Mr. McBeevee
This episode of The Andy Griffith Show was originally aired on October 1, 1962. It is one of the best.
Opie, Andy's little boy, excitedly tells the story of a man he met in the woods named Mr. McBeevee. He walks in the treetops, wears a silver hat, has twelve extra hands, blows smoke from his ears, and jingles when he walks as if he had rings on his fingers and bells on his toes. Andy looks on with amusement as Opie walks away. But Barney, his trusty and eccentric sidekick, is quite disturbed. This needs to be “...nipped in the bud!”, he says. Andy is not too concerned, until the next day when Opie returns with a further tale of Mr. McBeevee. The little boy has a brand new, shiny quarter that he says came from his friend in the woods. Andy tells him the quarter must be returned to its rightful owner, and all this fantasy must stop.
When the boy continues to insist that Mr. McBeevee is real, and that the quarter came from him, then Andy decides he must punish his son. He goes up to Opie's room with belt in hand. He very much does not want to spank his son, but is afraid he must. He gives the boy one more chance to recant the story. Opie looks at his dad with trembling chin and says, “Don't you believe me, Pa?” The next scene shows Andy at the bottom of the stairs. Aunt Bee asks what he did. Andy replies, “I told him I believe him.” She asks, “Do you believe in Mr. McBeevee?” He answers, “No. But I believe in Opie.”
My point: Sometimes, after we thoroughly consider and wrestle with a matter, we have to base our final decision not upon the reasonableness of the issue but how much we believe in the person. There are big chunks of the Christian faith that do not make sense to me. There are logical arguments that I cannot answer very well. There are even things about Christianity that I do not like. Sometimes, concerning these troubling matters and moments, if you were to ask me, “Do you believe in_____________ (fill in the blank)?” I will have to answer, “No. But I believe in Jesus.”
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By the way, Mr. McBeevee was a real person! Andy went out to the spot of woods where Opie claimed to meet him. In frustration he sat back and stated out loud and sarcastically, “Mr. McBeevee.” From up in a tree came a reply. The man was installing power lines. His tools were jingling from his belt. He puffed a cigarette, and blew rings with the smoke. Andy invited him to dinner, and all had a great time.
12.10.06 (10:11 pm) [
edit]
posted by:
seochris (
reply)
post date:
12.10.06 (8:18 pm)
Yes its great believing the real person whom we know very much by touch an feel. Its advisable to believe on that person alone and not entirely go for the relgious beliefs.
posted by:
surrogate (
reply)
post date:
12.10.06 (9:29 pm)
"By the way, Mr. McBeevee was a real person!"
True - within the confines of the fictitious script WRITTEN to illustrate the point you just made... Had they decided to write it otherwise, they could have. But, what's very important here, to carry the point through to it's logical conclusion, is, of course that Jesus was a real person, not the magical tree walking, miracle working, smoke-ring blowing figment of child-like imagination so many would have him systematically turned into - and so much more special because, at long last, he was a real human being. No more, and thankfully, no less.
posted by:
mimi (
reply)
post date:
12.11.06 (3:26 am)
PDave,
Powerful reminder, that story...a wonderful thing to believe in someone. I miss my someone that I believed in rain or shine, good or bad.
xoxox
posted by:
idiotbubble (
reply)
post date:
12.11.06 (4:59 am)
........ =)
posted by:
doeeyed (
reply)
post date:
12.11.06 (6:53 am)
That's what Faith is all about!
Oh and I remember that episode well :) I think I would have liked living in Mayberry but, I think sometimes I might like living in Manhattan! I'm so versatile!
posted by:
PastorDave (
reply)
post date:
12.11.06 (7:12 am)
Reply to: seochris
It's a matter of trust, but not blind trust. We know the person, so when something seems uncharacteristic, we can give the person the benefit of a doubt.
posted by:
PastorDave (
reply)
post date:
12.11.06 (7:14 am)
Reply to: mimi
I would think you still have such persons in your life. April? And maybe, around the next corner or in the next five minutes, another? Hope is a great thing. And you seem to me a hopeful person.
