Swords and Perspective

   As a master storyteller, you need to know how to play with perspective and expectations. I am going to stick my neck out and say God has this down.
   The number one reason for stories, as history goes, has been to pass them down to your children. Through time these traditional tales traverse. Taking the last paragraph into account, who do you suppose I am going to suggest was the reason for stories?
   Jesus! The reason, outcome, main character and hero of the story, he picked up some tips along the way.
   Tragedy is cause and effect. Comedy is unexpected. These are the definitions we worked with last class period. How has the Master Storyteller used these in His Master Tale? The fall of man is about the simplest type of cause-and-effect there is. Then you get twists that just don't make sense and yet manage to alter the entire course. Younger brothers rise over the older, weak conquers strong, and at one point the sun stands still. The old and barren become parents time and again.
   The best twists come when you are most sure they will not. The long-awaited coming of a king, a commander of legions, a swordsman, a problem-solver, a man with cash. A figurehead. A... I'm sorry, did you just say cabinetmaker? Oh, and landless? Possibly illegitimate? I'm sorry, we seem to have misplaced our monarch for the moment. Please hold...
   The image of Jesus as a blood-covered warrior may seem the comedy. We have not undergone the oppression the Jews had. We have little reason to look for such a man at this time. We prefer the storyteller, or at least the stories. They contradicted the model of the time. They interrupted the pleasant, trustworthy cycle of conquering and reason. It was the elements nobody saw coming that threw the masses into uproar. Equal wages, foolish bridesmaids, lame party guests; these and others began to tunnel through the layers society had caked on and expose a new perspective.

   Perspective is imperative. Do you know the story of the bi-color hat? Its bearer walked between her neighbors one morning, who argued all day what color it was. Only when she returned in the evening did they realize their foolishness.