JT walked into the next town and saw a curious sight. There were 6 well-dressed people with many dogs preparing to hunt. They had guns and appeared to be bored waiting for something to do.

On the other side of the road appeared to be a bear. However the bear stood there, and if you looked close enough you saw it was someone in a bear suit. The costumed person appeared nervous, as did some others who stood by.

“What’s going on?” JT asked.

One the bystanders replied, “Those are the Lords and Ladies of the manor, they are out for their weekly hunt.”

“They’re going to hunt that person?” JT asked in disbelief.

“The bear is a person who works for the Lords and Ladies. His family also lives on the land. His wife is sick. In order to get a doctor and medicine for her, the man has to let them hunt him. Last week there were 3 of them, 2 got shot and are too injured to return this week.” JT was horrified because the person said this like it was normal.

JT walked up to the Lords and Ladies with their dogs and asked, “Why do you hunt people? Would you like to be hunted?”

One haughty gentleman replied, “They are servants, they don’t matter. We can do what we want to them.”

“Do you think you are better than them?” JT replied in astonishment.

The entire group of them looked at JT as if the question was beyond belief. As one they shouted, “Of course!”

“Off with you, little boy before we hunt you too!” a lady with black hair said as she shooed him off to the side.

One of the people blew a horn, and the man in the bear costume began running off into the woods. The well-dressed group did not move yet and appeared to be impatiently waiting. After five minutes, they began walking that direction. The men loaded their guns and slowly walked off into the woods.

JT couldn’t believe that this was allowed. “Don’t you have some kind of law here that doesn’t let that happen. One nearby lady, who looked very ill, walked up to him and said, “They are the law.”

JT decided to follow them and see if he could help the man in the bear suit. This was not something that he could stand by and let happen without trying to do something.

He followed them for a few minutes and ran as fast as he could. He kept running and running and finally he could hear something. There was growling and snarling, yelling and a couple of gunshots.

When JT made it to the source of the sound, he saw a gigantic bear. It looked like the bear was fighting with the well-dressed hunters. All of them were lying on the ground except for one man who was trying to reload his gun. He wasn’t fast enough, the bear attacked him furiously as well. Not one of the hunters was moving. JT decided to sneak away quietly before the bear attacked him.

He went back to the village and found the man who had been wearing the bear suit, standing there with the bear head off. He was talking excitedly about the big bear that was following him. When JT got closer, he overheard him say that the hunters had shot the bear thinking it was him. He didn’t stay around and did not know how the hunters fared.

JT piped in, “The bear was fighting the last one, and none of the rest was moving.”

When the servants heard this they all cheered. JT was confused, “why are they happy?”

“The Lords and Ladies owned our labor for the next seven years, now we are free,” One poorly dressed lady replied exuberantly.

“Those who thought they were better than you are brought down, while you who were downtrodden are now lifted!” JT added.

 

QOTD: This story illustrated how some who think they are better than others get into trouble because of it (Luke 18: 9-14). On the other hand, the ones who were being mistreated wound up much better off. Does this sound familiar to you in your life?

To read the introduction to this series please click HERE