King Mutt And Shepherds ©

King Lion weakened with hunger died. A dog passing by said,” Fine state of affairs! I shall now lord it over.” But along came a pack of hounds, which were impressed by the dead carcass and the dog boasted that it was he who killed the lion in a single combat. “ But the lion looks as though starved to death?” The mutt had a ready answer,“Yes we fought for days non-stop and the lion got weakened by the hour while I went from strength to strength.” That convinced them all. So the hounds made him the king.
King Mutt knew he had to survive somehow. So he made the pack of hounds as ministers of the state and went over to a pasture where they had only to be concerned with a flock of sheep. King Mutt thus saved his skin and also his secret: he never had to prove whether he was stronger than a lion. But the shepherds who watched over the flock made the dogs do their bidding. This breed of dogs we know now as shepherd dogs.
Isn’t this how our so-called humilty and conformity to norms work? We like shepherd dogs herd members to conform to its outward observance. Instead of bringing others to the norm that is our essential self we practise religion like the Pharisees. (Lu:18. 9-14)
We keep observances like Pharisees and in our arrogance of our self- assuredness we belittle the publican: do we think for a moment if there be some lesson we could learn from him? No our complacency has eaten into the vitals of our spirit. We are no longer on the level with God.
God makes the sun rise on the good and evil alike. Standing of both the publican and Pharisee were of same distance in the mind of God. It is what Jesus amply illustrates from his parable. One conformed to hyspocrisy and other entered into the Holiest of the Holies.
benny