Rick Luoni's post about the naked truth inspired me to find and tell this story, which I have cleaned up as best I can. As best I remember it, this is an old Hasidic tale that I first heard from either Doug Lipman or Steve Sanfield.
Truth walked naked into a village, and almost immediately the local inhabitants started cursing at him. Spewing epithets, they chased him out of the village, and Truth walked along the road to the next town. But they too spit at him, cursed him and spewed epithets, driving him out of that town as well.
He walked, lonely and sad, along the empty road, until he reached the next town, still hoping to find someone who was happy to see him, who would embrace naked Truth with open arms.
So he walked into the third town, this time in the middle of the night, hoping that the morning would find the townsfolk happy to see Truth in the clear light of dawn. But as soon as the townsfolk's eyes lit upon him they ran to their homes and then came back throwing garbage at him.
Truth ran off out of the town and into the woods crying. After cleaning off the garbage, he returned to the edge of the woods, when he heard laughter and gaiety, singing and applause. He saw the townsfolk applauding as Story entered the town. They brought out fresh meats and soups and pies and pastries and offered them all to Story - who smiled and lavished in their love and appreciation.
Come twilight, Truth was sulking and sobbing at the edge of the woods. The townsfolk disdainfully ignored him, but Story came out to meet Truth on the edge of town.
Truth told Story how the folk of every town mistreated him, how sad and lonely he was, and how much he wanted to be accepted and appreciated.
Story replied, "Of course they all reject you!" Story looked at Truth, eyes a bit lowered to the side. "No one ever wants to look at the naked Truth."
So Story took pity on Truth, and gave him some of her colorful, beautiful clothing to wear. Then they walked into the nearby town together, Truth dressed in the beautiful robes of Story. The townspeople greeted them with warmth and love and appreciation, for Truth wrapped in Story's clothing can be a beautiful thing, and is almost always easier to behold.
And ever since that day, Truth travels best with Story, and when Truth is wrapped in Story's robes, he finds much more acceptance than the simple naked Truth would ever find.
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7 comments:
followed you over from Rick's place.
This is beautiful
Truth without love isn't truth, that's what this story underlines.
May we walk in His truth and in His love - and be set free, to release others in the same way.
blessings
In this Story is Truth, Steve man. :)
Inspiring tale, and made more powerful because the men who originated it did not know Christ.
Keep preaching and teaching and telling the truth, Brother.
Whoops - I started working on the entry about 11:50 PM, and finished it at 1:30, so I knew I needed to adjust the posted time and date. Guess I slipped a digit in selecting the date! Thanks for letting me know - it's fixed now.
This is a great Story, and so True!
Are you sure it wasn't Laura Simms, it's in a book she has written.
It probably is in a number of sources where people draw inspiration from the stories of the Hasidim. I know I've heard Lipman tell the story - I'd forgotten about Laura Simms, though. Thanks for the reminder!
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