I was befuddled the first time that I watched the episode “Darmok” on Star Trek: The Next Generation (Season 5, Episode 2). I simply couldn’t figure out what was going on.

Obviously, I was too dense to grasp its greatness. It is often listed as one of the very finest episodes in Star Trek: The Next Generation.

This is an example of why we should never give up trying again and again to understand the teachings of the Bible, Jesus, literature, theater, movies . . . and TV shows! (Matthew 7:7-8; James 1:5).

In this episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Captain Pickard could not understand what the alien, Captain Dathon, was trying to tell him. Eventually, Pickard realized that Dathon was communicating by using strings of metaphors taken from the history, myths and literature of his people. With this insight, Pickard was able to communicate with Dathon and his  people.

Unfortunately, Dathon died because it took too long for Pickard to figure out what Dathon was trying to tell him.

This idea of teaching through metaphors reminded me of how Jesus taught using parables. As the Gospel of Matthew tells us:

Jesus spoke . . . to the crowd in parables: he did not say anything to them without using a parable. So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet:

I will open my mouth in parables,

I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.

(Matthew 13:34-35)

Some of my favorite examples of such parables can be found in the 15th Chapter of Luke. In that chapter, Jesus used stories to foreshadow and explain the purpose of his life, including his crucifixion and resurrection. (Luke 15:1-32).

In the story of the shepherd saving his lost sheep, we see how the LORD works tirelessly to seek and to save those who are lost. We know from the Prophet Isaiah that “all we like sheep have gone astray.” (Isaiah 53:6). All of us need to be saved by the tireless efforts of the LORD.

In the story of the housewife finding her lost coin, we see how the LORD searches diligently to find her lost coin. The LORD looks everywhere to save us.

Both the shepherd and the housewife are willing to humiliate themselves to save the lost. Similarly, Jesus was willing to humiliate himself—enduring even a death on a cross—to save us.

In the story of the Prodigal Son, the Father was willing to humiliate himself to heal relationships. He ran through the village to welcome his lost son. He went out to talk with his rebellious, arrogant son.

Dr. Kenneth E. Bailey cautioned:

it is easy to see these metaphors as “illustrations” brought in to elucidate a point. But to make this assumption in studying a Biblical text is to miss much of what the Middle Eastern author is trying to say. (Bailey, Paul Through Mediterranean Eyes: Cultural Studies of 1 Corinthians, at pages 30-31).

Why?

Middle Easterners create meaning through the use of simile, metaphor, parable and dramatic action. They do not simply illustrate concepts. Jesus used metaphors, parables and dramatic actions in this way. Paul’s parables and metaphors can also be seen as primary theological statements. (Bailey, Paul Through Mediterranean Eyes, at pages 30-31).

Bailey cautioned, however, that “when you ‘opt for a big metaphor . . . you trade a certain degree of academic precision for a much larger degree of explanatory power’”. (Bailey, Paul Through Mediterranean Eyes, at pages 30-31, quoting from Friedman in The World Is Flat, at page x.

I often say that parables and other stories by Jesus are “illustrations”. So I myself need to take to heart this clarification by Dr. Bailey. Parables are often far more than mere illustrations. Jesus used his parables to teach the substance of theology.

Perhaps this is why I realized, as I wrote my books, that there are “word pictures” of Jesus in the Bible that teach us more about who Jesus is, what God is like, and how we should live than volumes of theological speculations or hundreds of pages of my writings—becoming best friends who bless children, welcome sinners, weep together, wash each other’s feet, and laugh together. (Hoping in the LORD, at pages 177-182, 199-202, 209-213, and 239-249; and Lighting the World, at pages 181-184.)

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

Do you think that when you “opt for a big metaphor . . . you trade a certain degree of academic precision for a much larger degree of explanatory power”? How? Why?

Do you think that “word pictures” of Jesus in the Bible teach us more about who Jesus is, what God is like, and how we should live than volumes of theological speculations or hundreds of pages of my writings—becoming best friends who bless children, welcome sinners, weep together, wash each other’s feet, and laugh together? How? Why?

READ MORE

For related thoughts, please read my blogs “Jesus Embodies Hesed—Saving Lost Sheep, Lost Coins, and Lost Sons”, “The Star of Bethlehem Was a ‘Can of Tuna Fish’”, “The Immense, Towering Rock Overcomes the Gates of Hell”, “The Birth of the Church”, “Alcatraz: Escaping by Using ‘Countervailing Forces’ Wisely”, and “The Webb Space Telescope: Seeing Things We’ve Never Seen Before”.