Going back to this whole thing about Jesus speaking in parables for a second… I was just thinking about this whole thing where people call Jesus’ life, death & resurrection “The Greatest Story Ever Told.” Maybe that could be interpreted, then, as the ultimate parable. The ultimate story told and retold to communicate meaning to people. And the simple fact that it is a story means that it has such an enormous layering of possibilities and interpretations. And that maybe the problems & evils attributed to Christianity throughout history are due to the fact that people are trying to freeze it into a particular shape, or narrow it down to one particular meaning, thereby excluding the multitude of others which may be derived from it.

Now, before I get a bunch of letters from Christians denouncing me for suggesting that it’s “just a story,” take a breath and count to ten… When I say something is a story, I never use it with the words “just a” in front of it. Stories can be “true” on an infinite variety of levels, and I don’t necessarily exclude any of them. I happen to think that stories are one of the fundamental essential elements of what being human is all about. Check out this excellent story from noted Jewish author Elie Wiesel:

When the great Rabbi Israel Baal Shem-Tov saw misfortune threatening the Jews it was his custom to go into a certain part of the forest to meditate. There he would light a fire, say a special prayer, and the miracle would be accomplished and the misfortune averted. Later, when his disciple, the celebrated Magid of Mezritch, had occasion, for the same reason, to intercede with heaven, he would go to the same place in the forest and say: “Master of the Universe, listen! I do not know how to light the fire, but I am still able to say the prayer.” And again the miracle would be accomplished. Still later, Rabbi Moshe-Leib of Sasov, in order to save his people once more, would go into the forest and say: “I do not know how to light the fire, I do not know the prayer, but I know the place and this must be sufficient.” It was sufficient and the miracle was accomplished.

Then it fell to Rabbi Israel of Rizhyn to overcome misfortune. Sitting in his armchair, his head in his hands, he spoke to God: “I am unable to light the fire and I do not know the prayer; I cannot even find the place in the forest. All I can do is to tell the story, and this must be sufficient.” And it was sufficient.

God made man because he loves stories.