13. Metaphors in Liturgy

Our liturgy is filled with metaphorical language. We need to have a basic understanding of metaphors in order to participate in worship meaningfully.

How is Metaphorical different from Literal?

We use literal language when we want to express simple ideas such as:

This is a pen.

However, when we relate something to something else we use metaphorical language.

My pen is a sword.

Relating two things that are apparently dissimilar is the basic characteristic of a metaphor. A pen and sword are dissimilar in most of their attributes, but in one aspect they are similar: Both can conquer.

Function of Metaphor

In Malayalam we call it alankaram, which gives us the impression that it is not essential and is used only to decorate the language. However, metaphor is essential and it serves an important function.

It is a basic epistemological principle that the only way to know something unfamiliar or new is by relating it to something familiar or known to us. When I was in Ethiopia, I used to eat injera. If you have never been to Ethiopia, you would want to know what injera is. It is a big pancake made of a grain called theff. Now you know what injera is because I related it to pancake, something familiar to you. This is the basic function of metaphor.

A metaphor relates unfamiliar to familiar, abstract to concrete, and imperceptible to perceptible. Let us see a few examples:

Ø They gave me a warm welcome.  (A mental feeling is related to a physical feeling.)

Ø This belief has taken root in my mind. (A belief is related to a tree)

Ø I’m nursing a hope for a better life. (Hope is related to a child.)

Ø It’ll take some time to digest that information. (Information is related to food)

Metaphor has immense power. Compare these sentences.

Ø Lal is cunning.  (literal)

Ø Lal is a fox.    (Metaphorical)

Although the second one is similar to the first one in sense, it is far more powerful than the first one because it appeals directly to the subconscious mind. The first sentence appeals only to the conscious mind. Metaphor makes a firmer impression of the idea on the listener/reader’s mind.

Kinds of Metaphor

When two things are related, the relatedness ranges from explicit to implicit. See a few examples:

Ø The Lord is like a shepherd to me. (explicit) 

Ø The Lord is my shepherd. (less explicit)

Ø The Lord leads me to green pastures. (implicit)

The first one where the relatedness is made explicit with the word “like” has been called a simile. (upama) The second one, where the relatedness is less explicit in the absence of the word “like,” has been called a metaphor (roopakam). (We need to distinguish this specific meaning of metaphor from the general meaning in which we have been using the word.) The third one, where the metaphor is implicit, is often misunderstood literally.     

Misunderstanding Metaphors

Misunderstanding in relation to metaphor occurs mainly when a metaphor is understood literally or when a metaphor is stretched beyond its intended meaning.

A few examples shall be given from the Bible. When Jesus told Nicodemus, “You need to be born again to enter the kingdom of God”, he asked in return, “How can I enter my mother’s body again to be born?” When Jesus told the woman of Samaria, “I will give you living water,” she probably thought he was talking about a spring near her home. When Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you a King,” Jesus replied, “My kingdom is not of this world.” We read all these incidents in John’s Gospel. It seems that John was very much aware of the problem of people misunderstanding metaphorical language. In John’s Gospel Jesus makes statements like “I am the bread,” “I am the door,” “I am the vine,” “I am the good shepherd,” and “I am the light of the world”.

In Mathew’s Gospel we see Jesus using scores of metaphors to explain the concept of the Kingdom of God. Jesus relates the Kingdom to a mustard seed, leaven, hidden treasure, a merchant seeking pearls, a net etc. These metaphors are explicit ones. However, there are implicit ones, too. We read about keys of the kingdom, which makes the kingdom a city with walls around, and with a main gate that can be locked. We read about disciple to the kingdom, which makes the kingdom a master or a subject of study to be mastered.  

It was not easy for his listeners to decipher what Jesus meant. While celebrating Passover with his disciples, holding a piece of bread in his hand, Jesus said, this is my body, and holding wine he said, this is my blood. Whatever Jesus meant by these statements, he didn’t expect his disciples to understand these statements literally. He was probably relating his forthcoming death to the Passover lamb.

