There is a necessary and inherent dissonance in many of the texts in the Bible (Jesus calling a woman “a dog” in Mark 7:27). We largely remain unwise if we avoid these conflicts, dilemmas, paradoxes, inconsistencies, or contradictions; and I want to say those contradictions are in the Biblical text itself and presented to you for serious consideration—until you get the point. This is the real meaning of what we call Lectio Divina, or spiritual reading of a text. You are supposed to struggle with spiritual texts; but when you make the Bible into a quick answer book, you largely remain at your present level of awareness. There are groups who would describe the Bible as an answer book for all of life’s problems. The Bible is actually a conflict book. It is filled with seeming contradictions or paradoxes, and if you read it honestly and humbly it should actually create problems for you!
The way you struggle with the fragmentation of the Bible is the way you PROBABLY struggle with your own fragmentation and the fragmentation of everything else. The Bible offers you a mirror that reflects back to you how you live life in general. There are very high levels of consciousness and holiness in the Biblical text, and texts which are frankly hateful, selfish, and punitive. You need to recognize them as such. As Wendell Berry says, “the mind that is not baffled is not employed.” The Bible mirrors our own human fragmentation, your own two steps backward and your own occasional three steps forward. Your spiritual eyes will eventually be trained to see which way you—and the text—are going (See 1 Corinthians 2:10-16).
~Adapted from Richard Rohr, A Teaching on Wondrous Encounters (CD)
Our “myth” is the symbol system out of which we think and operate. It is largely unconscious and pre-rational, which is probably why the word “myth” (ineffable or unspeakable) is used, even if commonly misunderstood. Everyone has a myth, even those who fear the word. We have to have our myth because it creates a sometimes-livable world and it provides the frame of reference necessary for sanity—or insanity if we have a destructive one. Myths create a habitable and meaningful world for us.
In contrast, a parable confronts our world and subverts it. It does not create but re-creates our destructive and illusory myths. It has a hard job, and so it usually does not call for discussion, debate, or questioning. Parable is not God-as-information. Rather it is God-as-invitation-and-challenge. A parable calls us to insight and decision. A parable doesn’t lead us to more and more mental analysis; it’s either a flashing insight or it’s nothing. It calls us more to decision and change of perspective.
Jesus is never afraid to put things in a hard parabolic way. He seems to even prefer this method (Matthew 13:3, 34). Jesus is not afraid of using a word or idea that’s likely to be misunderstood (I wish I had that courage!). He puts his truth out there; and dealing with it is the listener’s problem (which is actually to respect the listener’s spiritual intelligence). Jesus is saying, in effect, “Struggle with what I’m saying!” In general, Jesus doesn’t spend a great deal of time qualifying his point and making sure everybody understands it clearly.
As Rainer Maria Rilke might later describe it, “Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now.” (Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet, 1934)
~Adapted from Richard Rohr, The Good News According to Luke: Spiritual Reflections
