There was once a rooster and a hen who were the best of friends when they were chicks. They were so privileged because they lived in a time when the Son of God also lived on earth. When they were chicks, they would play around in the fields, hunt for worms and eat the grains which their masters used to give them. But their destiny differed as they pursued different dreams in life. The rooster wanted to be a warrior and win many battles so he joined the Roman Legion.

On the other hand, the hen chose to live a simple life by being of service to her fellow chickens, helping hens as they lay their eggs, nursing the wounded chicken, and protecting small chicks who were growing up. When they were chicks they saw a man named Jesus whom they loved and called Master.

The Master preached a kingdom of love and peace. He healed many sick and fed those who were in need. They admired him and followed him whenever he visited the Holy City of Jerusalem.

They were so thrilled and moved when he spoke of forgiveness, of loving one’s neighbor especially those who were least, and even of loving one’s enemies . But their paths diverted as the rooster also has dreamt of becoming a warrior fighting in the cokpits with the Roman soldiers placing their bets on him so he tried as much as he could to win all the battles and to show off his mighty wings. He became famous as the pound for pound rooster and the king of the cockpits. And he dreamt of conquering more cockpits as he listened to the stories of these Roman legionnaires and was inspired by their war exploits and stories in battlefields.

But every now and then he returned to his home village visiting his hen friend who adhered to the Master’s teaching about love and peace. They both loved the Master but the rooster wanted to prove his prowess as a great warrior just like the Roman soldiers.

One night while with the Legionnaires, he saw the Master whom they all admired betrayed by his trusted friend. He could not but cry and crow after such a betrayal as he had witnessed. Three times he crowed as the trusted friend betrayed the Master thrice. With his Legionnaire friends, the rooster saw the Master being stripped, scourged and crowned with thorns. He became disillusioned about what he had learned from the Master, and was all the more convinced that what the Master said about love and peace were all lies, and the way of wars and battles was the right path to pursue.

Instead the hen cherished what the Master taught in her heart, as she hoped and prayed during that sad night of betrayal and abandonment by the Master’s friends. Three days after the death of the Master, the hen was privileged to witness the glorious rays of a new dawn on this earth with its brilliant colors when her Master rose from dead.

The rooster couldn’t believe that he rose from the dead so he was sunk in despair because of the betrayal he saw during that painful night, and when in the next day, as the Legionnaire scourged and mocked their admired and loved friend.

Sadly, he visited his hen friend and he bid her goodbye, thinking he would never see her again as he would be going with the Legionnaires to the battlefields.

The hen had requested her to come and see for himself that the Master had truly risen. He wouldn’t believe for three times he had seen how the Master had been betrayed, and in his mind he had flashbacks of how he had been scourged a hundred times, crowned with thorns, and crucified to death. The hen brought him to a nearby lake to see for himself.

And lo and behold... the Master was there talking with his three friends especially with the man who had betrayed him three times, asking him now thrice, “Do you love me more than these?… feed my lambs.” The rooster was so astounded because the man whom he had seen tortured and killed was now alive and forgiving his friends who had deserted him.

It was a very joyful day for him indeed, because everything that he assumed were lies about the man whom they loved, were not true at all. He went towards him and asked for pardon for his unbelief. The Master with a gentle caress told him, “I am alive, and I love you too just like I love Peter, James and John.” The Master told him, “ So you cried three times when I was betrayed. Now I want you to cry out with joy instead because I have Risen and have overcome all darkness.” The Master blessed the hen and the rooster telling them to love their other friends. “You’ll be a happy family and will have more eggs and chicks,” the Master told both of them with a smile.

And so the rooster and the hen lived to a ripe old age, with him proclaiming every dawn by his crowing that the light of love will always overcome the night. The hen laid more eggs and some hatched to grow up as good roosters and hens. Her other eggs transformed into Easter eggs to remind mankind of the triumph of joy over gloom and sadness.

Then when they died, they both went to paradise with the Master and they were transformed into more beautiful chickens with vividly different colored feathers as they announced an Eternal Dawn with the Eternal Sun that never sets.

Thus every dawn when we hear a rooster’s crow, we know they too await that day when they will be clothed forever with vibrant colors to announce the joy of an everlasting Easter.

Yanong Liwanag