Gifford Rhamie - The Man's a Fool

Adventist Radio London. Inspiration for the song. I was asked by one of

my students, how many how many white people? How many black people are

there in the Bible? And I thought for a little while, and then

I replied, you're asking the wrong question. Question is not how many black

people there are in the Bible, but how many white people there are in

the Bible. This may come as a shock to many of you. Did

you know that of all the cultures in our world today, the closest cultures

that comes to close, if you please, the closest cultures to the cultures

of the Bible, are the cultures of Africa. He didn't know that.

I invited a chief rabbi to come to Newbold to speak with us, and

his opening words were, while you might see the Jews today worshiping as they

do, little do you know that much of Judaism, the culture of Judaism,

is far, remotely far from the Judaism of the Bible. And this

is principal, principally because principally because it has been europeanized. You see europeanized.

And so while I'm going to do today is share a word from the

Lord. But as I share the word from the Lord. I'm going to

ask us to do something that we probably are not accustomed to doing, and

that is to read the Bible through African eyes. And in order to in

order to do this effectively, I decided that I'm going to wear a kintake

cloth that my student, one of my students, gave to me. He

told me, he told me, so, this is this kintercloth is actually

made for chiefs, African chiefs, and he gave this kinder cloth to me,

and I I'm going to put it on. Is that all right?

As I tell this story, and the story you're going to hear is one

of the greatest stories ever told in human history. It is the story of

the prodigal son. But when you hear the story through African eyes, you

will agree with me that the title should be the Man's a foo, the

Man's a fool. So turn with me to Luke chapter fifteen. Luke chapter

fifteen, and I will read for you verses eleven and twelve. And since

you've been sitting for a while, I'm going to invite you to stand for

the reading of God's Word. That is Luke chapter fifteen Versus eleven and twelve.

A couple of my students are in the congregations. I have to behave

myself, I said Luke Chapter fifteen eleven and twelve. And a certain man

had how many two sons, and the younger of them said to his father,

father, give me my money, Give me the portion of inheritance that

belongs to me. And so the father distributed to them his belongings. Let

us pray, Father in heaven, be asked now that you will breathe upon

these words your breath of life, that they may dance before our eyes and

found meaningfulness in our lives. That we would leave this place empowered to live

for you, is our prayer in Jesus' name. Amen, please be seated.

The man's a fool. When you listen to this stove story over and

over again, you have to conclude with me that any young man who can

go to his father while his father is still alive, and demand from him

his inheritance with the words give him my money, has got to be spoilt,

not to be spoilt. I come from a long African tradition where children

are distinctive to their parents or adults. When I was a child, I

was to be seen but not heard. I was to look but not touch.

And this experienced friends had grown with me even to my adult years.

My mother told me the other day because I didn't call her, she said,

good brother. Me and you is not friend. And she said it

just like me and you is not friend. We're not friend. You can

laugh with me, and you can joke with me. May we're a friend.

You can ramp at me, you can tease me, but we're not

friend. You are my son and I am your mother. I'll never forget

that about myself saying the same thing Johan to my own kids. We're not

friend. So how in the world could a young man could a young man

say to his father when he comes with African blood in his veins, father,

give me my money, Give me my money. When you look at

the story, the older father the older son kept quiet. Did you notice

that in the beginning? But you also notice that the mother is not mentioned

at all in the story. Did you notice that? And this is largely

because women were written out of history. But we know in African culture,

women are the ones who hold the family together. In African cultures, we

have matriarchal societies, matriarch and I'm going to come back to the fact that

she is silent in this story. But then the father behaves in an interesting

way. When you look at the story, the father in the story is

a rich man. How do I know, because at the end of the

story, he's the one who bestows to his son what the Fati cath the

ring and the kinter wrote, the one who does this. So he must

have been rich. And in an African context, he would have been the

chief of the village, the elder statesman, if you like, of the

of the community of the town. And because he was of such an elder's

statesman, he would have had to deport himself in a particular way. Why

because he was the custodian of certain African cultures practiced in that village, of

certain traditions, of certain habits, in certain ways. In fact, if

you were to go before this man, you would have to stand over here

while he stood over stand over there. Rather while he stood over here,

you weren't allowed to speak until he spoke. In fact, if you saw

him carrying anything, you would insist on carrying it for him. Why because

of the esteem that you would have held for such a great man in your

community. This practice of respect for the elders is still seen in the African

diaspora. I happened to be a student of the great and prestigious Northern Caribbean

