They say that the day Bluey went to church, the roof fell in. Funny thing, that: Bluey always said it would happen if he went to church.
“If I ever went to church, the roof would fall in,” he would say. Of course, nobody ever believed him; it was just Bluey’s way of saying that church wasn’t really his thing. Nobody really thought that it would happen.
From time to time, someone in the family would say: “Coming to church today, Blue?” Mind you, Bluey had been to church a few times over the years. It wasn’t (as he used to say) as though he was a heathen. After all, he had been christened in a church. And married in one. Didn’t that prove something?
Bluey had a healthy respect for God. “You don’t knock a man’s religion,” he always said. He would have a beer or two with any man, he maintained, but politics and religion were out. If the people across the road wanted to go to church on Sundays, that was their business. And, out of respect for their feelings, Bluey would wait until they drove off before starting up the lawn mower.
A good bloke, Bluey. No angel, but a good bloke, just the same.
Still, it came as something of a shock when Bluey got out of bed one Sunday morning and announced that he was going to church. At first, even the family thought that he was having them on. But when he turned up for breakfast in his good shirt and trousers, instead of his usual T-shirt and shorts, they knew that he was fair dinkum. And when he drove straight past his club and pulled into the church parking lot, they were speechless.
“Well, are we going to sit here, or are we going inside?” Bluey grouched, wondering what was wrong with them.
The preacher spoke on forgiveness that morning, and they say that Bluey paid a lot of attention. And while the final prayer was being said, he bowed his head, and his lips moved. Bluey, talking to God?
When the service was over, Bluey shook hands with the preacher at the door, and followed his family out into the sunshine. He seemed sort of quiet, thoughtful.
Now they say that as Bluey drove out of the parking lot, a long-time churchgoer was heard to remark: “Well! Fancy that man coming to church!”
And it was right there and then that the roof fell in.
Jesus said that two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and said this self-centred prayer: “O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of men, robbers, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I give a tenth of all my income.”
But the tax collector stood at a distance and would not even lift his eyes to heaven, but continued to beat his chest and say: “O God, have mercy on me, a sinner!”
Jesus said: “I tell you, this man, and not the other, went back home forgiven and accepted by God. For everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, but whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.” (Luke 18:10-14)
Makes you think, doesn’t it?