the emperor has no clothes
happy no kings day
A vain and silly king once determined to acquire for himself the finest clothes in all the land, a wardrobe set apart from the common fabrics and cuts of his underlings. Seeing an opportunity, a pair of swindlers pretended to weave a rare textile only visible to the intelligent. Day after day they faked their labor, and day after day the palace staff feigned oohs and aahs, lest they look like idiots.
When the time came that the garment was declared complete, the swindlers brought their nothingness before the king and presented it to him with flair. Insecure and weak, the king balked for only a moment before proudly undressing and “putting” on the finery to take to the streets for a parade. The townspeople lined up by the thousands to pretend that they, too, could see what was not there, cheering at the top of their lungs in order to pass the test. The king held his haughty chin high, pleased to find that the citizens of his kingdom were not fools.
But one child — a young one, and chatty — laughed out loud and cried, “Look! The Emperor has no clothes!” At that, the pretense of the crowd broke with murmurs and ripples of laughter as the townspeople gleefully repeated her words with shouts and jeers. Even as the mirage was disrupted, the king continued his march with head held high, clinging to his artificial dignity until the bitter end. But the people, they knew the truth.
Also makes me think of Jesus's humble ride on a donkey into Jerusalem - a lampoon of Pilate on his mighty steed, on what we call Palm Sunday - which was a political spectacle/parade for the Romans. May we somehow experience the love and right mindedness of Jesus today amidst all of the insanity.
Naked and foolish as he may be, he has thugs around him and people fear him. And then I remember, “be not afraid…”