A Parable from Elie Wiesel: When the great Rabbi 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 sacred fire, say a special prayer, the miracle would be accomplished and the misfortune averted. Later, when his disciple had occasion 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 sacred fire, but I am still able to say the prayer,” and again the miracle would be accomplished. Still later, a disciple of the disciple, 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 have forgotten the prayer, but I know the place and this must be sufficient.” It was sufficient and the miracle was accomplished. Then in the next generation it fell to Rabbi Israel 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. Wiesel concludes: God made humanity because God loves stories.
Certainly Jesus loved telling stories. – in particular the stories with punch that we call parables. “The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field.” “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field.” “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of flour.” Let’s think about stories. Those of us of a certain age will remember Sergeant Friday of the old Dragnet TV show: “Just the facts, Ma’am.” In the world of the police procedural sticking to the facts will eventually bring the perp to justice. But in the real world the facts don’t tell the whole story. What about if Jesus taught just the facts: heaven, noun, derived from the German root himmel. 1. A place regarded as the abode of God and the angels, and of the good after death, often traditionally depicted as being above the sky. 2. a place, state, or experience of supreme bliss. 3. Paradise, nirvana, the next world. Such a dictionary definition of heaven might give you the facts but they don’t grab you, they don’t make any demand upon you, they don’t require you to figure out what this has to do with you. A story on the other hand does require one to sit up and to take notice.
Talking about stories or, better, talking in parables as Jesus did, is relevant to the sacrament of confirmation which we are celebrating this Sunday and will celebrate again over the next few weeks. Because of the virus, instead of being in a big class in the presence of a bishop, today Elikem presents himself for confirmation, for the anointing of the ongoing presence of the Holy Spirit in his life, in this local community. For the past two plus years during preparation for the sacrament Elikem and the other candidates for confirmation have learned about the creeds, about the beliefs, about the practices, about the catechism of the Church. What are the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit? What do we mean when we use the word Trinity? How many sacraments are there? I know the answers. Send me in, coach. While these are good things to know they are a lot like “the facts” of Sergeant Friday – external, out there, someone else’s answers. But confirmation is intended to be something personal, something individual, something particular to the one receiving the sacrament. That is where stories come in. For the life of a Christian is not about knowing the right answer to this, that or the other problem. The life of a Christian that we celebrate in the sacrament of confirmation is surrendering oneself to the great ocean of mystery.
We tend to think of faith as a problem to be solved. If God is good how to you explain the presence of evil in the world? Why does it seem that the rich get rich and the poor get poorer? What good does my trying to live a godly life do? For Jesus, Questions like these do not have answers we can quote from the catechism. Instead they invite us to tell a story which provides us some images, some hints into something beyond ourselves, into mystery. Good and bad are like weeds and wheat that grow up together. They get sorted out in the end. Look at the smallest seed – it might not seem like much but as it grows it makes a big difference. When you are baking bread after you leaven the flour you leave it alone and come back in a few hours and it has doubled in size. Jesus took these images from stuff he had observed and realized that they told a story, a story about God. Every one of Jesus’ contemporaries saw the same thing. But he was the one who looked beyond what was obvious and found something divine.
Ultimately what we are doing at confirmation is taking the story of my life and realizing that it is part of a deeper and wider story of God’s life in the world. While we might have problems we are not a problem. We are a mystery. So look at the weeds, at the trees, at the bread; look at the family God gave you, the sky above you, the planet we call home. Talk about those things. Tell stories about those things. For the stories God loves are your stories..