posted by:
PastorDave (
reply)
post date:
12.11.06 (7:17 am)
Reply to: idiotbubble
I am not good with these communicative icons! My kids can send a message, via phone text messaging or AOL instant messenger, which makes no sense to me. At least I can discern you "=)". Let's see...how to reply?...:^ - does that work?
posted by:
PastorDave (
reply)
post date:
12.11.06 (7:22 am)
Reply to: doeeyed
Mayberry seems a pretty good place, although not perfect, I know. There are no other ethnic people in Mayberry, which I would think would make for a dull place. Of course I know many, many such communities now exist. And, where's the Jehovah's Witnesses in Mayberry? Andy never trips over Watchtower literature as he walks down his steps. Oh, and Otis the town drunk would never be a humorous character in today's sitcoms. Still, I'd take Mayberry over wherever Friends or even Everybody Loves Raymond may live.
posted by:
PastorDave (
reply)
post date:
12.11.06 (7:30 am)
Reply to: surrogate
I appreciate your analogy. It helps me to understand better your concept of Jesus. It reminds me, very much, of a theologian I've almost forgotten and whose name I can hardly spell- Dr. Albert Sweitzer. He thought the historical Jesus to be almost lost with all the added adornment of the church and historic writings. Sweitzer was a great missionary in Africa, and his faith was real enough that he was willing to sacrifice his life in service to his understanding of Jesus. That's not something I will lightly trample upon, even though I see things quite differently.
Andy's faith in Opie is so strong that he is willing to trust his son, even though his statements make absolutely no sense to him. His trust is later rewarded. The problem was not with Opie, but with the imperfection of communication. And, my application is that sommetimes we have to simply trust God, even when it does not make sense. Somewhere along the way, we will be similarly rewarded.
posted by:
inkspector (
reply)
post date:
12.11.06 (7:44 am)
FYI: A while back in the newspaper, there was an article about a couple who opened up an Inn and it is a replica of Andy's house. They went out and got identical furniture, dishes, linens etc after watching the shows thousands of times and taking notes. They get a lot of business.
The couple met at a Mayberry Fan Fest convention.
I wonder if they have a replica of Mr. McBeevee in a tree on the property? That would be a novelty.
posted by:
musicalhair (
reply)
post date:
12.11.06 (8:46 am)
Hey,
I see a connection between this post and the discussion we're having (or had) over on my post. I think I'm saying or thinking the same thing.
I look at it this way: there are all sorts of things that I don't need to have faith in Jesus, all sorts of baggage that is being dragged along by the religions and the traditions which may or may not be legit but to me don't make a difference. Some might sound sacrilege, but I don't see a lot of stuff as being germane to faith in Jesus.
posted by:
PastorDave (
reply)
post date:
12.11.06 (11:38 am)
Reply to: inkspector
I checked it out. I'll not try to squeeze the url through the t-blog censors, but it was easy enough to find on Google. It looks like a nice place, and for $105/night you can visit. Sounds eccentric, and fun. I like the combination.
posted by:
lorischuster (
reply)
post date:
12.11.06 (3:48 pm)
I thought that your analogy was very profound and touching. I find that many times I lack answers and cannot buy into some of the tennants of my faith. I'm not sure we are meant to know...the joy...the understanding is found in the journey.
posted by:
ruined (
reply)
post date:
12.11.06 (3:51 pm)
It's a terrible feeling when somebody approaches you with a logical arguement against the Christian faith. My response is usually a very honest one... "I'm not smart enough to argue that." Like lorischuster indicated, your analogy really leaves a lot to think about. It kind of helps explain how the minds of my children work, as well!
posted by:
PastorDave (
reply)
post date:
12.11.06 (5:56 pm)
Reply to: lorischuster
Thanks. I'm growing in the opinion we need to work most on the relationship with the Divine; understanding will always be partial. If we know we are loved and accepted, that will suffice even as we wrestle with the rest.
posted by:
PastorDave (
reply)
post date:
12.11.06 (5:59 pm)
Reply to: ruined
There are some smart people out there, well armed with logic concerning God and spiritual matters. I don't discount the value of logic and reasoning, but I know God moves beyond such human inventions. He is neither logical nor reasonable. But He is personal. And that is where our focus should be.
