A Modern Day Parable

Between moments of dispensing wisdom, it seems that historical religious leaders had also learned software programming. Soon afterward, a great contest was held to test their skills. After days and days of fierce competition, only two leaders remained for the last day’s event: Jesus and Mohammed.

The judge described the software application required for the final test, and gave the signal to start writing code. The two contestants feverishly typed away on their keyboards. Routines, classes, applets, and applications flew by on their screens at incredible speeds.

Windows, dialogs, and other intricate graphics began forming on their monitors. The clock showed that the contest would soon be finished. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning flashed and the power went out. After a moment, it came back on .. just in time for the clock to announce that the last competition was over.

The judge asked the two contestants to reveal their finished software.

Mohammed angrily said that he’d lost it all in the power outage.

The judge turned to the other competitor. Jesus smiled, clicked his mouse, and a dazzling application appeared on his screen. After just a few moments, the judge was clearly impressed and declared Jesus the victor.

When asked how the winner had survived the power outage, the judge pointed out the unique characteristic that set the winner apart from all the other leaders:

Jesus saves.