The Prophet Jesus, our Master, nearly always speaks to us
from the pages of the Scriptures in parables, symbolically. But this is the most forgotten and ignored Truth of his ministry, and causes much misinterpretation.
The Book of Mark tells us, “With many such parables he spoke
the word to them, as they were able to hear it. He did not speak to them
without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.”
Mark 4:33-34
In the Book of John, we read of Jesus being called a door.
“So Jesus again said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to
you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and
robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters
by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief
comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and
have it abundantly.” John 10:7-12
But was he REALLY a wooden door? Did he REALLY lead around a
small flock of animals? Of course not. If one is a Literalist, it makes no
sense, as it made no sense. But if one understands that we are the sheep, and
he’s the shepherd, and that we, through him (like walking towards and then
through a door) may have more abundant, productive lives, the parable opens to
us and becomes clear.
When Jesus spoke of himself and his teachings as Living
Water, the Samaritan woman at the well asked, "Sir, you have nothing to
draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water?”
Obviously, he was speaking in metaphor.
Jesus is compared to a Narrow Gate. But again, he had no
stones or hinges, but instead offered the difficult (but holy) way to serve and
know God.
Nicodemus asks Jesus what he meant by being “Born again.”
Surely, one can't crawl into his mother’s womb to be once again born! Jesus
explains that he was speaking symbolically.
Luckily, most people today understand this. Most see the
Jesus really wasn't a door, made of wood and hinges, or a bucket of water,
sloshing around ancient Judea.
But most don’t understand that all of the Gospel stories should be taken as Parabolic and Symbolic, and their extreme literalism obscures and sometimes warps the vital teachings Jesus left to us.
When Jesus says one must eat of his flesh and drink of his
blood, they, like the ancient Jews who heard this literally, ask, “"How
can this man give us his flesh to eat?" and they invent man-made doctrines
that turn ordinary food, as if by magic, into flesh and blood.
When the Jews heard Jesus say, "My Father is working
until now, and I am working." (John 5:18) they immediately accused him of
“making himself equal with God.” But Jesus had repeatedly said that he could do
nothing on his own without God, that he was God’s Prophet, that God was working
through him, that he was God’s Son because he heard and obeyed God and said
often that he was sent by God. And yet, most who have read the Gospels have believed
instead the Jewish lawyers sent to accuse him falsely (on this and other
occasions) rather than God’s Anointed One.
Jesus is clearly speaking as the metaphorical shepherd in John
10:14-15, saying “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me,
just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for
the sheep.” Clearly, again, he is not a literal shepherd of animals, but the
meaning is clear: he is laying down his life for his followers – those who obey
him.
Clarifying, he says also (using the symbolism of friendship) “Greater
love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You
are my friends if you do what I command you.” (John 15:13-14.) There, neatly
laid out, without obfuscation or confusion, is why Jesus died, and it is a call
to obey our Prophet and Master’s example. But other men have crafted many
clever ways which purport to show that Jesus died in order to allow us to get
into heaven simply by believing his death was magical, when in fact, his life
and death calls us to repent from sinning, obey God’s commandments, and forgive
and serve Others. That, not mere belief, will allow God to reward us with
eternal life.
“Scripture” is only what bears witness to what is true. But
if we willfully misread scripture, ignoring our God-given Reason in order to
interpret and understand it, pretending the words are something other than what
they are, we obscure its meaning, and lose the precious teachings the Master
Jesus gave to us during his ministry.
Selected Scripture:
“Then the disciples came and said to him, "Why do you
speak to them in parables?" (Matt. 13:10)
“This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did
not understand what he was saying to them.” (John 10:6)
“The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, "How
can this man give us his flesh to eat?" (John 6:52)
“Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he
is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" (John
3:4)
“The woman said to him, "Sir, you have nothing to draw
water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water?” Are you
greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself,
as did his sons and his livestock.” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of
this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will
give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will
become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:11-14)
“I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me,
just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for
the sheep.” (John 10:14-15)
“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.” (John 15:13-14)
