The Story
There was a certain prosperous city which was known for its wealth, safe neighborhoods, and clean streets. After hearing of this great place, a wealthy real estate developer named Joshua bought a very large plot of land on the edge of the city. It was a beautiful piece of land with woods, rivers, and breathtaking views of nature and the city. As soon as he’d gotten the approval from the city, he immediately set to work and hired the best contractors and architects in the entire country to begin work on building a series of beautiful homes. Each was unique and had its own beautiful piece of nature all to itself.
Some time later, as the last home was being finished, he drove through his new neighborhood, marveling at the beautiful craftsmanship. There were a total of two hundred homes. He had poured every bit of his money and his heart into the project, and it had come time to begin selling the homes. There was already a list of thousands of people from all over the world lined up to buy one of these homes.
When he came back to his office, he turned on the television and saw a local news report which said, to his surprise, that even in this prosperous city there were 100 people in the city who lived in the streets and had no employment. The noise from the television drowned out, and Joshua’s heart became heavy. He thought of the many beautiful homes he owned and how these people didn’t even have a roof over their head when it rained.
After pondering these things for awhile, he picked up his phone and called his property manager and friend, Mishlei. He instructed Mishlei to come for a meeting first thing in the morning. After he hung up the phone, he got out his papers, pens, and calculator and began working through the night.
When morning came, Mishlei knocked on the door at exactly 8:00am. She was right on time, as she always was.
“Mishlei,” Joshua began, “I need you to get the names of all of the homeless in the city.”
Mishlei nodded.
“I want you to put each one’s name on the lease of one of the homes. These homes are not to be sold. We will hold them until the person takes the home or until they pass away.”
Joshua handed his friend a list of homes, and Mishlei promptly took them and set to work.
Later that evening, Mishlei came back and said, “It’s done. I’ve found them all. How do we let them know?”
“Go to every street corner and yell it out,” Joshua instructed. “Make sure that every one of them hears it. Tell them that all they need to do is to come to the office and sign the paper, and they can move in. Tell them that we will also help them with new clothes and give them work.”
Mishlei nodded again and set out to begin her task.
One day, as Mishlei was walking the streets, five homeless men happened to be walking by.
Recognizing them from the list, she cried out, “Attention all tired and homeless! The developer Joshua has a home with your name already on the lease. He also has work and clean clothes for you. No matter what your story is, you will not be turned away. All you need to do is to come to the office of the new development!”
The five men passed by the strange woman on the street corner and looked at one another.
One scoffed, “What a crock! Did you hear that? Ain’t nothin’ in this world for free.”
A second said, “They probably want to get you in there so they can run medical experiments on you. I saw a video on youtube that PROVES the government makes dog food out of homeless people.”
A third man said, “Hear what? I didn’t hear anything.”
Two men, however, whose names were Emmet and Hawkma, stopped walking and began to discuss with one another.
“What do you think of that, Hawk?” Emmet said.
“Well,” Hawkma paused to think, “I guess I don’t know, but if it’s true, it’s worth checking out.”
Emmet agreed and the two men set off for the development office.
A little later, one of the other three, who was called Petie, secretly broke away to go to the office, as well. Although Petie thought it might be a conspiracy, part of him wanted to believe. Upon getting to the office,
Petie saw the other men coming out of the office and hid himself behind a tree. He saw them leaving with another man, and when they were fully out of view, he went into the office. With reservation and caution,
Petie signed the sheet. The kind attendant at the desk gave Petie his lease and keys.
“Welcome to the neighborhood, Petie!” she said sweetly. “Come back later and I’ll introduce you around and get you set up!”
Petie warily snatched the documents and hurried out the door without another word. As he walked out into the parking lot, he kept looking over his shoulder, expecting a white van to come and kidnap him at any moment.
Now after fifteen years had gone by, Petie had become ill. Although he was still living in the streets, he kept his lease and key protected — just in case, he reasoned. He had watched as his former friends Hawk and Emmet had gone on to do great things, but he was still too afraid to go back to the neighborhood. He did not know what it would do, but he knew it meant change, and that scared him. It was enough to know that he had the deed to the home. Even though he may look it, he knew that he wasn’t homeless.
