My friend Laurie knows I can’t stand when people forward jokes and parables and Send-This-To-Six-People-Or-You’ll-Ruin-Everything emails, so she’s very judicious about what she passes along. Today she sent me the following joke, which cracked me up at the very moment in my day when I needed a laugh. I hope it’ll do the same for you. Here we go…

Jesus was wandering around  Jerusalem  when he decided that he really needed a new robe.

After looking around for a while, he saw a sign for Finkelstein, the Tailor.

So, he went in and made the necessary arrangements to have Finkelstein prepare a new robe for him. A few days later,  when the robe was finished, Jesus tried it on — and it was a perfect fit!

He asked how much he owed.

Finkelstein brushed him off: “No, no, no, for the Son of God there’s no charge!

“However, may I ask for a small favor. Whenever you give a sermon, perhaps you could just mention that your nice new robe was made by Finkelstein, the Tailor?”

Jesus readily agreed and as promised, extolled the virtues of his Finkelstein robe whenever he spoke to the masses..

A few months later, while Jesus was again walking through Jerusalem , he happened to walk past Finkelstein’s shop and noted a huge line of people waiting for Finkelstein’s robes.

He pushed his way through the crowd to speak to him and as soon as Finkelstein spotted him he said: “Jesus, Jesus, look what you’ve done for my business!

Would you consider a partnership?”

“Certainly,” replied Jesus.  “Jesus & Finkelstein it is.”

“Oh, no, no,” said Finkelstein.  “Finkelstein & Jesus. After all, I am the craftsman.”

The two of them debated this for some time.

Their discussion was long and spirited, but ultimately fruitful — and they finally came up with a mutually acceptable compromise.. A few days later, the new sign went up over Finkelstein’s shop: