"Do not just hear the Word of God and think hearing is enough. DO what it says!" James 1:22

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Meet... Muck and Mire

Lesson 21

For Lesson 21's Wrap Up,
some of the students in our class acted out a performance of
"Muck and Mire"
for the rest of the class as well as Mrs. McKain's class.
I narrated the performance.
(It was so funny because as I narrated the characters
speaking, the students playing that particular character
would move their mouth as if they were doing the speaking.
It was so funny!!!)
*
Muck and Mire were two young peasant children,
brother and sister, who set out on a trip to meet the king.
They pleasantly told their mother,
"We're off to see the king!"
They planned to have dinner with king
and all his noblemen and servants in the palace.
So they laughed together while away they skipped.

Along the way they met a woman knitting clothing.
"Please tell us," in unison they asked the woman,
"how might we find the king?"
The old woman glared at them and replied,
"Whatcha talkin' bout?!  This ain't no fairy tale!
There ain't no king!
And who has time to go lookin' for one anyways?!"

Muck and Mire left the old (and grumpy) woman
and continued forth on their journey.
Soon they met a man carrying a tiny pig.
"Please tell us," in unison they asked the man,
"how might we find the king?"
"Let me think," the man replied,
"Each of us must find the king himself.
I can not tell you where to find the king."
And he walked away with his little pig.

Muck and Mire began to get discouraged.
They hung their heads in disappointment and
hardly noticed the man who approached them.
He wore a long flowing robe,
held a golden septer in his right hand,
fashioned a jeweled crown upon his head,
and wore a paper name tag over his heart that said
"Hi my name is... "
Written in magic marker on the name tag was...
"King."

"Please tell us," they asked "how might we find the king?"
The man smiled. "I that speak to thee is he."
"No really," they said, "we want to meet the king."
The man pointed a finger at his name tag.
"See?" he said.  He pointed to his crown
and waved his golden septer at them.
"I am the king."
Muck turned to Mire. "Let's go home," he said.
"We'll never find the king."
They shook their heads and turned away from
the man with the crown and golden septer.


So many of us have our very own picture or idea
of Who God really is.
Many of the apostles pictured Jesus
to be an earthly king,
one who would gather soldiers and fight in battles.
(In all four Gospels, we are told of when Simon Peter
drew his sword and cut off a man's ear
just because he was ready to defend his King in battle.
-Matt 26:51, Mark 14:47, Luke 22:50, John 18:10)

Demetrius and the crowd at Ephesus
certainly had their ideas of what "a god" should look like.
And they were ready to fight for it.
However, they weren't really fighting for their "god."
"My friends, it is our job to fashion our god with our tools.
You know this is how we make our money.
And yet this Paul says a god can not be made by human hands."
Acts 19:25:26

First Timothy 6:10a tells us
"For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil."
And even Jesus said,
"“No one can serve two masters.
Either you will hate the one and love the other,
or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.
You cannot serve both God and money."
Matthew 6:24

Demetrius and the crowd wanted nothing to do
with the God of the Way
because they wanted a god they could serve
alongside thier desire of money and wealth.

We didn't do this next part in class...
read John 18:28-38.
How was Muck and Mire's mistake like Pilate's mistake?
How was this same mistake like the mistake
made by the people at Ephesus?
Jesus said,
"All who love the truth
RECOGNIZE
that what I say is true."
John 18:37

Even the reactions of the knitting woman
and the pig farmer are much like the reactions
of people today in that they think of the Bible as "just stories"
and your god can be whoever or whatever
you want it to be.
But is that TRUTH?

Paul and the Way brought the
One True God
to Ephesus and the people couldn't
RECOGNIZE the Truth.

It is my prayer that everyone who heard
God's Wrap Up of our Lesson 21 today
will remember this lesson
when they are faced with making a decision
between God's Truth and worldly desires.
May God open our eyes and our hearts
to RECOGNIZE the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ!

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