"Law and Justice" by Frank Ramirez
"Prayer Visions" by John Fitzgerald
* * * * * * *
Law and Justice
by Frank Ramirez
1 Corinthians 6:12-20
"All things are lawful for me," but not all things are beneficial. "All things are lawful for me," but I will not be dominated by anything. (1 Corinthians 6:12)
Sherlock Holmes is probably more real to some folks than many famous people from history who actually lived. The famed detective was created by Arthur Conan Doyle who set up shop as a doctor and, suffering from a lack of patients, began to write detective stories.
Conan Doyle’s detective was far more famous than him, although he himself became something of a celebrity during his lifetime. He believed that the Sherlock Holmes stories detracted from his more serious and important work. At one point the author was so tired of Holmes’ popularity that he killed him off. However, after several years he finally gave in to the pleas of his fans -- and his mother -- and brought the detective back to life.
There are some things about Sherlock Holmes that people think they know which simply aren’t so. For instance, the most familiar shorthand way to portray Holmes is his famous deerstalker hat, the one with the bill in the front and the back, with flaps for the ears carefully tied up at the top. Really, just draw the hat and people know you’re talking about Sherlock Holmes.
Only the hat isn’t directly mentioned in the original Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It was Sidney Paget, an illustrator of the stories, who used the deerstalker in a picture he drew for the short story “The Boscombe Valley Mystery,” published in the Strand Magazine in 1891.
That illustration became so iconic that every decent actor playing Holmes almost has to wear that rustic country hat, even when the character is in the city, something the real Holmes (if there had been one) would never do.
Did you know Holmes never says, “Elementary, my dear Watson” in the stories, although the phrase has become so well known that it is often used in television and movie portrayals.
Another myth about Holmes is that he always brought the criminal to justice! Not so. Take “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle.” The story involves an oversized precious stone stuck in the throat of a Christmas goose abandoned by a man assaulted by thugs. Relentlessly following the clues Holmes eventually traps the thief, who collapses into a chair in Holmes’ office, weeping:
“...And now -- and now I am myself a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which I sold my character. God help me! God help me!” He burst into convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands.
There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing, and by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes’ finger-tips upon the edge of the table. Then my friend rose, and threw open the door.
“Get out!” said he.
“What, sir? Oh, Heaven bless you!”
“No more words. Get out!”
And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running footsteps from the street.
“After all, Watson,” said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his clay pipe, “I am not retained by the police to supply their deficiencies. ...I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong again. He is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and you make him a gaolbird for life. Besides, it is the season of forgiveness....”
According to one expert in Sherlock Holmes, the fifty-six short stories and four novels written by Arthur Conan Doyle include thirty-seven felonies solved by the great detective. On fourteen occasions the Holmes freed the guilty person without bringing him or her to justice. Clearly there were several times when justice was better served by not arresting and sending the criminal to jail. It was more important to be good than to be right.
The Apostle Paul is struggling to explain something of the same thing when he writes to the Corinthian Christians about a problem that might be solved by applying Biblical law (the question of whether it is okay to eat meat offered to idols), for which the solution is less a matter of right and wrong than a question of what it means to be good and just.
(Robert Keith Leavitt: “In the 60 cases of record in the Writings, there are 37 definite felonies where the criminal was known to Mr. Sherlock Holmes. In no less than 14 of these cases did the celebrated detective take the law into his own hands and free the guilty person....”
Annotated Sherlock Holmes, I, 467, edited by William S. Baring-Gould)
Frank Ramirez is a native of Southern California and is the senior pastor of the Union Center Church of the Brethren near Nappanee, Indiana. Frank has served congregations in Los Angeles, California; Elkhart, Indiana; and Everett, Pennsylvania. He and his wife Jennie share three adult children, all married, and three grandchildren. He enjoys writing, reading, exercise, and theater.
Prayer Visions
by John Fitzgerald
John 1:43-51
The biblical recounting of a prayer vision is found in our scripture lesson from John's Gospel. In the first chapter of John, Jesus is portrayed as recruiting his disciples. What hooks Nathaniel into becoming a follower of Christ is the vision Jesus had of him sitting under a fig tree. This account described in scripture is remarkably similar to a personal prayer vision of mine and I want to share this story.
I could not figure out why this particular lady returned again and again during my devotions for the day. We knew each other but only from a shared occasion of one year ago. This poor woman's daughter became very ill, and we visited on several occasions. The child eventually died, and I officiated at her funeral. It had been a very sad affair, but we had no contact after the mom buried her daughter.
The woman known from a past funeral did not fly high on my radar of things to pray about. There were many pressing current issues that found a higher priority to lift before the searching light of Christ Jesus. I kept trying to chase her from my consciousness so that immediate concerns might have space before the living Lord. This turned out to be one persistent gal. Her image continued to reappear in my prayers. Finally, I relented and spent time holding this person to God's grace,m mercy, and love. Daily devotions came to an end, and my next task involved attending errands at the local post office.
While placing letters in a mail slot, I looked up to see the lady who had intruded upon my prayer time enter our post office lobby. This had nothing to do with a pre-arranged meeting. We had not been in touch since the funeral of her daughter over one year ago. Neither of us knew anything about it, but the Holy Spirit paved a way for this meeting. It struck me dumbfounded that the Lord had just spoken to me about this women in prayer a few minutes previously. I tried to shrug off the gentle pleadings of God's Spirit in regards to this lady, but God would have none of it.
Ordinarily our encounter at the post office would have been nothing more than a brief exchange of greetings. The presence of Jesus had something else in mind. Jesus desired a bond to be formed between us that would be lasting and permanent. We had a long time of deep sharing when our paths crossed. Part of the conversation included concerns God brought forth during my recently concluded devotions. The dialogue included fruitful interchanges about life, death, and God's abiding presence. A mutual pouring out of hearts occurred during our visit.
This lady no longer could be viewed as an indistinct personality linked in mind only to a past event. She had a name and personality I would not forget. Elizabeth remained seared in my memory through the power of this singular encounter. The meeting at our post office witnessed to power of a prayer vision. Just as Jesus talked to Nathaniel about seeing him under a fig tree, so too the Holy Spirit can take a routine errand and turn it into something transformational. There are moments yet today when I'm placing letters at the slot at our post office that I can't help but think of Elizabeth and marvel at God's marvelous ways of communicating with us.
John Fitzgerald lives in Leesburg, Ohio, with his wife Carolyn and has served as pastor at the Leesburg Friends Meeting for the past 27 years. Cornfield Cathedral (Fairway Press, 2013) is the second book authored by Pastor Fitzgerald. John has earned a Master's of Ministry Degree from the Earlham School of Religion in Richmond, Indiana.
*****************************************
StoryShare, January 18, 2015, issue.
Copyright 2015 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
