The Great Reward
- From: "GWhyte" <gwhyte3003@xxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 29 Oct 2005 11:51:51 -0400
http://www.blackcommentator.com/156/156_berndt_great_reward.html
Once upon a time, there lived a mighty slave master on the mightiest
plantation in the world. When asked the secret of his might, he responded
with one word: God. The slave master was a religious man, a pious one in
fact. Every morning he rode his horse out to the fields and had his slaves
gather around him as he read from the good book and preached a word. The
master was quite fond of the good book, at least certain parts. He
especially liked the verse that tells slaves to be obedient to their
masters.
About this passage, the slave master preached many a sermon. Although he
had difficulty stringing words together to make a complete sentence, he
preached with great conviction. "Obedience," he proclaimed, "is the true
mark of a noble slave and...umm.an obedient slave. The noble slave bears
his burden with pride, loyalty, and.er.happy thoughts. The noble slave is
even willing to sacrifice his own life for the greater good of the
plantation and plantations everywhere. Without plantations, there would be
great.uh.evil, but with plantations there is great nobility and great
reward.er.in heaven, that is."
Listening closely to this sermon was a wise, old slave named John. Ole John
was the master of tricks and thereby the master of masters. After the
sermon, he approached his master and said, "Gee, massa, what do I need to do
to earn my great reward?"
"Pick more cotton," said the master.
That night Ole John stayed in the field picking after quitting time. Later,
when the slave master went to bed, the other slaves came out and said, "We
want our great reward too. We'll help you pick." In an hour, all the
slaves worked together to complete a task that would have ordinarily taken
Ole John all night.
The next morning the master rode out to the field and began praising the
Lord when he saw how much cotton was picked. "Glory to God, John! Did you
pick all that cotton?"
"I sure did," said Ole John.
The master then preached a whole sermon on how slaves like Ole John would
surely get their great reward, in heaven, that is. When he finished
preaching, the master approached Ole John and asked him how he did it. "I
prayed," said Ole John.
"Well, John, how about you paint my house white tonight?" said the master.
"Will do," said Ole John, and that night after the master fell asleep, he
painted the house white with all of the other slaves.
The next day the master saw his great big white house freshly painted and
began praising the Lord. "Glory to God! One day, John, you'll get your
great reward, in heaven, that is." Then, he asked John, "What does God do
when you pray?"
Ole John replied, "God gives me the strength of a hundred slaves."
"My Lord," said the master, "I wish I had the might of a hundred slave
masters."
For that night, the master asked John to build a house for his wife and kids
that would be so nice none of them would ever want to leave it. The next
day the master saw the new house and began praising the Lord, "Glory to God!
One day, John, you'll get your great reward, in heaven, that is." Then the
master said to John, "Tell me how you pray so I can get the might of a
hundred masters."
Ole John answered, "I go to the great tree in the middle of the woods, and
there God tells me what I need to do in order to increase my strength a
hundred fold."
That night the slave master went to the big tree in the middle of the woods,
got down on his knees, and prayed, "O Lord, give me my great reward here on
earth. Give me the might of a hundred masters."
"Noble slave," said a voice from above, "This is your master speaking. Obey
me, and I will give you the might of a hundred masters."
"O yes Lord, tell me what to do, and I'll do it," prayed the master.
"Noble slave, say the Lord's Prayer ten times in a row without a mistake.
Then I will grant you your wish," said the voice from above.
Immediately, the master began to pray, "Our father who art heaven, oh darn
it.Our father."
The next day the master was still praying, ".they kingdom be done, oh damn
that kingdom."
And again the next day, he was praying, ".thy will be gone, oh damn your
will."
Finally, on day three he prayed, ".for thine is the kingdom and the power
and the glory for ever and ever." The master began jumping for joy and
praising the Lord, "Glory to God! Only nine more to go!"
Some days later the master was jumping for joy again and praising the Lord,
"Glory to God! Now I'll have the might of a hundred masters. O Lord, you've
given me my great reward!"
In that same moment, Ole John and the rest of the slaves were also jumping
for joy and praising the Lord. They too had just received their great
reward.in the North, that is.
This story was inspired by the African American folktales collected by Zora
Neale Hurston in "Mules and Men." Brooks Berndt is a student at the
Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, and can be reached at
justicia_ahora@xxxxxxxxxxxx
.
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