Filling the Room with Light

~ There is a fable told about a king who needed to choose amongst his three sons which would be the next ruler of the land.  His older two sons had roles in the government as minister of war and minister of finance; the youngest son eschewed that life and instead lived a life of solitude and prayer, as a hermit, far from home.

The king could not decide among the three, so he devised a test: they each in turn would have from sundown to sunrise to fill a dungeon room in the castle completely, from floor to ceiling, with whatever, and however they chose.

The eldest son, the minister of war, began by ordering the many military troops of the land to bring every rock and boulder that they could find to the castle.  By morning, the room appeared to be completely full; the king, though, noted he could place his fingers, and sometimes his whole hand, in various crevices and gaps between the stones.  This son would not be the next king.

The next son, the minister of finance, knew the country had grown prosperous under his father’s rule, so he had those under his command gather all the paper money, the coins, the jewels and precious metals of the land to bring to the dungeon.  But, by sunrise, even all the affluence of the land only filled the room halfway.  He too would not be the next king.

The last son, when it came his turn, did not know how to proceed.  He didn’t have authority to command thousands of troops, nor any amount of money or riches of his own.  So, at sundown, as the dungeon door shut behind him, leaving him in complete darkness, he did what he knew: he pulled a candle from his knapsack, and a prayer book, and began to pray.  He prayed with such fervor that before he knew it, it was sunrise, and his father was opening the door.  He had failed.

“Father, I’m sorry,” the son said. “My son, whatever for?” the father replied.  “Your two brothers tried to fill this room with power, with wealth — and they were both unsuccessful.  You, however indeed have succeeded — by filling this room with light.”

Our Gospel today speaks of a rich man and of a poor man, Lazarus.  The poor man begs the rich man to give from his excess in this life, which does not happen.  In the afterlife, the roles are reversed, and the rich man begs Abraham to send Lazarus to comfort his eternal torment, or at least to warn his brothers not to follow the earthly path he trod.  Do we cling to our power and riches, as did both the scriptural rich man and wise king’s sons in the above fable?  Or, as believers in and followers of the one who has risen from the dead, do we instead share with those most in need, bringing Divine light and love into the world?

Throughout the year, we present an article in the bulletin each week on a variety of topics, written by a member of our Parish staff or ministries on a rotating basis.