The
Parable of the Lost Lens
And,
lo, Brent was walking up the driveway when a number of the scribes and Pharisees
came unto him, saying, “Tell us, O Brent, the way to see as thou seest, for
thou art wise in these ways.” Brent
squinted at them and then said, “One day a farmer went out to mow. And as he walked out unto the John Deere, he
cleaned his glasses and noticed that one lens seemed loosed. Now these were the same glasses he had laid
behind the tractor the year before whilst working on it and upon which his good
wife had trod while walking up behind him to see what he was doing and which
his daughter who worketh at a place of eye care had repaired, so had hence be
healed earlier. The farmer looked upon
the lens, sideways, straightaway, and upside down; and lo he determineth nothing,
so he placed the glasses upon his head, climbed uponeth his tractor and mowed
the prairie.”
The
scribes and Pharisees were enthralled, for Brent spoke as one with
authority. “After mowing the prairie
whilst listening to tunes uponeth his iPod, the farmer climbed down to clean
the field trash off his tractor and bush-hog and, lo, whilst brushing the trash
off the bush-hog’s deck a piece of long weed hit the lens and sent it sailing
into the field. Being a man of
exceedingly calm demeanor, the farmer removed his glasses and stared upon
them. He place them back on his head and
took them off again. Lo, his sight was
impaired, so he folded the glasses, put them in his coverall’s pocket, and
searched up on his hands and knees through the field for the lost lens. He sifted field trash through his fingers, he
laid uponeth the ground and looked for a glint of the sun off the lens, and,
behold, that which he sought for was revealed unto him and he picked up the
lens with great rejoicing because that which was lost was now found. Riasing the lens toward heaven, he gave
thanks, brushed the dust from the lens, and put it in his coveralls’ pants
pocket.”
After
putting the tractor in the barn, he went into the farmhouse for his ritual
cleansing and, lo, he pulled the lost lens from his coverall’s pants pocket and
placed it, rejoicing, upon the Maytag. Then
he reached unto the top pocket for the glasses and they were not there. Nor were they in any of the other of the
coveralls pockets. Nor were they upon
the tractor, the bushhog, the toobox wherein he keeps his pipe (which was in
the same pocket as the glasses) and other things. He wandered out into the field and with
wailing and gnashing of teeth, utterances of foul curses, he searched the field
to no avail.” The farmer returned to the farmhouse, crying, “Woe is me, for
that which is lost is found but that which was not lost is now not to be found.”
Then
Brent grew quiet. The scribes and the
Pharisees pondered his words. “What
manner of man is this that teaches this way?” said one. Another said, “These are hard things. What might they mean.”
“Beats
me,” muttered Brent walking away.
- --
from
Johnbrent 4:1-27 of the Lost Gospel of
the Farmer
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