The controversy on Evolution or Creation has been so heated and widespread for a century. Those who argue in favor of creation usually base their arguments upon the first chapter of the Bible, which they believe to be history. However, a close look at it makes it clear that it is a hymn (psalm) the ancient Jews used to sing on Saturdays when they came together to worship God. This hymn has an underlying implicit metaphor we often fail to see. The world is a large farm, and God is its farmer. God finds it in utter chaos and disorder, and works there for six days to make it a beautiful and orderly farm. It seems that even when this hymn was originally sung, people in the Middle East used to observe the seven-day-week pattern. Seen as a hymn with an implicit metaphor, the story of creation makes sense. However, seen as history, it doesn’t make much sense.  

The story of Adam and Eve is at the very basis of our collective unconsciousness. It has been widely believed that the events in the story literally happened. A close look at it makes it clear that it is an allegorical fairy tale in form. God is someone who walks in the garden with audible sound. God also talks in such a way the humans understand. Not only does God but also a snake talks. Two of the trees in the garden are called the knowledge of good and evil and life. There is an underlying implicit metaphor in this story too. God is a landlord, and humans are his tenants there.  Humans can live there and eat from there, but they should not touch the tree at the center of the garden, which belongs to the landlord. The tenants break the agreement, and the landlord sends them out. Although people have been trying to understand the real meaning of this story for more than two millennia, it still remains a mystery.  

As John writes in his Gospel, no one has ever seen God, and therefore, the only way we can think and talk about God is by using metaphors. In the story of Adam and Eve, God walks and talks like a landlord. In the creation hymn, God works, rejoices, and rests like a farmer. God is ascribed all the possible roles in the Bible such as king, father, friend, mother, potter, farmer, and shepherd. God is related not only to a human being but also to fire, wind, the Sun, a mountain, a rock, a fortress, a tree, a bird etc.

At times we see prophets dramatizing metaphors to make a deeper and lasting impression on people. We read about Hosea marrying an adulterous woman to show that God accepts a community although it is adulterous. We read many such dramatized metaphors in the books of Jeremiah and Ezekiel. On the way to Jerusalem Jesus cursed a fig tree not finding any fruit in it as he expected. The fruitless fig tree probably represented the religious leadership of Israel, which became fruitless in the garden of God. When Jesus cast out all the sales people from within the temple, he was dramatizing the overthrow of Israel’s leadership.

A ritual may be seen as an acted-out metaphor. The best example would be the ritual of baptism. Sin has been understood as the sickness of the soul. Recovery from sickness has been marked by a bath. Similarly, baptism has been understood as a bath that marks the recovery from sin. When passed down from generation to generation, it is not unusual for a ritual to change or even lose its original sense.

Metaphors in Liturgy

Let us pick examples form the liturgy of Good Friday. The Great Friday liturgy we use today has incorporated the prayers and prayer songs of the Syrian fathers such as Mar Aprem, Mar Yacob, Mar Balai, and Mar Semavon Kookoyo. They lived between fourth and sixth centuries. It is reasonable to assume that the liturgy developed to its present form over a long period of time. It probably originated in an oral form, and it was written down later to achieve uniformity and to be preserved for the posterity. The songs they chose to sing during the celebration were the most beautiful poems of the time. Though composed by different poets, these poems are based on a powerful parable that proclaims victory over death.

The Parable Behind the Great Friday Liturgy

Following the example of Jesus, the Syrian fathers used a parable to teach about Christ and about human life. A parable is an expanded metaphor by adding more details or a narration. Here is the parable:

Once upon a time, there was a great empire ruled by a great and powerful emperor. People lived under the emperor's rule happily and peacefully until one day a fierce and ugly monster began to snatch people away and put them within his dungeon, and made them his slaves. The emperor decided to end the terror of the monster. He made a plan, and entrusted his son with this task. The prince approached the monster disguised as an ordinary, helpless citizen, and the monster caught him right away and put him in his den. Once inside, there was a fierce fight, and the prince killed the monster and delivered all the people who were imprisoned there.

The church fathers used this parable to teach the mystery of the incarnation and crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The empire in this parable is the world consisting of heaven and earth, and its emperor is God. Seated on the throne of fire, God is all-powerful and all-knowing. A mighty army of powerful angels, waiting to obey any orders from God, sing his praises. The fierce monster is no one else but Death. The prince of heaven is Jesus Christ. The questions why God became a man, and why he allowed himself to be crucified were answered by the parable as follows: God became a man to put an end to the terror of the monster of Death, and God in human form accepted death by His own will in order to enter the dungeon of Death.

