Parable #2

There was a man named Adam who walked the Earth when it was new. He had a wife who was beautiful and kind. God walked with them, and taught them how to care for the Earth and receive from it everything they would need.

Adam’s wife bore many children and, as Adam’s progeny multiplied, God promised that Adam would be the father of many nations. The children of Adam delighted in their world, bathing in the rivers and cooling their bodies in the shade of the trees. God walked among them in friendship, often appearing as a son of Adam so he could live among them without making them afraid.

Only Adam knew the secret name of God, because his relationship with God was a special bond. The whole Earth was a gift to Adam, given on the condition that he would attend to it faithfully and serve all who inhabit it with compassion and love. Adam served faithfully, and lived with his children in paradise.

Eventually, Adam took a second wife, who spoke to serpents and shared with him knowledge about new things called Good and Evil. She taught Adam that some people, called “sinners”, were not to be loved as others were loved. Adam and his new wife made laws, and began to rule over the nations they had begotten. They demanded that their children revere God, whom they believed had given them the wisdom to rule. Many rebelled against Adam and they were punished. Others obeyed and they were rewarded. God watched in silence as the Earth was divided.

Adam’s new wife had a jealous heart and she said to her husband “Your first wife is disgracing your name. Last night, on the bank of a river, I heard her talking to God and she called Him by his secret name, which is a privilege only allowed to you. This sin can not be pardoned. You must chase her away.” Adam, with a heavy heart did just that, and his first wife went away, never to be heard again.

Sensing a new possibility, the possibility of exile, Adam and his new wife made a decree that sinners would be banished to the vast deserts that surrounded their paradise. This banishment meant certain death, as nothing could thrive in those endless sands. Adam was feared by his children, but this fear made them righteous and good.

News reached Adam that God had been seen cooling in the shade of a tree with sinners, eating meals with them and calling them His friends. On the bank of a river one summer morning, Adam spoke to God. “You are spoiling our world. I rule by virtue, and in your name. When you are seen with sinners, my daughters and sons question your holiness.”

God rebuked Adam. “What do you know of holiness? I made you a steward of this Earth, not its ruler. I only asked that you serve with compassion and love, but you decided to rule over others with fear.”

Adam tried, but could not remember God’s secret name. He went away in anger, and in his heart he cursed God.

Adam told many others what God had said, and they all began to resent God. Finally, on one bright summer morning, Adam came to God, followed by a mob of his children.

Before nightfall, God hung from the gallows.

The following morning, the gallows was empty, and a young boy, who had been sleeping on the ground nearby, told Adam that God had come down from his noose in the night, waking up the boy to say goodbye. Now, said the boy, God would wander the endless sands of the desert with the sinners in exile. The child was whipped for his lies.

Without God’s company, Adam and his children felt a void in their hearts. So Adam made new gods. Some were statues, some were books and some were great buildings that reached toward heaven. Finally, even Adam himself became a god.

Proud and powerful, Adam and many of his children began to abuse the resources they had been given. Some acquired wealth and privilege, while others were left to suffer. Adam built machines to move across continents. He built terrible weapons and gave them to his children, who aligned themselves behind borders and waged bloody wars in the name of their gods. The keepers of the law tore through the lands of Adam’s children, persecuting anyone who blasphemed these new gods. Anyone who disobeyed was sent to the dessert.

Adam took many wives, and each bore him daughters and sons only to use them against him. Adman’s family was ravaged by manipulation and deceit.

Only physicians driven by avarice attended Adam’s bed as he died. The father of so many nations was buried in a secluded wood far from any city, and his burial was attended only by his children who had not reaped the riches of their legacy. Many of them had returned from exile in the desert. Standing over his grave, these sons and daughters of Adam made a pact with one another.

“On this spot, we renounce all that our father has built. We pledge to attend to this world faithfully and serve all who inhabit it with compassion and love.”

Not far away, in the dark of the wood, God smiled, approving. And He put faith in these new daughters and sons of Adam.

A Parable

Adapted from a tradition:

A man named Simeon lived upon a ten-inch by ten-inch piece of wood held up by the stump of a dead tree. On this tower he had only his garment, an animal hide turned inside-out so as to be uncomfortable, and a whip which he used to mortify his body.

As people would walk past and see him, they would be amazed. “Clearly, Simeon is devoted to God,” they would say.

The High Priests, who knew their authority was threatened by such an impressive display of piety, would regularly ask him to come down.

“Brother,” they would say “You have done more than enough, why don’t you come down so we may throw a feast in your honor?”

Each time the High Priests would ask, Simeon would refuse, and all who heard would be amazed by Simeon's humility.

One day, Jesus of Nazareth came upon Simeon’s tower. Recognizing Jesus as a holy man, Simeon nodded to him silently.

“What are you doing?” Jesus asked.

Simeon, who rarely spoke, was astonished by the question and felt moved to break his silence. “Brother, isn’t it obvious? I am serving God.”

Jesus asked “Who told you to do this?”

Simeon replied “I do this of my own will.”

Jesus asked “How do you eat?’

Simeon replied “Once a day, my brother brings me a jug of goat’s milk and a crust of bread.”

Seeing that Simeon’s brother was taking care of Simeon, Jesus replied “You are not serving God, your brother is.”

As quickly as he had arrived, Jesus was gone. “What a foolish man,” thought Simeon, as he continued to torture himself upon his piece of wood.