University. I attended there for three years, right there on the hills of

Mandeville in Jamaica. And while we were there, we were invited by the

late Brother Fuller, who was an elder and member of the Badam Church in

South London, to come over to his house. But Brother Fuller lived in

a Maroon town. And you've got to know something about the Maroon people in

Jamaica. The Maroon people are able to trace their lineage all the way back

to the Ashanti tribe in Ghana, the warrior tribe, and in so doing,

they were the warriors who fought off the English polonialists, and they beat

the English so badly that the English left them alone, this is over three

hundred years ago, and allowed them to set up their own town. This

we referred to as Maroon towns. And in the Maroon town you have exactly

the same setup as you do back in Ghana. You have the chief of

the town who is called the captain. And when we went over to visit

brother Fuller. Brother Fuller Dent let us come to his house. In fact,

we weren't allowed to go to his property before we paid our respect to

the chief. Brother Fuller escorted us, I'm sure you were there, Pastor

Brooks, were you there? He escorted us to the chief. And this

chief was only about five foot five tall, but he stood six foot four

tall. Left school when he was aged twelve, but spoke the most impeccable

English. We didn't speak before he spoke. We dan sit down before he

gave us permission to sit down, and I remember a whole proud of us

from Britain. We sat down and he shared with us some ginger what do

you call this thing? Ginger beer? And I tell you I can still

taste the ginger beer to this day. Smoke was coming out of my nose

and out of my ears, and I remember looking over to my peers and

with one accord we said not respect or not respect. But what was interesting,

friends, was that he was able to share some words that had lingered

on into the Jamaican vocabulary English vocabulary over three hundred years from the tree language

of the Ashantis. Amazing, amazing, So can you imagine with me.

Then the scene when this boy needs to make needs to make an arrangement with

the elders before he can even meet his dad, and the elders would have

to tell him, yes, you can see your father, maybe in two

days. And when you go before your father, you can't just talk to

your father. In fact, you can't talk until he speaks. And when

he speaks, he speaks through an interpreter, and he will say hello in

his language, and his interpreter will say hello, and then the son will

return ye ja or yeah, hello, and the interpreter will say hello back

to the father, and the son could not even share why he had come

to see his father. He would have to exchange pleasantries with the father.

How is your mother? How is the land is the are you bearing crop?

Are you looking over? Are you looking after your family? How is

the family? And then after about an hour or two, maybe just then,

you would be allowed to say something about why you have come. But

instead, when Jesus introduces the story, he simply says, and a man,

a certain man, had two sons, and the younger of him said,

he made my money. I can see the scene now in slow motion.

The elders who would be flanking the throne of the chief. When they

see the son storm in without appointment, they would rush to the Sun and

say what you're doing, what you're doing, And before before they can stop

him, the son, without even going through the interpreter, Wood, would

rain himself in front of his father and said, I want my money,

and I want my money now. And I can see the elder's rushing,

rushing the Sun to hold him down and said, you know he can't do

this, you can't do this. But then the son, the father does

something extraordinary. He simply motions with his hands and he said he's okay,

leave the boy. Leave the boy. In fact, he motions still and

asks asks the elders to leave the room. With astonishment, they leave,

but as they close the door, their ears appealed to the door because any

moment now they are going to hear flesh tumping, tumping, furniture, are

you hearing me? They're gonna hear some yelling, They're gonna hear some groaning.

But instead they hear some quiet conversation. And before you know it,

the Sun comes out of the room with a check in his hand, and

he walks out of the room as though he owns the world. Oh,

and the elders are looking at each other and say, but what's going on?

We know, we know our chief. He must have a plan,

and he must have a plan. What's going on? What's going on?

