I remember a book about a battle between two wizards. It is similar to the battle between Merlin and Madam Mim is Disney’s adaptation of the Sword in the Stone …but its not. It was a storybook story and still for the life of me I cannot remember the title of the story but I do remember the story.
In the story, the Dark Magician was an all powerful and much feared – due to his past deeds, which were many and dark. On the other hand the other Wizard was a Court Magician, meaning he did tricks and performed feats of magic for the King and his Kingdom. So when the challenge came the Court Magician he was naturally troubled. How could he defeat such a powerful Necromancer.
Then the day of the duel came, The Dark Magician all dressed in black and looking maleficent appeared before the Gate of the Kingdom. The gate opened and the Court Magician dressed in orange and black stepped out.
The Dark Magician started showing off his skills, lightning and smoke filled the duel space. Everyone was scared except for the Court Magician who chuckled and waved his hand. Instantly making the ground where the Dark Magician into slippery mud, making the DarkMagician slip, slip, slip, fall and slip again. His face was now covered in mud and his dark wardrobe was covered in brown spots and dots. He did not look maleficent anymore. And the Kingdom began to laugh. Fear had evaporated from their collective heart and began to fill up with mirth and laughter. This made the Dark Magician angry and tried to hex them but he found out that he had lost his power over the people. Still he slipped and fell all over again until at last he was able to use his last once of magic to conjur up a dark cloud and evaporated from everyones sight,
Now this story came to mind last week during Holy Week as I found myself reflecting on Jesus Christ. Was he as solemn as and as serious as I understood from the sermons, preaching and even the films I have watched? Or was I just guilty of stereotyping Jesus Christ? Putting him into a square peg.
Oh Boy was I wrong.
Re-reading from the New Testament and other books shed a new-light and personal understanding of Jesus Christ. If you look at the scriptures Jesus spent a large number of time talking, breaking bread/eating with and partying with people from all sorts of life. Jesus Christ who told the story of the Good Samaritan and who joked and advised us to worry more about the wooden beam/log before our eyes than the speck of sawddust on our friend’s eye. How could this Jesus Christ be humorless? This was the Jesus Christ who accepted and talked to everyone whether one was a Pharasee, Sadducee, Centurion, Samaritan, Courtesan and even a tax collcctor.
Jesus Christ indeed had a sense of humor and accepted anyone. It seemed to me that those who were intolerant and had no sense of humor in their actions were those who plotted and designed his suffering and death.And it seems to me that human actions through our history that have been condemned as act against humanity is a reflection a lack of sense of humor and intolerance. Such actions would not look favorably on the eyes of Jesus Christ, who was a victim of such an act.
These include: the discrimination against people based on belief, choice and creed; acts of violence against people based on belief, choice and creed; pogroms and cleansing against people based on belief, choice and creed.
These are acts of intolerant and humorless people and unfortunately some of them use Jesus Christ to justify their actions. And that is the tragedy.
It is not an act or action of Jesus Christ who was tolerant; who had a sense of humor and who partied.
