A little boy once asked...
Illustration
A little boy once asked his mother to hang stretch-socks over the fireplace for Christmas. Perhaps he wanted to increase the gift-containing capacity of his socks. But then, maybe he merely wanted to stretch out his happiness.
On this second Sunday of Christmas we want to stretch our remembrance of the Wisdom from on high, whose goodness covers the whole earth. The power of his goodness is reflected in this narrative, "A Story of Two Brothers":
A father died, leaving two sons. One son lived on a hill and had a large family; the other, a bachelor, lived alone in a valley.
One night the son in the valley awoke. He said to himself, "Did my father's equal division of his property between us give my brother a just portion? My poor brother, living on the hill, is weighed down by the responsibilities of a large family, and here am I without responsibilities and obligations. Tonight I will take some of the sheaves of grain my father left me and quietly put them in my brother's barn; otherwise he would not take them."
That very same night, the other brother, on the hill, could not sleep. He said to himself, "I can see my father did not treat my brother and me equally. I am surrounded by a loving wife and family, and my brother lives alone. I'll take some of the sheaves left me by my father and, unseen, leave them in my brother's barn, because he would not accept them knowingly.
That night, the two brothers met, halfway between their homes, their arms laden with sheaves, and when each realized what the other was doing, they wept with tears of understanding, of brotherly love.
On this second Sunday of Christmas we want to stretch our remembrance of the Wisdom from on high, whose goodness covers the whole earth. The power of his goodness is reflected in this narrative, "A Story of Two Brothers":
A father died, leaving two sons. One son lived on a hill and had a large family; the other, a bachelor, lived alone in a valley.
One night the son in the valley awoke. He said to himself, "Did my father's equal division of his property between us give my brother a just portion? My poor brother, living on the hill, is weighed down by the responsibilities of a large family, and here am I without responsibilities and obligations. Tonight I will take some of the sheaves of grain my father left me and quietly put them in my brother's barn; otherwise he would not take them."
That very same night, the other brother, on the hill, could not sleep. He said to himself, "I can see my father did not treat my brother and me equally. I am surrounded by a loving wife and family, and my brother lives alone. I'll take some of the sheaves left me by my father and, unseen, leave them in my brother's barn, because he would not accept them knowingly.
That night, the two brothers met, halfway between their homes, their arms laden with sheaves, and when each realized what the other was doing, they wept with tears of understanding, of brotherly love.