When Hawkma had moved into his new home, those fifteen years ago, he began walking the neighborhood and his property each day. Every day, he was struck by the great beauty of nature all around him. Hawk had been homeless since he was a child, so aside from the park, he mostly only ever saw concrete and back alleys. The few times he was able to go to the park, the police or local business owners would usually make him leave. Now that he was surrounded by nature, he developed a love for gardening. After a few months had gone by, he visited Joshua to tell him what he wanted to do for work.
“That’s great, Hawk!” Joshua said, smiling. “Mishlei will teach you all that you need to know.”
Hawk went on to become the grounds keeper for the development. Studying under Mishlei’s attentive hand, he also learned how to run a business and was able to hire employees. Fifteen years later, his gardening service was employed by the entire city. In fact, the very park he was once kicked out of, his company now had the contract to landscape and keep the grounds every year.
Now, fifteen years later, Hawk sat on a bench in that very park, as he often liked to do. He brushed a tear from his eye as he drank in the sights. Children were playing in the sand, a young couple was off in the distance walking their dogs, and an elderly couple sat, feeding the pigeons, just a few benches over. A police officer walked by, nodding and waving with respect. You see, Mr. Hawkma was very well known and respected in the city. He was beloved by many. Most did not even know the story of where he’d come from.
“What is a homeless man with no future like me doing here, honoured where I was once chased out?” he pondered in wonder.
At that very same moment, Emmet was just closing a deal on a property in a new city, much like Joshua had in his own fifteen years ago. He had 400 homes planned and a list of names on his desk.
Those years ago, after Emmet had left the office and was shown his new home, he was overwhelmed by the kindness that Joshua showed. Emmet still remembered the moment after signing those papers, that fateful day that changed the trajectory of his life.
Joshua had turned to him and said, “How can I help you get your new life started?”
Emmet looked back at his new friend with awe. Choking back the tears, he responded, “I want to be like you.”
Joshua gazed at Emmet for a moment with endless compassion in his eyes.
“What most don’t know,” he began calmly, “is that even though I paid everything I had for this land, the city commission and many other people fought me for ten years. I spent all I had and could do nothing for years. I was slandered in the newspapers and accused of hurting the city. People made up lies about me to stop me from building.”
“But the whole city loves you!” Emmet interjected, puzzled at the thought of anyone thinking badly of such a kind an generous man. “Your development brought more attention and wealth to this city than ever before. The newspapers are praising you!”
“That’s true,” Joshua said, “I was tried by fire, but they found that I had done nothing wrong. Now they honour what I did, but for those ten years, I had almost nothing to live on, and my name was dirt to the people.”
There was a pause for several minutes as Emmet thought on all of this.
Finally, breaking the silence, Emmet said, “I went years where people couldn’t even look at me when they passed by. Yet you didn’t just look, you gave me what cost you everything. You gave me your legacy, and now I have a future.”
He continued, “Before you, I had no future. So my future isn’t mine, it’s yours. Teach me, and I’ll follow you for the rest of my life.”
From that day forward, Emmet met every day with both Mishlei and Joshua, and they taught him everything that they know. Over many years, the rough edges from his life on the streets smoothed down, and he learned to both how to live and to love like Joshua, and how to execute great things with precision like Mishlei.
Commentary
Two Spirits
As in our story, in the Bible there are two Spirits. The Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Wisdom.
The Spirit of Truth is represented by Joshua.
א The Hebrew Word Joshua or Yahshua is Jesus’s Name. It means Yah (God) is Salvation
“However when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak from Himself, but He will only speak what He hears; and He will show you things to come.”
John 16:13
This Spirit is embodied fully in Jesus (Joshua), who is the Word become flesh (John 1:14). Which is shown in the Scripture:
“For I have not spoken on My own, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a command as to what I should say and what I should speak.”
John 12:49
Embodied in Mishlei, is the Spirit of Wisdom
א The Hebrew Word Mishlei means Proverbs. It is the Hebrew Name for the Biblical Book of Proverbs
“Wisdom calls out in the street, she lifts her voice in the square. In the main concourse she cries aloud, at the city gates she makes her speech”
Proverbs 1:20
“Doesn’t wisdom cry out? And doesn’t understanding put forth her voice? She stands in high places, along the street corners. She cries out at the gates and the entry of the city. I call to you, oh people. All you who are simple, hear me, and understand wisdom. Foolish children, listen and learn understanding. For my mouth speaks truth…’”
Proverbs 8:1-5
That same Spirit lived and was with the Father even before the world was formed, as it says:
“Before He created earth or the fields or the highest mountain. When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth … Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him”
Proverbs 8:26-27, 30
So in this same parable is the path to not only salvation, but also to the greater things in life and in eternity.
