Simile and Spirit.

[MoreCoffee]

A simile is a comparison used to make an unfamiliar (or a strange) concept easier to understand by comparing the concept to something that is commonplace and readily grasped. The parables that the Lord Jesus Christ spoke to the crowds were similes that offered commonplace acts and objects as a comparison that could teach a new concept to his listeners. But with the parables Jesus did not usually explain the concept that the simile illustrated so the crowds could hear that he said but not really understand the message. But the Lord would explain the meaning, the concepts, to the disciples who followed him but he gave the explanations in private. Now you may be wondering why I am writing this because it is little more than a long winded version of something that is written in the Gospels and nearly everybody who reads the posts on this site (Christianity Haven) has already read the gospels and knows what they say so this is not new or interesting except maybe as a reminder of something that the Lord did and taught. But My intention is to draw attention to a difference that ought to be evident in my opinion but that may not be evident to all, and I am not presenting myself as wise and clever or intelligent and perceptive because what I am writing is not my idea as if I originated it and can claim copyright or intellectual property rights over it. The truth is that it is a very old lesson that is also in the gospels.

Your words are spirit, Lord, and they are life;
you have the message of eternal life.​

Words that are spirit and life need not be and usually are not similes.

 

[TurtleHare]

In his parables Jesus used common day language for his crowds to understand, if he spoke to farmers he used planting seeds and the like so they'd comprehend his thought patterns. His very words are indeed life to those who hear and believe and foolishness to those who turn away from him.

 

[MoreCoffee]

In his parables Jesus used common day language for his crowds to understand, if he spoke to farmers he used planting seeds and the like so they'd comprehend his thought patterns. His very words are indeed life to those who hear and believe and foolishness to those who turn away from him.

True enough, brother TurtleHare, yet the parables are intended to teach a lesson and not every listener understood the lessons.

Matthew 13:3-17 3 And he spoke many things to them in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower went out to sow seed. 4 And while he was sowing, some fell beside the road, and the birds of the air came and ate it. 5 Then others fell in a rocky place, where they did not have much soil. And they sprung up promptly, because they had no depth of soil. 6 But when the sun rose up, they were scorched, and because they had no roots, they withered. 7 Still others fell among thorns, and the thorns increased and suffocated them. 8 Yet some others fell upon good soil, and they produced fruit: some one hundred fold, some sixty fold, some thirty fold. 9 Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.”

10 And his disciples drew near to him and said, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” 11 Responding, he said to them: “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but it has not been given to them. 12 For whoever has, it shall be given to him, and he shall have in abundance. But whoever has not, even what he has shall be taken away from him. 13 For this reason, I speak to them in parables: because seeing, they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14 And so, in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, who said, ‘Hearing, you shall hear, but not understand; and seeing, you shall see, but not perceive. 15 For the heart of this people has grown fat, and with their ears they hear heavily, and they have closed their eyes, lest at any time they might see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and then I would heal them.’ 16 But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear. 17 Amen I say to you, certainly, that many of the prophets and the just desired to see what you see, and yet they did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and yet they did not hear it.​