A PARABLE OF GRACE
Jesus was walking about incognito one day and happened to stop by a local coffee shop that was famous for turning water into expensive drinks. Jesus had no money as he’d left his wallet and ID back home in the high country. Fortunately, the gentleman in front, a lawyer by trade, had performed a subtle rite known as “paying it forward” for the next person in line.
“What a wonderful ritual,” Jesus said as he smiled. “It appears the Teachings have caught on.”
The lawyer ruined the moment, of course, when he replied, “Now you should do it for the person behind you.”
Jesus thought a moment and replied, “Ah, I would, but I haven’t any silver or gold.”
“Then you shouldn’t have come into the shop,” answered the lawyer. “What do you teach, anyway? How to be a bum?”
Jesus answered him with a parable:
There was a man who deigned to dine in a fine restaurant, to enjoy a delightful meal. It’s a large restaurant. It’s a busy restaurant. The menu is humungous, and there’s something for everyone. Beef, seafood, scallops, venison, ham, wild boar, escargot, octopus, salads, everything from hamburgers to five star French cuisine and more. Everyone orders what they wish. They’re all having a delightful time.
The owner looks out and says to her restaurant manager, “The meals are on me. Tell the guests”
The manager replies, “But what about your servers? How about their wages and tips?”
The owner smiles, “Oh, they shall be paid in full, and I shall pay them double their tips and gratuities. They’ll lose nothing.”
The manager reported this to the section leaders, but they did not pass this report along to the customers. In hushed tones they said to one another, “Perhaps they shall pay us for their meals, plus gratuities, and we’ll profit like never before!”
But the Manager strolled around the restaurant, visiting every table and declared, “The meal is on the house.”
The patrons were happy, but the servers grumbled. “He’s chopping our legs out from beneath us!” So they grabbed the manager, hauled him out back into the alley, killed him, and tossed his carcass into the dumpster with the rest of the kitchen trash.
The servers rubbed their hands with glee, but it was short-lived. The Manager came back into the restaurant with a fresh change of clothes and spoke into the loud hailer, “The meals are on the house, courtesy of the owner of the house. Thank you for making this such a joyous occasion.”
The manager returned to the office where the owner sat at her desk. “Thank you for coming out to the dumpster, finding me, giving me CPR, a shower, and a fresh change of clothes. I have repeated your message to our patrons that the meal and gratuities are on the house. What shall I do with those brutish servers?”
The owner paused a moment to think and replied, “Have them sit down, grab a meal, and enjoy it. It’s on the house for them, too. I shall be out to serve them forthwith.”
“But they don’t deserve to be rewarded for their wickedness, do they?” queried the manager.
“I don’t reward them for their wickedness. It’s not about crime and punishment, carrots or sticks. It gives me joy to share freely from out of my abundance. If they can’t handle it, that’s their problem, not mine. The meal’s on the house. The meal’s always on the house."
With that, Jesus enjoyed his latte and returned to strolling about and managing the little eatery known to the locals as Earth.
The lawyer sat there, slack jawed and amazed.
© Keith Axberg, 2023
NOTE: No theologians were injured in the making of this parable.
No comments:
Post a Comment