Mr. Brown had thought of nothing but numbers. He should have known that the kingdom of God did not depend on large crowds. Our Lord Himself stressed the importance of fewness. Narrow is the way and few the number. To fill the Lord's holy temple with an idolatrous crowd clamoring for signs was a folly of everlasting consequence. Our Lord used the whip only once in His life - to drive the crowd away from His church.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes that spiritual fulfillment is not about quantity but quality and sincerity in faith.
In this quote, Chinua Achebe reflects on the notion that true spirituality and connection with the divine are not measured by the size of the congregation or public demonstrations of faith. Instead, he underscores that genuine worship and the essence of faith lie in a smaller, more committed group rather than a large crowd focused on superficial signs. Achebe illustrates this point by referencing the Lord's actions in the temple, highlighting the folly of seeking validation through numbers rather than sincere belief.
In practice
This quote could be used in a sermon to emphasize the importance of true faith over mere attendance.
In fact, I thought that Christianity was very a good and a very valuable thing for us. But after a while, I began to feel that the story that I was told about this religion wasn't perhaps completely whole, that something was left out.
Writers don't give prescriptions. They give headaches!
It is the storyteller who makes us what we are, who creates history. The storyteller creates the memory that the survivors must have - otherwise their surviving would have no meaning.
Writing has always been a serious business for me. I felt it was a moral obligation. A major concern of the time was the absence of the African voice. Being part of that dialogue meant not only sitting at the table but effectively telling the African story from an African perspective - in full earshot of the world.
An angry man is always a stupid man.
Privilege, you see, is one of the great adversaries of the imagination; it spreads a thick layer of adipose tissue over our sensitivity.
People can be slave-ships in shoes.
The pleasure of despair. But then, it is in despair that we find the most acute pleasure, especially when we are aware of the hopelessness of the situation... ...everything is a mess in which it is impossible to tell what's what, but that despite this impossibility and deception it still hurts you, and the less you can understand, the more it hurts.
It is better to emit a scream in the shape of a theory than to be entirely insensible to the jars and incongruities of life and take everything as it comes in a forlorn stupidity.
We should not say that one man's hour is worth another man's hour, but rather that one man during an hour is worth just as much as another man during an hour. Time is everything, man is nothing: he is at the most time's carcass.
Where, if not in the Divine Mercy, can the world find refuge and the light of hope?
Stereotypes should never influence policy or public opinion.
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