and “Whitie” in the dust.
·
We went into the creek and I was shouting all
the way!
·
I held on for about ½ mile before I finally let
go and fell off the side of the horse.
My father immediately “manufactured” a bit for
“Blackie’s mouth” and it never happened again!
Think about it. We put a bit into
the mouth of a horse, knowing that if we can control its mouth we can control
its whole body. After a time, it changed his spirit, too. He became gentler and even more willing to
have someone always riding his back.
****
Maybe that is what we need, too! So James says that if we can control the
tongue, we can control the whole body; but if the tongue is uncontrolled, the
whole life is set on the wrong way. But James is speaking about more than the
mouth – he is speaking about the “spirit”
of the person. How are we reacting when someone is riding us hard, sitting on
our backs?
In
the stories I shared with you, “What kind of spirits have you seen involved? Were they spirits of truth, of love, of
hatred, or of power?”