We are told that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom (Prov 9:10), and that the fear of the Lord is what leads to life, both on earth (Proverbs 14:27, Proverbs 19:23, Ecc. 1:12) and it is also the beginning of the path which leads to to eternal life (Psalm 102:17, Luke 1:50, Ecclesiasticus 25:16)
The Characters
Petie
Petie is simple minded, who accepted salvation but did not allow it to change him. He trusted in his ownership but he did not respect or trust the Lord, and he didn’t want to change his life.
א The Hebrew Word Petie or Pethie means Simple, lacking in wisdom and understanding
Hawkma
“Hawk” accepted the call, received his new life, which he had not earned, and lead a wise life. He prospered and did great things as he continued to learn wisdom from Mishlei.
א The Hebrew Word Chochmah means Wisdom
Emmet
Emmet received his new life, and he chose to give it back, dedicating it to become like the man who had given him everything. His training included more than just wisdom on how to work in this world, but he also learned how to suffer in this world in order to build something greater and that would outlast his own life.
One day Hawkma would pass away, and his business would change hands, but Emmet’s legacy was in the lives he helped, the families he’d shelter, and they would go on sheltering for generations after he’d gone.
א The Hebrew Word Emet means Truth
The other two unnamed beggars
When they died, the leases on their homes were wiped clean and they were given away to new tenets. As long as they lived, they had the option, but one scoffed and another forgot what he’d heard as soon as he heard it, and they never did believe.
What to do?
Step 1
Accept the lease. Listen to the words of Wisdom and humble yourself. Accept that you are as one who has nothing, and receive Christ’s gift. Humility and Trust are the beginning of this journey.
Step 2
Start with Wisdom. Whether you have already accepted the lease or not, commit yourself to hearing. God gives Wisdom to those to ask (James 1:5), but Knowledge and Understanding come from his mouth, which are His spoken Words, recorded in the Bible. (Proverbs 2:6). Commit yourself every day to reading one chapter in Proverbs, and you will find your most difficult questions on Christianity being answered, and your life will change.
Never give up on this discipline. Dig into commentary and the original Hebrew words (you can get line by line translations) and take notes each day first thing in the morning.
If you want success at all in this life or the next, this is the key. And with all of the deceptive, seductive, and confusing teaching you will need an anchor to know Truth.
Use Proverbs as your anchor. It is Wisdom. Armed with that Wisdom, read the rest of the Scriptures, even just a bit each day, and the Wisdom you’ve learned will unlock the understanding of the rest of His Words.
Step 3
Commit your Spirit and Life back to Him. As we already mentioned, the Spirit of Truth is already here, and His Purpose is to guide you into all Truth. This Spirit speaks only what the Father is speaking. This Spirit can fill you, and as the Word became Flesh in Christ, the Word can replace your flesh and fashion you into a living stone, which is used in the building of the new Temple of God.
“And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple…”
1 Peter 2:5a
As He gave His life, I encourage you to give yours back to the one who gave you everything.
A Final Question
Of the five men, which was greater?
If you were to line them up as homeless men, you would hardly know how to choose. All would be the same.
Yet if you lined them up 15 years later, it would be easy. You would place the wealthy developer first, the gardener second, the two homeless would be next, and the sick man, probably would be last.
Yet to God, He sees only five homeless men who were all given homes and purpose. None was greater than the other, because all were disregarded and had nothing. So because they did nothing to earn what they were given, none are great.
And yet, with what they were given, some were excellent, some did great things, and some did nothing. Though no man can brag as though he earned what he was first given, each is rewarded differently according to the effort they put in with what they are given.
Also, no man received more than what he was given for free (the home) without studying and continuing to follow the instructions they were given. They never quit or gave up, and they prospered greatly as a result.
For now, we labour to learn and grow, to plant and sow, and when the time for study is complete, we will be given our reward. Some will be given great honour and given places to govern, some will be given homes and a happy eternity, and for others, even what they had will be taken from them. (Luke 19:11-27)