A couple of days later, the son gathers all his belongings. Bentley comes

by to escort the son away. The entire village comes out to see this

enormous spectacle, for they cannot believe their eyes. And as the sun drives

away into the sunset, they look at each other and they say, the

man's a fool. The man's a fool. No, not the son,

but the father. The father's the fool. He has to be a fool,

for an easy African man who had any senses between his ears would know

better than to do that. Interesting, when you look at the story some

more follow with me. When the son goes away and squanders all the goods,

remember, and he's on his way back, what does the text say

The father is looking out into the horizon. Did you notice that this was

not a chance. He was not doing this because it just so happened coincidentally

that he looked out of the window that day. The way it is written

in the story suggests that this son was sorry. This father was in the

habit of looking out for his son, looking out for his son. Have

you seen my son? Six foot two years you know, tall, dark

and handsome. Have you seen my son? Every time he went into the

marketplace, have you seen my son? Have you seen my son? And

one by one the villagers will just turn their backs on him, an embarrassment

and sheer embarrassment because he is bringing disgrace and dishonor upon his own people.

Doesn't he know better than that? The truth of the matter is this boy

should be treated as though he is excommunicated. That means treated as though he

is dead. You're not even allowed to mention his word at home because he

is excommunicated. And here is this old man walk in the streets as though

he's lost himself, looking for his son. Have you seen every time he

presides over a council meeting, have you seen my son? Have you seen

my six foot two you know, tall, dark and handsome? Have you

seen my son? And the mother is thinking, she who holds the family

together, she who keeps the purse strings, who keeps order in the home,

She's thinking, this husband of mine that I've married has certainly lost his

marvels. He's lost it, and she's thinking, what must I do to

salvage it? To salvage the situation. Now, I know a lot of

you are restless. In fact, some of you are sitting in what I

call with some cognitive dissonance. Are you are confused? Because traditionally the story,

in the story, the father is likened onto our God, isn't it.

And how can we compare God with a fool? Don't you know who

a fool is? M A fool is somebody who is gullible, somebody who

is easily taken for a ride, somebody who is not altogether conscious of what

he's doing. That's a fool. I heard about a fool who was eyeing

in his shirt and he burnt his chest. Now that's a fool, I

hear. So how can you compare the father with a fool? Interestingly,

when you look at the story closely, you notice that there is one in

the story who behaves in the way the father should behave, and that is

the older son. Check out what the son says towards the end of the

story in verse twenty seven when he hears the music coming along. He's making

his way back to the home. And the father is besotted now with the

younger son, because the younger son was once lost but is now found.

And when the older son comes back home, notice what he says, and

notice that what he says actually should be what the father should have said all

along the first pointy which says in verse twenty eight, the word says,

and the son grew with anger. You can read into that righteous indignation.

Anybody who sees the son squander, squander his own living, especially the living,

the living of the home, the living of the family's legacy. Anybody

who sees his son or child doing that should have some righteous ignignation. Yes

they should. I don't care who you are. You should have some righteous

ignoignation. Yes, you need to forgive. That shows some righteous instignation.

I was going to say something and let me move home. Verse twenty nine.

The second point about what the father about the older son. The older

son said to his father, you know all these years I have been slaving

for you. You can read into that loyalty, unstinted loyalty where I wake

up every day and I do what I am asked to do. I do

the duty of my father, and I do it well. I go home

every evening and I go home after everybody else. That's loyalty. And I

do so, not counting what I should have, but doing it out of

sheer duty, because that's what I ought to do. And this ought to

be rewarded. Loyalty ought to be rewarded. That's what the father, the

older son is saying. And then in verse thirty, it says, and

this your son. Read into that, Read into that that I'm withholding the

family name. I'm upholding the family name. Remember, the older son,

the younger son's name ought to have been not mentioned the door. He ought

to have been regarded as dead. That's how he That's how it ought to

be regarded as dead. And then that's why he's justified in saying the older

son, and this your son, This your son, he's upholding the family

name. And then lastly he says, he squanders everything on whares. In

other words, he commits the unpardonable sin. Now, if'm' such a man

would commit the unpardonable sin, doesn't somebody need to stand up? Doesn't somebody

need to stand up and say, what really matters, what really matters in

the kingdom of this village, what really matters of loyalty, What really matters

our righteous inclive nation, What really matters is the family name. What really

