It's a Metaphor!

John 2:13-25

I have had the privilege of working for several Christian non-profits during my career. Most of them always have some clause about being like Christ:

As an employee of [fill in the blank], you will demonstrate a Christlike attitude in your work and in your dealings with your fellow employees.

Every time I read statements like this, a smile cracks my lips, and I think about what business situation would have to manifest for a Christian to justify “flipping a table” at work.

Of course, Christians are supposed to exhibit Christlike behavior, but it doesn’t follow that every Christian is in a context where flipping tables is the Christlike decision. Nor does it follow that every Christian would have the authority to do so. Recall Jesus’ words, “…stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.” In the commentary that I’m using for this study, the authors write,

“This unique phrase reveals that John understands Jesus’ action here in terms of his relationship with the Father. Jesus is the Son of God, and his relationship with the Father legitates his astonishing action…”¹

This is a silly example, and yes, it always makes me laugh to see it in employee agreements. Fortunately, I’ve never worked or seen an employee fired for being that “Christlike”.

It also cracks me up when people say that “being happy is Christlike” but neglect the fact that Jesus was a “man of sorrows.” The idea that Jesus would just say, “Hey guys, isn’t it a great day! Ah…breathe in that sweet morning air.” Just doesn’t seem to correspond to what I read in the scriptures. His life was hard, filled with sorrow, and joy was far from his life. If you think I’m wrong or have some Bible verses I should consider, drop them in the comments below.

Truth and Metaphors

But there is another important aspect here that Protestants miss. It is a fact that John goes out of his way to inform his readers when there is a metaphor, even when it doesn’t seem like there needs to be one (Jn. 2:13-25). Readers could easily deduce this was metaphorical after they read the crucifixion and resurrection account since Jesus rose from the dead three days later.

John 6 is a famous passage where Jesus claims that for you to have eternal life, you must eat his body and drink his blood. Pretty radical stuff. One would expect, given the stakes of misinterpreting John 6, that the author would say, “And everyone walked away, but they misunderstood Jesus the same way they did when he said he would destroy the temple.” But John doesn’t, and this is why it is a “hard teaching.”

Many non-Catholics will try and say, “John 6 is just a metaphor. I mean, who could accept this teaching if it wasn’t?” But this echoes the sentiment of the detractors in John 6, who say, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” (Jn. 6:60).

Furthermore, people take for granted that there is a Church that does teach that Jesus really meant what he said. Even more problematic is that the majority of Christians throughout the world and history believe that Jesus was not speaking figuratively in John 6.

Nowhere does John ever say that these teachings on Christ’s body and blood are metaphorical, like he does in John 2:21 when recording the Temple Discourse. After Jesus claims that he will “Destroy the temple and in three days, He will raise it up again”, John states, “But [He] was speaking about the temple of his body.”

Christ is the Passover Lamb. This is an allusion to the Old Covenantal system where the lamb was slaughtered, its blood applied to the door frames of the house, and then eaten by the family. Christ said that there was no abolishment of the Old Covenant, none of it would pass away. Thus, Passover from the Old Covenant must remain in the New Covenant, but in a different way, a sacramental way.

When we read the Gospels, we must be careful not to read into the scriptures what we want to see. Whether that be a justification for flipping over tables and wielding a whip when we have no authority to do so or making Christ’s requirements for eternal life more palatable for our modern senses.

God is calling all people to himself. Yes, he is everywhere and has been for all time. Yet, how many of us have not wondered what it would have been like to sit at his feet, share a meal with him, and learn from him? Christ's being truly present allows us to experience this way of life. It has radically changed my life and my relationship with God. To receive the eucharist is to receive the very love of God.

If faith is all that matters, then Catholics are just weirdos who sit before an empty husk of bread and have been deluded since the first century. But if Christ really said, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day”, then there are greater consequences for those who deny this plain teaching than for those who are unaware of it.

— DR

1. Martin, F., & Wright, W. M. (2015). The Gospel of John. Baker Academic. 64.