Taking away the Emperor’s New Clothes
0 comments | Posted by Steven Layson on 18 Apr 2010 in From Steve's Study ::
I’m sure you know Hans Christian Anderson’s classic story of “The Emperor’s New Clothes”. It is a story about an Emperor who was extremely vain and who loved new clothes. He commissioned a group of weavers, who claimed to be able to make him a new “magical” outfit. This outfit, so they claimed, would be completely invisible except to those who were both wise and pure in heart. The king agreed to their exorbitant price to obtain such a garment.
During the “weaving” of this non-existent outfit, the Emperor sent his chief advisors to check on the progress. Though they could not see anything on the weavers’ looms, they did not want to appear foolish or impure so they came back to the king with glowing reports.
When the garment was “finished”, the king himself went to see it. Though he couldn’t see anything, he didn’t want to appear foolish or impure either, so he lavished the weavers with great praise.
When the time came for the great “unveiling”, the king paraded through the town unveiling much more than his new garment! Though they could not see any clothes, the crowd didn’t want to appear foolish, so they too praised the beauty of the clothes. That was until a small boy looked up, saw the king and yelled, “The Emperor has no clothes!”
This great story reveals our almost universal desire to remain silent in the face of deception – we don’t want to appear foolish. Our world tells us that there is nothing wrong with us, that the problems we see in the world around us are mere aberrations that can be cured by a good dose of education or adherence to the latest “self-help” mantra.
The Apostle Paul, however, will not let us continue in this self-deception. In the passage we look at today (Romans 1:18-3:20), Paul goes to great lengths to assure us that there very much is something wrong with our world, and that is sin. No one is immune to its effects.
Now we know the main problem that faces us, we can find an appropriate solution – and that solution comes in the person and work of Jesus, who died to deal with our sin and rose again to give us a chance of a new beginning.
« Volcanoes, Praise, Prayer and Accommodation! Lest we forget»
Commenting has expired or Comments are turned off for this article.
