“Oh, Rabbi Jesus, I’m glad I caught you. I’ve been putting a few thoughts to paper for you to use. I wonder if you could take a few moments to look it over,” said the Wordsmith/Para-Apostle Brick.

 

“Of course I can. Let’s have a look-see,” said Jesus.

 

Brick handed Jesus his script and sat back with a look of great satisfaction, for he knew that what he had written was pure gold.

 

As Jesus read over the script his eyes widened in disbelief and then he laughed which was not a reaction that Brick seemed happy to have elicited.

 

“What’s so funny?” he asked the Rabbi just a little indignantly.

 

“Perhaps my English isn’t the best,” said Jesus, “but ‘the penis mightier than the words’? I’m not sure that I understand your meaning there.”

 

“Wait, wait, wait. That’s not what I wrote. Let me look at it again,” demanded Brick.

 

He hastily snatched the script back from Jesus and closely scrutinized the text and, sure enough, he hadn’t left enough space between his words ‘pen’ and ‘is’, and as it stood, it read ‘penis’.

 

“Damn! Oh, pardon me, Rabbi,” said Brick, “your English is good enough. It’s me penmanship that’s wanting.” And he made the correction on the spot by drawing a line between ‘pen’ and ‘is’. “Now then, try again,” said Brick.

 

“So,” said Jesus, taking the script back from Brick and continuing to read, “it should read, ‘the pen is mightier than the words’? I’m still not sure that I get it.”

 

“The pen,” explained a slightly peeved Brick at having to explain the brilliance of his thought, “has the potential and therefore is more important than the actual words it writes. Now,” said Brick with a hint of condescension, “do you get it?” And he thought that sometimes the Rabbi could be a little… well, thick. “For gosh sakes, it’s like explaining a joke. The humor is lost,” he lamented.

 

And Jesus replied patiently, “If I could offer a small suggestion, take the ‘s’ from ‘words’, move it to the front and make ‘sword’. Then you’d have ‘the pen is mightier than the sword’, but I don’t know English that well and, of course, you’re the Man o’Words.”

 

“What?! This ain’t no scrabbling scramble of words! This is high art! I’m tryin’ to upheave the level of discourse,” said Brick, huffing off and thinking, “That Rabbi’s got some work to do if he thinks people are going to remember any his words.”