We publish a Parish Magazine 4 times a year and in each Magazine there is a letter from Jonathan Smith, the Vicar at St John's. Here is the Summer 2006 one:
Each and every world has its esoteric words and jargon and the church is certainly no exception. Two words which we sometimes use are "salvation" and "justification", as in the assertion, "Jesus Christ was crucified for our salvation and raised from the dead for our justification". What do these words mean? Recently, in the pulpit, rather than preach a sermon, I told a story to try to explain. Some people have asked me for a copy of it; so here it is.
THE CAGE
Chapter 1
A man was on the side of the road with a large birdcage. A boy, passing by, noticed that the cage was full of birds of many differing kinds.
"Where did you get those birds?" the boy asked.
"Oh, all over the place", the man replied, "I lure them with crumbs, gain their confidence and then when they are close I net them and shove them into my cage."
"And what are you going to do with them now?" the boy asked.
The man grinned somewhat unpleasantly, "I'm going to prod them with sticks to get them really mad so that they will fight and kill each other. Those who survive will have their necks wrung. None will survive eventually."
The boy looked steadily at the man and wondered what made him do such a cruel thing. He looked into the man's hard, pitiless eyes and then to the birds, defenceless and without hope. "Can I buy those birds off you?" the boy asked.
The man disguised a smirk, aware that he might be on to a good thing if he played the boy along. "Well ..." he said, hesitantly, "The cage is very expensive and I spent a lot of time collecting these birds. I'll tell you what I'll do. How much money have you got saved up?"
The boy answered truthfully "about twenty five pounds"
"All right," said the man, "I'll let you have the lot, cage, birds and all for twenty five pounds and that iPod you're carrying."
The boy paused. Twenty five pounds was a lot of money and the iPod had been a birthday present and was just the best thing he had ever owned. But he looked again at the birds and said, "OK". He went home, got the money from the tin he kept it in and went back to the man and handed over the cash and the iPod. The man, in turn, handed over to him the cage of birds and at once the boy opened the wire door and let the birds go free.
Chapter 2
The Devil was on the side of life's road with a very large cage. God, passing by, noticed that it was full of people of every kind, female and male, old and young, from every race and nation upon earth. "Where did you get those people?" God asked.
"Oh, from all over the world" the Devil replied, "I lure them with drink, drugs, lust, love of money, and all manner of enticing things. I pretend I'm their friend, out to give them a good time and then when I've hooked them, into the cage they go." "And what are you going to do with them?" asked God.
The Devil smiled. "I'm going to prod them and provoke them and get them to hate and destroy each other. I'll stir up racial and religious hatred, make them insanely jealous of one another, make them angry and vengeful and consumed with self-pity. I'll make them dissatisfied, confused, restless, bored. It's very easy, they always listen to what I say and then, and this really is the best bit my Divine chum, they invariably blame you for the outcome. Those who do not destroy themselves, I will destroy. None will survive eventually."
"Can I buy those people off you?" asked God.
The Devil smirked. "I'm not really sure you can afford to, after all there are so many of them and they are very expensive. I'll tell you what I'll do. What's the most valuable thing you have?"
"Well," replied God, "the world is mine, the whole creation, all nature; I made it so I guess it belongs to me."
"Far, far too cheap", said the Devil, "do you think I can be bought for as little as that?"
"I'm sorry", God replied, "I didn't mean to cause offence but I don't think I've got anything more valuable than the whole wide world" "Really?" rejoined the Devil, "Really? I'm not sure I believe that. Let me think for a moment, ah yes, now what's that Son of yours called again? But there, I'm being silly, look at these miserable specimens in the cage, surely they can't be worth that much to you, can they?"
The End
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent his son into the world not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.
(St John's Gospel
Chapter 3 Verses 16 and 17)