The Poetic Techniques

Apart from the similes and parables, personification and irony are the two major poetic techniques used in these songs.

Personification is the technique of giving personality to something that is not a person. It may be considered as a form of metaphor. Death is personified. We also see the Sun, moon, earth, ocean, and trees being personified.

The poets come up with innumerable reasons for the solar eclipse that happened while Jesus was on the cross. These are examples of personification. A few examples:

Ø Seeing his Lord naked on the cross with the robbers, How can Sun, the loyal servant, shine upon him?

Ø Seeing the Lord naked on the cross, Sun, his servant, Closed his eyelids, unwilling to watch the disgrace.

Ø While the Sun of righteousness has risen on cross,

How can I shine, the Sun inquired with wonder.

Ø Not to see Noah's master's nakedness, like Shem, And Japheth, Sun and moon hid their face in darkness. 

Along with the solar eclipse, there was an earthquake, too. Seeing his son on the cross, Mary asks the natural forces to drive away the people who crucified him.

Are you silent, earth, where holy blood dripped? 
Roar and let them flee with dread in their soul
Roar aloud, oh rocks and boulders, 

And chide those who put him on cross
Naked is the Lord, oh nature, come on, awake!

Perhaps, hearing the heartbreaking plea of Mary,

Nature roared, and earth's surface was shocked
Boulders broke, and volcanoes trembled.

Even the wooden cross, on which Jesus was nailed, weeps at the tragedy.

Weeping, the wood said, oh! what misfortune! 

The Lord of all creation is nailed on me
Nurtured me he with rains and dew 

Though this is what I offered him.

When what appears to us is the opposite of what we expect, we may call it an ironical situation. We see the poets' imagination taking wings when they describe and explain the ironic situation when God the almighty is treated like a criminal and is crucified. Let us see a few examples:

Stood in court with head bowed like a convict this day, Supreme judge of all judges. 

He who is praised "Holy, holy" always by the Seraphim, "Hang him on cross" screamed aloud the herd of priests. 

This day when the Lord on cross asked for drinking water, Ocean roared like a mighty monster. 

Nails in the Lord's hands did not melt,

Nor did his killers burn themselves

Dramatic irony is a situation when the reader of the story, or the audience of a drama know something important in the story, whereas the characters within the story remain ignorant of it. Favorite to the poets is the dramatic irony in the situation that none of his killers recognize Him, though all the non-human audience of the drama do recognize his true identity. Among the audience are: The army of angels from heaven; the Sun, moon and the stars from the sky; and the ocean, land and trees from the earth.

God's army trembled of great fury by 

Watching the Lord, beaten by those rascals.

Stretched they wings to reach there and burn them 
God, the father, forbade them, though,

Saying that he was tortured then by his own will.

That is how the army of God reacted.

The Meaning of the Parable of the Great Friday 

After Jesus taught in parables, his disciples would approach him in private and request him to explain the meaning of the parables. Let us imagine that we live in fourth century, and we happened to listen to Mar Aprem when he teaches using this parable. Later we approach him in private, and request him to explain the parable to us in plain language. How would Mar Aprem explain the parable to us?

He might explain to us that the word death is used in the liturgy of Great Friday with two meanings: the death which Jesus died, and the death which Jesus killed. As a poet sings,

The Blessed one, by His death, killed Death. 

The death Jesus died was biological, but the death he killed was spiritual. The former is literal and the latter is metaphorical.

Both of these deaths can be seen in the Garden of Eden too. Adam and Eve were told by God that they would die on the same day if they ate from the forbidden tree. Then the snake told them that they would not die. They ate, and what happened? As the snake said, they did not die on the same day. As God said, they died on the same day. How is it possible? God and snake were talking about two kinds of death. Greek has two words to refer to life -- bios and zoe. Bios is the life of all living beings. The bios of Adam and Eve did not end. Zoe is the heavenly life they enjoyed in the Garden. Their zoe ended that day.

