A Story Of Moses, A Drunk and the Priest Submitted by Don Fohn

 An old story by Hazrat Inayat Khan

 

Many many years ago, Moses needed to talk with the lord,so he started up the trail that led to the summit of Mt. Sinai. On his journey he came upon an old drunk sitting by the side of the trail. Now, this old drunk was "three sheets to the wind" and he saw Moses walking and he cried out in a loud voice "Hey Moses where ya going?" and Moses said "To talk with the lord" and the drunk said "Hey, tell God 'hey' for me" and Moses shook his head at the old drunk and said "I will brother, I will." Well, a little farther up the path, Moses came upon a priest. The priest was sitting in all his fine regalia, very proper, very proud and a little condescending and he saw brother Moses coming up the path and he said to Moses, "Moses where goeth thou?" and Moses said "To talk with the Lord" and the grand priest said "Tell the Lord that I'm keeping his covenant and I will await with great anticipation the rewards of heaven" and Moses said "I will."

Well, Moses gets to the top of Mt. Sinai and toward the end of his visit he mentions coming across the drunk and the priest and the Lord says "I am aware of both" and Moses said "but father what is to become of them?" and God said "The drunk is headed for Hell and the priest for Heaven" and Moses says "Yes Lord."

Well coming down from Mt. Sinai Moses walks by the priest and the priest says "Did you give God the message?" and Moses says "Yes" and then the grand priest says "It shall be." Well, down the trail a bit he sees the drunk still three sheets to the wind and the drunk sees Moses and he takes another drink and calls out "Hey Moses did you tell God 'hey' for me?" and Moses says, "Oh yes brother and God says you're headed for Hell." Well, the drunk heard none of this, he leapt up and did a little jig, laughed, had another swig of booze and just kept dancing and laughing and crying out "The Lord actually thought of me!" Well, Moses finally grabbed the drunk and said "But the Lord said you're bound for Hell" and the drunk said "Let's have a drink, the Lord remembered me!" Well, Moses went on.

Many months later the Lord called Moses to Sinai and on his walk to the summit Moses came by where the drunk had been and all he saw was a discarded liquor flask; the drunk was nowhere to be seen. And a little farther up where the priest sat, the place was also abandoned. Well, Moses went up to the summit and after finishing his business with God, Moses matter of factly said, "Lord, whatever happened to the priest and the drunkard?" and the Lord said "Why Moses they're both dead." and Moses said "But Lord what happened to them?" The Lord said, "Why, the drunk is in Paradise and the priest is in Hell!" Moses said "But Lord, how can that be?" And the Lord said "The priest thought he'd make a deal. I DO NOT MAKE DEALS! and the simple drunk, he rejoiced just at being remembered. He expected absolutely nothing, he could have cared less about Heaven or Hell, he was happy at just being remembered and the nothing for the drunk became the everything."


 

An old story by Hazrat Inayat Khan,
retold by Don Fohn.