No word of a lie –
a story for Christmas Day 2023
There was once a man who farmed the steep slopes of the
hillsides near the town of Bethlehem, growing wheat to make its people’s bread.
His name was Samuel, but the local people had long ago given him a nickname –
“no word of a lie” – because Samuel always told the truth, even when a little
white lie might have been kinder or wiser. If his wife, Hannah, had spent days
and weeks and lots of money making a new dress and asked him “does this make me
look fat, Samuel?” He would look carefully, his head on one side and then say
“well, no word of a lie, yes, it does, just a bit?” Oh dear - bad decision,
Samuel! If a new parent showed him their beloved baby and asked him, “have you
ever seen a more beautiful child?”, he would say, “well, quite a few actually.
In fact, no word of a lie, I think he looks plug ugly at the moment.” The
parents were usually up in arms, but others would tell them, “What did you
expect from “No word of a lie Samuel”? If you don’t want to know what he
thinks, don’t ask him!
One day it so happened that Samuel was out sowing wheat
seed. Up and down the fields he went, scattering the seed around him, until, by
the end of the day, every seed was sown. Samuel looked at his work “A little
rain, a little sun and in three or four months time, this field will be full of
wheat, ready to harvest” He thought about the little seeds, tucked up in the
good earth. He thought about the little roots that would grow down into the
soil, slowly, slowly, and the green shoots that would grow up towards the sun.
He thought about the ears of wheat swelling up and the green gradually turning
to gold as the wheat ripened. Samuel gathered up his tools, and sighed with
pleasure, as he turned to walk home. But as he did so he noticed something. Two
weary looking travellers walking along the road, a man and a woman, and – what
was that the woman was holding – it was a tiny baby, wrapped in rough cloth.
They looked worried. They were going as fast as they could, but with a child,
and a mother who had recently given birth, they were struggling, and they
looked so tired. Samuel thought of his own children, grown up now, and his
little grandchildren – he wouldn’t like to imagine them looking like the
bedraggled family he saw before him.
Samuel hailed them “Where are you going so late in the day,
and why the rush?”
We’re heading for Egypt with our child, said the man. He is
in danger, and we must hurry.
Well you won’t get to Egypt tonight, said Samuel – no word
of a lie – it’s hundreds of miles away, and you look so tired. Why don’t you
stop the night with me and my wife. We’d be happy to feed you and give you a
bed, and you’ll go along much faster tomorrow with a good night’s sleep and
some food inside you.”
The man and the woman looked at each other, and whispered
together something that Samuel couldn’t quite hear.
“It’s kind of you,”
they said, but we’re afraid we’d put you in danger,” they said. King Herod is
after us. He wants to kill our child, and anyone sheltering us might be at risk
if he found them.
Well, that settles it, said Samuel – you must definitely
come back with me. I’ve no time for Herod. He’s a cruel man – no word of a lie.
I’m happy to take the risk to help someone who’s on the wrong side of him, and
so will my wife be. There’s no need to go a step further. You’re coming home
with me, and you can get on your way in the morning bright and early. It can’t
make that much difference, if we are careful. Our little house is out in the
middle of nowhere, so no one will know you are there.”
So the man and the woman – whose names, they said, were Mary
and Joseph, - came home with Samuel. When they got there, Samuel took Hannah
aside, and told her what Joseph and Mary had said. “Are we putting ourselves in
danger by sheltering them, “ asked Hannah”. Yes we are, said Samuel, no word of
a lie, we are, but we can’t let them go on. They need us. “ and Hannah agreed,
as he knew she would. And she welcomed
them with open arms, made them sit down, made a fuss of the baby – Jesus, he
was called – and bustled about sorting out some good food for them all to share
together. Darkness fell as they sat and ate and talked in the one roomed house.
And Mary and Joseph told them a strange story about how they’d come from
Nazareth, about angels, and shepherds, and travellers from distant lands, and a
star in the sky, and the news they’d been given that their child was sent from
God to show the love of God. And Samuel and Hannah thought it just possibly be
true, because, in the darkness of the room, they could swear that there was a
light coming from the
, a light that shone in the darkness and chased it away.
In the morning, Hannah and Samuel got up early, but they
found that Mary and Joseph were already packing their bags, ready to go. “Must
you go so soon,” said Samuel. Yes, said Joseph. I keep having these awful
dreams about Herod, and the danger our child is in. “Well, at least take some
food for the journey, said Hannah – some of our good, fresh bread, made from
our own wheat, and cheese, and vegetables – you’ve got to keep your strength
up!”
Take one of our donkeys too, said Samuel. You’ll get along
much faster with it. If you ever come back this way, you can bring her back,
and if not, you can pass her on to someone else who might need her.”
So Joseph and Mary loaded their belongings onto the donkey,
and Mary climbed up on its back, holding her child close to her, and as quickly
as they could, they said their goodbyes and their thank yous and went on their
way, just as the sun rose.
An hour or so later, Samuel was getting ready to go out into
the fields again. There were some stone walls that needed mending – best to do
it before the wheat grew, to protect the young plants from animals. He was lost
in thought, pondering that little family, and hoping they would be all right
when he got to his fields. Then he lifted up his eyes, and saw something that
astonished him…
But before he could even take in what he’d seen, he heard a sound which drove away all other
thought, which struck fear into his heart – the sound of galloping horses and
clanking weapons…
He turned around to see a band of soldiers heading his way.
“You, peasant! Stop and answer us in the name of King
Herod!” the leader of the group said.
“What is it?” said Samuel, quaking in his boots a little.
“King Herod has sent us out to question everyone on the
roads leading out of Bethlehem. You must answer our questions honestly.”
“Oh, he’ll certainly do that, said one of the soldiers. I
come from hereabouts, and I know this man. We call him “no word of a lie
Samuel” . He couldn’t tell a lie to save his life.”
“Good”, said the leader, “in that case, I ask you, have you
seen a man and a woman with a small baby, coming along this road?”
Samuel looked up at him.
“No word of a lie – yes I have. It was on the day that I
sowed the wheat seeds in this field here.” And he pointed to the field behind
him.
And the soldier turned to his men and said “Well, there’s
obviously no point in us going on, lads. They must be long gone by now… Look at
that field… “
And they looked, and they saw what Samuel had seen, the
thing that had astonished him so much. That field where he had only the day
before sown those tiny seeds, was filled with fully grown wheat, ripe and
golden and ready for harvest.
And without another word to Samuel, the soldiers turned
their horses around and galloped back the way they had come. And Samuel was
left shaking his head, wondering what on earth had just happened.
He couldn’t make any sense of it, but he could see that
there was work to do, so he went back to the house, and told Hannah what had
happened. And they fetched their scythes and started to reap their unexpected
crop, grateful for the extra harvest, but even more grateful that the little
family were safe.
They never heard what happened to Mary, Joseph and their
baby, but many years later they did hear
about a preacher from Nazareth – and hadn’t that been Mary and Joseph’s
hometown? He was called Jesus too, and people said he’d lived out a message of
God’s love and welcome for all, and been killed for that message, but some said
he’d risen from death. And when Hannah
and Samuel heard those stories, they remembered that tiny child, and the light
that seemed to chase away the darkness, not just in their room, but in their
hearts too, they wondered…no word of a lie … they just wondered, whether their
courage and hospitality might have been more important than they thought on that
night so long ago. And maybe we should wonder the same about whether our small
acts of courage and hospitality might make more of a difference than we think.
Amen
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