“You must hurry,” friends cried to the teacher as he rushed home from the fields. “The banquet at the home of Halil has already begun. You are late.”
“They are right,” the teacher thought. “If I take time to change clothes, I could miss the entire dinner.” Instead of returning to his home, he proceeded in his work clothes to the home of Halil, the rich man.
When he arrived, the servants at the door refused to allow him to enter because he was not dressed properly. Though he protested, the servants stood firm.
Finally, the teacher walked to the home of a friend who lived nearby. He borrowed a nice coat and quickly returned to the party. He was immediately welcomed and was seated at the banquet table.
When dinner was served, the teacher began to put the food on his coat. He smeared his jacket with vegetables and poured the appetizer in his pocket. All the time he said loudly, “Eat, dear dinner jacket. I hope you enjoy the meal.”
All the guests focused their attention on the teacher’s strange behavior. Finally, Halil asked, “Why are telling your jacket to enjoy the meal?”
“When I arrived in my work clothes,” the teacher explained, “I was refused entrance. It was only when I was accompanied by this fine coat that I was allowed to sit at the table. Naturally I assume it was the jacket, not me, that was invited to your banquet.”
Do we evaluate others by the clothes they wear? Are we right or wrong when we do so?
Tags: judging
Anita and I enjoy watching those old movies with a happy ending. The other night we watched You Can’t Take it With You, a 1938 comedy directed by Frank Capra, who also directed Its a Wonderful Life nine years later. Both films starred Jimmy Stewart and Lionel Barrymore.
Jimmy Stewart and Lionel Barrymore looked quite a bit younger than we remembered them in this 1938 film. And, in an interesting twist, Lionel Barrymore, who played villain Henry Potter in the famous Christmas film, played the kindly hero Grandpa Martin Vanderhof in You Can’t Take it With You.
Every December we watched the gruff conniving Potter role and so I kept expecting some trickery out of Grandpa in this older film, which never did materialize. I suppose its human nature for us to judge people based upon one incident and then trust or not trust them based upon what we’ve seen.
But Christmas is about God becoming man to change our character. Thank God I’m not judged the way I used to be. Merry Christmas.
Tags: character, judging