Dear Friends,

In The Decameron, Giovanni Boccaccio tells a tale about a man named Melchizedek who escaped a trap by telling a parable of a rich man who had a prize ring. Melchizedek treasured his ring and wanted to honor it by bequeathing it upon his death to one of his sons designating that son as the chosen heir and head of the family. His dilemma was that he deeply loved all three of his sons and wanted to bless them equally.
Melchizedek solved his dilemma by employing a goldsmith to duplicate his ring. The goldsmith did such a fine job that one could not distinguish the original from the copies. Each of the sons received a ring upon Melchizedek’s death and knowing the significance of the ring, each one tried to exert authority over his two brothers. Each son produced his inheritance & to their surprise could not determine who had the original and the mystery still goes unsolved to this day.
Boccaccio wrote in the 14th century, but even then, his was an old plot. Each race, faith, and denomination believes it possesses the inheritance. Genesis 27 – 36 tells the story of how God gave Abraham a kingdom through Jacob, but Genesis also tells us that God gave Esau a kingdom too. There is no question that God loved Jacob. However, we must not forget that God loved Esau too.
Boccaccio says in his story, “Each race believes it possesses the inheritance and the true law of the Father and fulfills his commandments. But which one it is that is the true possessor still remains a question to be solved as with the rings.” We discover that Jesus brought the same wisdom down to a more personal level when he said, “How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, there is a spec in your eye when there is a log in your own eye?’”
The Decameron is a collection of simple tales and may not be on your reading list, but you no doubt have read the plots of its stories in your contemporary reading. As it turns out, Boccaccio borrows his plots from earlier (and superior) sources, Genesis for one. The blessing of approaching with creative dignity other cultures, schools of thought, and individuals who live far outside our box is that we are able to make connections with a wisdom and grace common to all humankind. I believe those connections help us all transcend any tensions conjured up by our respective values in conflict.