The Jealous Father

Here is a story that breaks the heart:

A loving husband and father worked very hard to establish a household for his wife and children. He promised to be faithful and always to take care of them. He built a house, a magnificent home, a genuine mansion. Some might even call it a castle.

He worked and provided for all of the needs of his family. He set up a trust fund that would continually grow so as to provide for his family in perpetuity. He made certain that they were safe and protected.

One day along came a conniving swindler, who had many secret assistants. This selfish and cruel embezzler and thief came to the wife and children with a story about how the father was not as caring and loving as he had presented to them. While the father was busy providing for them and planning for their future, this other fellow convinced the family that they would be better off making their own plans and establishing their own way. He explained how they could take the investments that the father had kept from them and use them more productively. He explained that they could use these investments for things that the father had not given to them for their use, or at least not for the uses that they now would engage.

All that the father had established was undermined. The family unity disintegrated. The family members began to envy one another and to plot against one another. Turmoil supplanted the peace and harmony previously enjoyed. The children began to focus upon hoarding resources. Hard and arduous work became the daily routine. Fences were built to prevent stealing. Wars arose over property disputes.

The father spoke to the family members and urged them to return to the way that they formerly enjoyed together. A few listened and lived in peace together. But the others, the vast majority, reacted angrily and began to promote hatred toward those who listened to their father. The few remaining in the unity of the family were mistreated and sometimes enslaved and sometimes even killed.

What was the father to do? What action should he take concerning those who chose to destroy all that he had lovingly established? What should he do regarding the belligerent rebellion and subsequent attacks against those who remained in the family together?

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