Struggling with the truth

Barbara Nicolosi, the founder of the Act One screenwriting program, has said that one of the primary storytelling principles they teach their students is, "It isn't telling people the truth that saves them; it's getting them to wrestle with the truth that saves them." It seems to me that  Luke (20:9-18) describes Jesus, the master storyteller,  doing just that with the chief priests,  the teachers of the law, and the elders who have come to interrogate him.  After telling the parable of the tenants, Jesus asks them, "What, then, will the owner of the vineyard do to the tenants?" It is a rhetorical question. He doesn't wait for them to answer. "He will come and kill those men, and turn the vineyard over to other tenants."
      When the people heard this, Luke tells us, they cried out, "Surely not!!  Jesus has them struggling with a profound truth embedded in the very scriptures these learned men have studied since their youth, in Psalm 118, but they were unable to discern its real meaning.  Jesus is grateful that his Father hides from the learned what is revealed to children.

       When a cold-blooded hitman bursts into a hotel room to execute someone, the intended victim does something unexpected: he asks the hitman for a moment to make his peace with God. The hitman lowers his gun as the victim takes a chain with a crucifix from around his neck, holds it tightly in his hands, kneels down with eyes closed, and begins moving his lips in silent prayer. Now peaceful and resigned to his fate, the victim opens his eyes, looks squarely at the hitman, and says, "I forgive you." The hitman hesitates, looking confused at a peace he's never seen before, but then pulls the trigger anyway.
       That's how  Tony Rossi describes the beginning of the new online web series on Hulu.com called The Confession.       When the hitman, played by Kiefer Sutherland, enters the confessional he recalls words from his childhood: "Bless me Father for I have sinned exceedingly in thought, word, and deed. I confess to Almighty God and to you, Father. It's been thirty-five years since my last confession." When the priest asks if he's sorry for his sins, he says, "No," and goes on to explain he killed a man last night. The hitman isn't there for forgiveness, but rather to understand the peace he witnessed come over his victim the night before.  You will recall that Augustine was disturbed by the joy reflected in the face on an uneducated poor man.  God causes us to struggle with the truth.