matters is that you should not commit the impovable sin. This is how the

old this is how the father ought to behave. But he can't and he

doesn't. He doesn't behave that way. And the question is why why can't

he behave this way? Well, I will tell you why. And the

answer to why is found in verse twenty three and twenty four. This is

where the father sees his son and he sees him from afar Off. In

verse twenty sorry, he sees him from afar Off, and the word says

that as he sees his son, he grows with compassion. Compassion. Compassion,

friends, is the reason why? Is the reason why. He behaves

like a fool, Like a fool, and he does something that African elder

statesmen never do in public. He runs. Did you notice that when Nelson

Mandela was being released, did you see him run? Everybody will dancing and

moving and skipping around him. Yes, he jigged a little, but he

didn't run. Such is the dignity of an elder statesman. This man does

not only run to his son, but the Word says that he falls on

his son's neck and he kisses them. That's another way, a Semitic way

of saying that he cried. An African man never cries in public. What

cry cry? But this is what he does. He plays the fool.

This, my friends, is the challenge of Christianity and the problem that the

world religions have with Christianity. That we serve a god who thought it not

robbery, who thought it not robbery to forsake all his glory in heaven.

But when he saw you and I in a far off country, squandering all

of eternal's living, the Word says that he breaks through the corridor of time

and space, lived the life of a human being, died on Calvary's cross,

and died the death, died the death of a scoundrel in order to

save you and me. But what kind of a god is that you see?

Other world religions cannot fathom such a god. They would rather a lofty

god, a god who stays high and mighty, not a god who comes

down to be meek and lowly. They cannot salvage such a god. How

can you worship a god who makes himself like a fool in order to save

you and to save me? But what's more, you think that's the problem

with the text. This is the problem with the text. The problem with

the text is if our god it's prepared to play the fool, how much

more should you and me, being chip chips of the old block, play

the fool. It's hard, my friends, to play the fool, especially

when you know you're right. Somebody needs to handle today. I said,

it's hard to play the fool when you know you're right. When I was

getting married, that's a friend of mine, Joan, Just tell me one

last thing, one last thing. I had a problem with my first marriage.

I'm going to marry again, have messy? Did I just say that?

In Holy Holloway I was getting married again. Just tell me one word,

Just tell me one word. And she looked at me and she said,

Gifford, you got to learn to play the fool. I said,

what we play the fool? What do you mean play the fool? She

said, yes, Sometimes you know you're going to be right and she's going

to be wrong. But in order to keep some peace in the home.

You have to zip it up and play the fool. Play the fool.

Somebody knows what I'm talking about. MHM said, I can't do that.

She said, yes, you've got to do that. If your marriage is

going to last, you're going to have to learn to play the fool.

I had difficulty when I was driving home because that was stinging in my ears.

Play the fool? Do you mean playing the fool? I can't play

the fool, the fool? And then I realized the difficulty I had with

this was the fact that I was I was equating it with playing the doormat.

No, we're not talking about playing the doormat here. We're not talking

about losing your dignity here. We're not talking about losing your We're not talking

about losing your integrity here. Because the truth of the matter is, you

can only love others if you love your self. And if you don't love

yourself, how can you love others? Are you with me? And when

you love others? Trust me, you won't be a doormat. Yes,

you will play the fool, but you will keep your head high and your

shoulders are back and a spring in your step knowing that you have your dignity

intact. So you got to learn to play with the full I'm closing now

because while the pastor said preach for take your time and preach, I know

I have to cut the short and righteousness in an African village when anyone is

a certain African village, when when when anyone is excommunicated, ex communicated from

the village, that person is treated as though they never lived. Their name

is written out of the history books, even the son of the chief.

If, however, they want to confess and be reconciled, Hue, there

is a long process that they have to go through. In order for this

reconciliation to take place, they have to negotiate with the elders, and in

negotiating with the elders, they have to agree in appropriate time when they're going

to come back. And when they come back, they have to come in

open publicity with everyone looking, so that they can be humiliated in front of

the king, in front of the chief, so that they even as they

are restored, they remember their place in their society. In some occasions,

they can't even come through the front doors, so to speak. They have

to come through the back door. But and if my friends, if they

choose to come back boldly, without any arrangement and agreement, run somebody.

Normally a man sees the person come in towards comeing towards the compound, they

will take up a pot and they will run to the perimeters of the compound,

beyond the gates of the compound, and they will take this vessel and

they will smash it. That defeat of this person. This is now intruder,

and they will say, you're not wanted here, You're not wanted here,

you're not welcome here. Go back to where you came. I want

you to imagine with me that you have discovered that you're hungry in a far

off country, that you've messed up, and you've messed up again, and

you're making your way back home, and you're saying, I know my father,

he has many servants. If I will just come back and live the

life of a servant, that will be enough for me. One African saying

says, in everything, you've got to find your song, find your voice,

find your song, and that will be my song. My song will

be My father has so many belongings, so much property, so many servants.

I will just go back as a servant, and that will be enough

for me. But then God, whose arms is outstretched in mercy, never

short in tenderness, sees you coming from afar off leaves the splendor of heaven.

Why because in the corner of his eye he sees the enemy with the

pot and he knows that the enemy gets to you. Before he gets to

you, all will be lost. And so God does something that the eternal,

the eternal God never does. He lifts up his mighty robe like a

frock, and he runs down the corridors of spaith and he comes, and

he lives the life of a human being in the dusty rows of Palestine,

lived the life in blood and flesh like you and me. He dies on

the cross for you and me, and he does so that we could be

saved. Say, from the guttermost to the uppermost, it's stay in the

enemy, trying to stop you from coming back to the Lord, an enemy.

I'm here to tell you in the name of Jesus, I don't care

what kind of week you've had, I don't care what kind of background you've

had. There is a God in heaven who loves you with a love that

will never let you go. A glove that will compel him, and impel

him, and propel him to run towards you, and to hold you,

and to lie on your neck, and to kiss you, and to say

you are my own. For this my son, my child was lost,

but now he is found. Was blind, But now I see. Have

you found your song? Have you found your song? I've got a shoe?

Now. The interesting thing about this show is that while our ancestors were

singing this song, they had no shoe, had no shoe. I've got

a robe. When they sang, they had no rope. I've got a

ring, You've got a ring? They had no ring? So what was

going on here? What was going on here? They believed that the same

god of this story would put shoes on their feet, would give them a

new robe, and give them a ring that told them that they are holy

and unforgettably a child of God. That's my song? What's your song?

I've got a shoe, You've got a shoe. All of God's Children's got

a shoe. When I get to have God put my shoe, I'm going

to walk all the gods heave, heaver have when I get to have gone

to put on my shoes. I'm going to walk off Overcaus have somebody's gonna

row. I've got you go all all of God's Children's got a roll.

When I get to Hea, I haven't gone put on my robe. I'm

gone walk over God have have have when I got to haven't gone put on

my robe? Gone warm all? Oh God. The first time I found

myself, You know, I was born and bred here in England, in

London. First time I found myself and knew who I was was when I

went to Jamaica at the ripe old age of twenty six. I want you

to hear this. Discovered who I was. I remember playing football and the

Jamaicans were saying English, English, possible, that's all. And I remember

one time I picked up the ball. I said, I'm not English,

I'm not English, and then they all collapsed on the football field and they

laughed at me, laughed at me. Didn't know who I was? Are

you hearing me? Didn't know I had shoes, didn't know I had a

row, didn't know I had a ring. Just didn't know. And I

found myself. I found myself. I didn't know that you can read the

Bible through African eyes, knowing that the territory of Israel is sandwiched between Africa

and Asia and should not be called the Middle East but should be called Afro

Asiatic because that's where it is, that's the influence of that society. I

wasn't told that I didn't know friends, that I had shoes, that I

had a robe, that I had a ring. What I'm trying to tell

you here in the name of Jesus, that you've got to find your song.

And when you find your song, you will be prepared to play the

fool. As God played the fool for you and me woke us up this

morning, played the fool so that we can have another chance for the eternal

joys of heaven. So are you going to play the fool? Find your

song? Find your song, find yourself? Adventist Radio, London inspiration for the song