posted by:
doeeyed (
reply)
post date:
12.12.06 (5:31 am)
Reply to: PastorDave
I would have liked to experience all of those places, just for a while but, Mayberry seems like it would have been a good place to stay! :)
I grew up in a town that I think was probably not much different, just in a different time.
posted by:
FinalyFree (
reply)
post date:
12.12.06 (8:39 am)
One of my very favorite Mayberry episodes! But it makes me feel bad as a parent, I would more than likely be like Andy and not believe such a story. Guess we need to give our kids a little more credit sometimes, huh?
posted by:
bawdy (
reply)
post date:
12.12.06 (11:26 am)
I have this recurring dream in which I'm spanked by Aunt Bea.
posted by:
drforbush (
reply)
post date:
12.12.06 (12:53 pm)
I like this story, and it actually illustrates the problems with religion in general. Maybe that was the point of the show.
Maybe you see Mr. McBeevee as Jesus and Opie as the Bible. But, Mr. McBeevee could be God and Opie is just one religion telling us about God. What if Andy had come back and told Barney and Aunt Bee what he had seen. Would they say that Opie was wrong? What is Opie's account were interpretted as the Koran and Andy's was the Bible. What if instead there were several kids that saw Mr. McBeevee all with different accounts? This would be more like the real situation that we have today of many religions begun many years ago by many different groups of people who wrote what they thought they understood.
My point is similar to yours in that we have important communications from people who have had spiritual experiences in the past. But even though we think we know what they are saying we don't understand everything in the way that we think we do. It takes our our personal spiritual experiences to help us get closer to understanding, but even when we do we may still lack the skill in communicating it to the rest of the world.
posted by:
PastorDave (
reply)
post date:
12.12.06 (5:40 pm)
Reply to: lorischuster
Yes. Enjoy the journey. Do not fight it. That's good advice to me, because so often I'm busy trying to help God plan the next step, the next phase. Just love, and follow. Sounds much simpler, and happier.
posted by:
PastorDave (
reply)
post date:
12.12.06 (5:43 pm)
Reply to: FinalyFree
Now, in my "Opie years", I may have swiped the quarter from my neighbor, or intimidated a kid into giving it to me, and then made up the story of Mr. McBeevee, thinking I was oh so smart. And my folks would not have bought it. They knew me far too well.
posted by:
PastorDave (
reply)
post date:
12.12.06 (5:49 pm)
Reply to: drforbush
Actually I see Opie as Jesus. His is a story that seems incredible, unbelievable, and sometimes undesirable. The challenge is to accept it, even when reason leaves a question.
Your analogy is interesting. I appreciate the effort. If I were to adapt this to be a Christian story, I'd have Mr. McBeevee himself walk into Mayberry and tell everybody he is real. He would be my Christ figure. Or, maybe Barney could shoot him dead with his one bullet. The town folk could arrange a funeral. But Mr. McBeevee would be missing from the morgue. Next thing you know, he's alive and drinking a soda at Wally's Service Station. I think I'd best stop- the analogy is starting to fall apart.
posted by:
PastorDave (
reply)
post date:
12.12.06 (6:11 pm)
Reply to: bawdy
Important question: When you have this dream, is it pleasant?
posted by:
christine@swanktrendz (
reply)
post date:
12.12.06 (10:30 pm)
Thank you for this entry - I very much enjoyed it. Out of the mouth of babes...
posted by:
surrogate (
reply)
post date:
12.13.06 (5:03 am)
Reply to: bawdy
That's not Aunt Bea. It's Goober in an Aunt Bea Mask.
posted by:
bawdy (
reply)
post date:
12.13.06 (11:42 am)
Reply to: PastorDave
I'll take the fifth. Ask surrogate. He seems to have the same dream.
posted by:
FinalyFree (
reply)
post date:
12.13.06 (12:20 pm)
Reply to: PastorDave
LOL at bawdy, just read his post.
It's a good thing that parents are as wise as they are, huh :)
