Some time ago, I visited the Rock of Gibraltar. At the top, outside of St. Michael’s Cave, over 160 large monkeys, called semi-apes, are out in the open. They are all over the place, on the sidewalks, ledges, trees.
They warned us that these monkeys will steal food from you. But some in our group didn’t listen. I was with two from our group halfway up a hill, coming out of a souvenir place. Millie had just bought an ice cream sandwich. We stood on a ledge looking down on the sidewalk below. I noticed that one of those big monkeys glanced up our way. He started coming up the path. He kept looking away from us as he came toward us, trying to fool us. But he didn’t fool me.
I said, “Millie, that monkey is coming up here.” She said, “What?” I said louder, “That monkey is coming up here for your ice cream.” “He is?” “Yes, he’s coming right up to us.”
He was coming faster and faster up the sidewalk. She was trying to hide behind me clutching her ice cream, and said, “What should I do?” I said, “Throw it away! Get rid of it! He’s coming, he’s almost here.” She said, “There’s no trash can.” I said, “Who cares about the trash can?! Just throw it on the ground!” But it was too late.
He jumped up on the hand rail right next to us and then jumped on her back. He grabbed her ice cream sandwich and pushed off on me. He quickly climbed a tree, and sat on a branch. He then carefully pealed the wrapper off and threw it to the ground.
They had warned us, “The monkeys will steal your food.”
You know, it’s usually wise to listen to the warnings of others. We should especially pay attention to the warnings of God found in Holy Scripture. Warnings about the dangers of sin. Warnings about the judgment to come. They are there for a reason.
It is so true: we ignore warnings at our peril.