The Clown of God, an old story told and illustrated by Tomie dePaola
The Clown of God is a touching story, a children’s story, a Christmas story, and a clown ministry story — all at the same time. In a nutshell, an orphaned street urchin goes begging from door to door, juggling for his food. He joins a traveling troupe of entertainers, and gains fame and fortune as a juggler, until he grows old, and again becomes a homeless beggar.
On one cold night, he seeks shelter in a nearby church, and falls asleep. He awakens to the site of the townspeople offering gifts to statues of the baby Jesus and his mother. The crowd leaves, and our juggler approaches, to see that the statues are sad. He puts on his clown face, and juggles as he never has before, to put a smile on the divine Child’s face.
He dies of a heart attack in the attempt. The monks in the church, who thought that his performance was sacrilegious, turn to see that the statue of Mary and the baby Jesus are now smiling. The message of the story seems to be that it is not what you can offer the Lord, but the spirit in which you offer it, that really matters.
Rated 5 clowns