Here’s a story about a  bloke called Bill
Bill loved to make people happy
Bill lived to make people happy
If people weren't happy, Bill wasn’t happy. That’s how it was with Bill.
So every day, Bill set out to make people happy. Not an easy task as you may imagine, for what makes some people happy makes some people angry.

Bill lived in a land where everyone wore Jackets. The people never removed their jackets. Bill never asked Why?  He only asked Which. “Which jacket should I wear?”

Bill’s mother loved blue. So to please her, he wore a blue jacket. When she would see him wearing blue she would say ‘Yay, Bill! I love it when you wear blue’ So Bill wore the blue jacket all the time. And since he never left his house and since he saw no one but his mother, he was very happy - because she was happy and she said ‘Yay Bill’ over and over again

Now Bill grew up and got a job. The first day of his first job he got up early and put on his best Blue jacket and walked down the street.
The crowds on the street, however, didn’t like Blue. They liked Red. Everyone on the street wore red. As he walked past, everyone looked at his blue jacket and said “Yuck”

Yuck! was a hard word for Bill to hear. He felt guilty  that he had caused a ‘yuck’ to come out of a person’s mouth. He loved to hear  ‘Yay’. He hated to hear ‘yuck’

When the people say his blue jacket and said  ‘yuck’, Bill Dashed into a clothing store and brought a Red jacket. He put it over his blue jacket and walked back out onto the street. ‘Yay!’ the people shouted as he walked past. Bill felt better, because he had made them feel better.

When Bill arrived at his new workplace, he walked into his  boss’s office wearing a Red jacket. “Yuck!” said the boss
“Oh, I’m sorry,” said Bill quickly removing the Red jacket and revealing  the blue. “You must be like my mother”
“Double Yuck!” responded the Boss. He got up from his chair walked to the closed, and produced a bayge jacket. “We like bayge here”, he instructed.
“Whatever you say, sir,” Bill answered, relieved to know he wouldn’t have to hear his boss say ‘yuck’ anymore. He put the bayge jacket over the Red Jacket that was over the Blue Jacket. And so he went to work.
When it was time to go home, he replaced the bayge jacket with the Red jacket as he walked through the streets. Just before he got to his house, he put the blue Jacket over the Red and bayge jackets and went inside.
 

Now Bill learned that life with 3 jackets was hard. His movements were stiff, and he was always hot. There were also times when the cuff of one jacket would peek out and someone would notice, but before the person could say ‘yuck’, Bill would tuck it away.

One day Bill forgot to change his jacket before he went home, and when his mother saw Red she turned purple with disgust and started to say ‘yuck’. But before she could, Bill ran and put his hand on her mouth and held the word in while he traded jackets and then he removed his hand so she said ‘Yay!’ It was at this moment that Bill realised that he had  a special gift. He could change his colours with ease. With a little practice, he was able to shed one jacket and replace it with another in a matter of seconds.  Even Bill didn’t understand his versatility, but he was pleased with it. For now he could be any colour anytime and please every person.

His skill at changing jackets quickly elevated Bill to high positions. Everyone liked him, because everyone thought that he was just like them. With time, he was elected mayor over the whole city. His acceptance speech was brilliant. Those who loved Red thought he was wearing Red. Those who loved bayge thought he was wearing bayge, and his mother just knew he was wearing blue. Only Bill knew that he was constantly changing from one to the other. It wasn’t easy, but it was worth it, because in the end, everyone said “Yay!”

Bill’s multicoloured life continued until one day some bayge Jacketed people stormed into his office. “We have found a criminal who needs to be executed”, they announced, shoving a man towards Bill’s desk.  Bill was shocked by what he saw. The man wasn’t  wearing a jacket at all, just a T-shirt.
‘Leave him with me’  Bill instructed, and the bayge jackets left.
‘Where’s your Jacket” asked the mayor.
“I don’t wear one”
“You don’t have one?” Bill asked
“ I  don’t want one.”
“You don’t want a jacket” Bill said in disbelief. “But everyone wears a jacket. It, it, it’s the way things are here.’
“I’m not from here”
“What colour Jacket to they wear where  you are from?”
“No jacket”
“None?”
“None.”
Bill looked at the man with amazement. “But what if people don’t approve?”
“It’s not their approval I seek.”
Bill had never hear  such words. He didn’t know what to say. He’d never met a person without a jacket. The man with no Jacket  spoke again.
“I am here to show people that they don’t have to please people. I am here to tell the truth”
You know, I think that if Bill had ever heard of the word truth, he’d long since rejected it. “What is Truth” Bill asked
But before the man could answer, people outside the mayor’s office  began to scream, “Kill him, kill him!”
A mob had gathered outside the window. Bill went to it and saw that the crowd was wearing Red. Bill knew what to do. He put on his Red jacket and went to the window “There is nothing wrong with this man”
“Yuck” they shouted. Bill fell back at the sound. He hadn’t heard a Yuck for a long time.
By then the bayge jackets were back in his office. Seeing them, Bill changed his colours and pleaded, ‘This man is innocent’
“Yuck” they proclaimed as one. Bill covered his ears at the word.
Bill looked at the man and pleaded “Who are you?”
The man answered simply, “Who are you?”
Bill did not know, but suddenly he wanted to. Just then his mother, who’d heard of the crisis, entered the office. Without realising it, Bill changed to blue. “He is not one of us” she said.
“but, but . . .”
“Kill him!”
A torrent of voices came from all directions. Bill again covered his ears and looked at the man with no jacket. The man was silent. Bill was tormented. “I can’t please them and set you free!” he shouted over their screams.
The man with no jacket was silent
“I can’t please you and them” Bill cried again.
Still, the man with no jacket was silent.
“Speak to me!” Bill demanded.
The man with no  jacket spoke one word. “Choose.”
“I can’t!” Bill declared. He threw up his hands and screamed, “Take him, I wash my hands of the choice.”
But even Bill knew in making no choice he had made one. The man was led away, and Bill was left alone. Alone with his jackets.
 

John 8:31-2

Jesus said to those who had believed in him - ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.”

We all make choices.
These choices can be made on the basis of; does it feel good, will this make me happy, will people like me if I do this, will this work for me. Some of these choices end up being good, while others do not.

The problem is that often we know what the right thing to do, but we know that it isn't the popular thing to do.

In Jesus we know truth

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