The Parable of the Door Knockers by Davin Dahlgren, October 1998 A certain man was walking past his neighbour's house one day. As he passed, he saw his neighbour working on his front door. The man was quite interested to note that his neighbour was attaching a golden door knocker. "Where did you get that door knocker?" he asked. "Well, it's just the most amazing thing," his neighbour replied. "A man came by yesterday, giving them away. He said he had a whole mine full of gold, silver, and precious stones — so much that he couldn't give the stuff away fast enough. He wouldn't take any payment for it at all — in fact, he said the door knocker was itself a down payment to me. Have you ever heard of such a thing?" The man answered, "Indeed I have. Only last week the very same thing happened to me. I thought your door knocker looked so much like the one I myself just put up that I had to find out if you got it in the same way. They really do add a touch of class to a house, do they not?" The neighbour nodded. "I can hardly wait to find more." The man was nonplussed. "More? What do you mean?" The neighbour pulled a book out of his pocket. "Didn't you get one of these? The fellow with the door knockers said it contained important information about the knocker and what it meant to receive one as a gift." The man yawned. "Oh, the warranty manual? Yeah, I got one. Very boring. I didn't read much of it. I pretty much know how to work a door knocker." The neighbour scratched his head, puzzled at his friend's lack of excitement. "Didn't you realize that the door knockers are just the beginning? That guy was loaded! And according to this book, anybody with one of his door knockers has complete access to all that wealth! It even tells where to find it. Why don't we both go and get some more so we can really spruce up our houses?" The man shook his head. "If you want to get yourself into trouble, you go right ahead. I'm not taking any chances. The door knocker was a lovely gift in itself. You start to take advantage of the guy and he's likely to throw you in jail." Then the man returned to his home. The neighbour did not listen to him, however. A day or two later, the man was distressed to find his neighbour adding gold trim to all the windows and doors. "What do you think?" asked the neighbour. "It's very fetching," the man admitted grudgingly. "You got this from the mine?" "Yes indeed," the neighbour answered. "There's tons more where this came from. You should go and see for yourself. I'm thinking of remodelling the whole house." The man was horrified. "Oh, heavens no! You can't be serious! You've already taken more than enough. Just be satisfied with what you have and don't get greedy." Again, the neighbour didn't listen. Over the next few weeks, he began replacing everything in his house with gold, silver, and precious stones. The man grew more and more indignant as he watched his neighbour's renovations progress. He was quite fond of telling his neighbour that "That guy never meant for you to take this much of his stuff." Then, he noticed the fellow who had brought the door knockers in the first place actually bringing more items personally and doing the renovations himself. "Now your house just looks gaudy," the man complained bitterly. "You're just showing off." Throwing his hands up in the air, he resigned himself to living next door to a fanatic who didn't know his limits. The two lived next door to each other for years, until a sudden tragedy struck. A raging brush fire swept through the area, burning everything in its path: gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble. After the fire had passed, the two men assessed the damage. The first man sifted through his pile of ashes for a long time and finally pulled out the one thing that survived: the golden door knocker. It was blackened and burnt, but still intact. He looked over at his neighbour's house. Only that which had not been renovated had perished in the flames. So will it be for us on the day of judgment. [Return to Spiritual Studies]