1. The literal Death -- Death as a Toy-Monster  

Fear of death has always been a basic existential problem. Death is certain, and it can arrive at any moment in any form without any warning. Thus it can cancel out our efforts to live at any moment. In fact the very existence is made meaningless by death. It appears like a very fearful monster! But the truth is that it is only a toy-monster. Let me briefly explain why.

Anything that exists within time limit must have a beginning and an end-- birth and death. Only God exists beyond time limit; so God has no birth or death. Therefore, death is natural for anything that is not God. Death appears to be a dreadful monster for those who know only this much. But this is only one half of the truth. The other half of the truth is about the relationship between God, the deathless being, and all that die. The universe exists within God, the deathless being. Our life is one with God's life. As nothing in the universe exists apart from God, birth and death seem to be mere appearances. If so, we have no birth or death, for we are one with God. As Jesus knew this truth, death, which is a dreadful serpent for others, was only a toy snake for him. Death cannot be avoided, but the fear of death can easily be overcome with the awareness of the truth.

The Sun appears to rise and set when we look from the face of the earth. But if we move farther for a distance of about a 1000 miles into the space, we don't see the sun rise or set. It merely stays there. Similarly we appear to begin and end (birth and death) because we look from our perspective. If we look from God's perspective, we will see a different sight.

Imagine that a wave that rises from the surface of an ocean and falls back in a few seconds cries, "I am dying". How would we console it? We might tell the wave that it has no death, for it had no birth either.   

Death appears like a fearful monster in darkness; its reality becomes clear in bright daylight. Darkness is caused due to the blindness of the inner eye. When the inner eye gets opened, the truth will be known. You shall know the truth, which will make you free, Jesus said. Thus it is the opening of our inner eye that saves us from the fear of death and many other fears and misconceptions.

2. The Metaphorical Death -- Death as a Real Monster

Garden of Eden is a name of heavenly life with all its relationships intact. The tree of life also symbolizes this heavenly life. When Adam disobeyed God, the relationships were broken, and his heavenly life came to an end. The end of that heavenly life is the metaphorical death.

Broken relationships is the primary existential problem for us and for any other beings. Our relationship with God, with each other, and with nature need to be well-maintained for a healthy life. The end of heavenly life is called death in a metaphorical sense, and it is represented by a dreadful monster in the Great Friday liturgy. To distinguish the metaphorical death from the natural death, it is often called spiritual death. It is not a toy monster, but a real one.

Jesus, the second Adam, obeyed God to his death in order to maintain his relationship with God. Thus Jesus killed death (end of zoel) by his death (end of bios). Jesus invites us to follow his example by doing the will of God, and be in his family. “Whoever does my father's will is my mother, sister, and brother,” Jesus said.

Thus there are two kinds of death-- one is like a real monster, but the other is like a toy-monster. The first step in facing the monster is to identify the real one. If the toy-monster appears to be the real one, we never face or conquer the real one. Jesus correctly identified the real monster, so he was never afraid of the toy-monster. Jesus invites us to use our inner eye so that we can identify the real monster, and conquer him.

Mor Ephrem might warn us against a literal interpretation of such parables. We should never make the silly mistake of assuming that this story, which is a product of human imagination, is a historical event. We should not be so foolish as Jesus' disciples when they took literally the advice of Jesus "Beware of the sour dough of Pharisees". It is a parable which expresses certain aspects of the reality. We learn the truth that the end of our heavenly life caused by our broken relationships, the real monster, needs to be killed by each of us following the example of Jesus.

Thus the Great Friday celebration teaches us how to face our most basic existential problems. First, we need to identify our real issue by differentiating it from what appears to be the issue. We often mistake death to be our primary issue, but really it is not. Our inner eye needs to open to see the truth. Our real issue is broken relationships. Our relationship with God, fellow beings, and with nature -- all are broken. Once we correctly identify our real issues, we need to explore how we can effectively find a solution to these issues. Mending our broken relationship with God is primary. We need to accept Jesus as our role model and follow the will of God even if we have to give up our life. Then we can easily mend our relationship with our fellow beings and with nature. In short, our issues are spiritual darkness and spiritual death, and the solutions are light (with inner eye open) and life (with our relationships mended).  

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