The Parable of Two Buck Chuck & The Ox
Ever since writing Subversive Stories, I’ve had parables on the brain. A few ideas didn’t make it into the book, since they were not directly based on a parable of Jesus. Below I’ve shared a short story / parable of my own, spun with a few different threads from the Gospel of Matthew. May it bless and challenge you as it has me.
The Parable of Two Buck Chuck & The Ox
Bo Oxenreider and Charlie Smith were friends in seminary. They took the same courses, had similar giftings, and were part of the same community. Upon graduation, however, their lives forked into two very different paths - one glorious, one . . . not so much.
But which is which?
Bo went straight into a position as the solo pastor of a church on the west coast, where he received a generous salary and benefits package. His wife was sad to leave family and friends behind but believed in Bo’s gifts and followed him there. He started a podcast called Shootin’ the Bull with Bo where he shared his thoughts on life and culture and politics to a wider audience. He was soon recognized as a rising star in his denomination.
Charlie, on the other hand, was unable to find a job in ministry for reasons neither he nor his wife ever understood. While he waited on something to pan out, he got a position as a bagger at a grocery store. He almost did not get the job, being overqualified, but the manager pitied him and hired him anyway. His wife worked with a local florist to help make ends meet.
~
Drawing from his last name, Bo was soon given the nickname The Ox for his powerful preaching. He became so known within the community and his denomination that after only two years, he was offered a position at a large, historic “flagship” church on the east coast. The job was such a clear answer to prayer, he took it without asking his wife, uprooting his family once again. The more his popularity soared, however, the more he withdrew from the lives of his people, believing it to be more strategic to focus on his ‘public ministry’ instead. As a result, he knew very few of his sheep by name.
Charlie was not without shame and discouragement as he compared himself to others like Bo. His friends called him Two Buck Chuck behind his back because of how little he made. After two years, he was promoted to cashier. To the manager’s surprise, Charlie’s line of customers was always two or three times as long as others. When asked why they didn’t go to the shorter line, the customers invariably answered the same: “Because this guy knows my name.”
~
Bo wrote a book on pastoral leadership entitled Don’t Muzzle The Ox and began to travel between Sundays to speak about the book at conferences and in interviews. Ministers far and wide sought him for his leadership expertise. He hired a team of staff to carry the burden of pastoral care, so he didn’t have to get his hands dirty with the mess and dysfunction of the congregation. By church growth metrics, his work was a great success, the church tripling in size his first ten years, both in attendance as well as its facilities.
After ten years as cashier, Charlie was finally promoted to assistant manager. He stood by the automatic doors and greeted customers by name and asked about their lives. Some would stop for several minutes and update him on their various joys and troubles, sometimes asking for his wisdom. On his lunch break he wrote notes about each customer in an untitled spreadsheet and prayed for them. He eventually got permission to hold a five minute devotion with a handful of employees before work each morning. They mostly yawned and nodded off, but occasionally something he said “landed,” helping him believe it was worthwhile.
~
While ‘Bo Oxenreider’ became more and more of a household name, he became less and less present in his own household. Each night their three year old would ask, “Can you tell Daddy to come tuck me in and pray for me?” His wife would respond, “I’ll tell him,” not having the heart to explain that he was traveling, at a committee meeting, or teaching a night class at the seminary. Any time his wife complained to Bo, he could only say that these are the kinds of sacrifices that have to be made for the kingdom. By the time their children grew up and left home, they did not know their father, except as their preacher. And he knew them about as much as he knew his other sheep.
Despite the simple pleasure and satisfaction Charlie got from caring for his customers and coworkers, he never outgrew his disappointment over not achieving his dreams, often wondering where he went wrong. Even so, he tried to be faithful with the little plot of ground given to him. The only position he ever got in the church was as a middle school youth volunteer. One time he was offered a Store Manager position at another location across town, but he ultimately turned it down, realizing that he would have to stop coaching his son’s baseball team. After his daughter left home for college, she often called him in tears, saying she was homesick, feeling like a sheep without a shepherd.
~
Bo and Charlie died on the same day in their mid-sixties. A week prior, Bo had published his twelfth book, which critics were already hailing as his magnum opus. Charlie had recently been named Employee of the Month, receiving a complimentary honey ham.
Thousands came to Bo’s funeral, leaving no standing room in the massive sanctuary. The funeral was broadcast on live TV. A host of internationally known preachers and denomination leaders gave glowing testimonials and eulogies that spoke of Bo’s impact on the spread of the gospel. One even said he did more to advance the kingdom than anyone since the apostle Paul. The city honored him by shutting down several streets while the funeral cortege made its way to the graveside. His children watched his casket lower into the grave without tears.
Charlie’s funeral consisted of his family, a few friends, and a handful of coworkers. Of course, the customers he had faithfully served would have gladly been there, except that most of them did not even know his last name, much less anything else about him. His children gave the two eulogies, weeping their way through their speeches. “He was my best friend, the greatest man I’ve ever known,” they said to a mostly empty sanctuary.
~
As Bo and Charlie approached the pearly gates that day, they saw a stampede of saints rushing out of the New Jerusalem. Charlie stopped and stepped aside, letting Bo go forward to meet the crowd, assuming they were coming to celebrate the arrival of The Ox, the world-renowned preacher. However, as the crowd approached, they did not even recognize Bo but ran past him, surrounding Charlie instead. They took turns shaking Charlie’s hand and hugging him while they re-introduced themselves as grocery store customers he’d prayed for, middle schoolers he’d discipled in youth group, kids he’d coached in baseball. Talking over each other in their joy, they thanked Charlie for the impact he’d had on their life. “Me?” he asked in astonishment. “When?” “Don’t you remember…” they kept saying, reminding him of the many ways he’d loved and ministered to them over his lifetime. Some even credited their presence in glory to Charlie. And for the first time in almost forty years, since graduating seminary, Charlie was not embarrassed of his life, which no longer seemed so small and ordinary.
As Bo overheard the crowd speaking with Charlie, he, too, began to see his life in a new light, but one that filled him with shame - a new emotion for him. He did not regret being a preacher, but that so much of his ministry he’d been seeking his own name, building up his own kingdom. Bo had been so busy proclaiming the love of Christ, he had failed to love anyone but himself. His shame was so great that he would not have even passed through the pearly gates if he had not heard there was Someone within who was known to wipe away tears.
Meanwhile, the crowd’s appreciation and honor of Charlie swelled into a unified roar. They lifted him in the air and carried him on their shoulders through the pearly gates chanting, “Two Buck Chuck! Two Buck Chuck!” Thus, having been faithful with the little he had been given, Charlie entered into the glory and joy of his Master.
For further thought, here are some of the Scriptures underlying this homespun parable:
“Whoever would be great among you must be your servant . . . even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matt 20:20-28).
“Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master” (Matt 25:23).
“Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me” (Matt 25:31-40).
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt 5:1-12).
