Metaphor

Creative Commons Photo Credit by Tamara Tarasiewicz

Metaphors are all throughout the Bible, then again, so are similes ("the Kingdom of Heaven is like..."). To be clear, a simile is a comparison using 'like' or 'as'. This is an association, it helps us understand because we can relate to the other thing, the object or whatever and it helps us understand something else. Metaphor can be seen in a number of different ways in the Bible, sometimes we'll even call some character metaphors "types" or
"models of Christ."
It is important to remember, however, that all metaphors have their breaking point. If you push any metaphor far enough it'll break and you lose the meaning behind the metaphor. If we were to force "time is money" we would realize that time isn't green or shiny, and you can't save it for the future (because it's always moving forward). What we know as money is not an interval separating two points(time). If our boss was to say that he was going to pay you in time, that wouldn't be okay - time doesn't pay the bills. But, if we look at it from the standpoints I was saying earlier we assign monetary words to the concept of time - and it's very hard to get around. A movie called In Time creates a world where that metaphor is stretched beyond it's means. I am fascinated by common metaphors and hope to one day read the book titled: Metaphors We Live By because it addresses commonplace metaphors of which we might be unaware.

• John the Baptist gives us one about Jesus

• there is the parable of the sower

• the parable of the fig tree 

• and then the action of Jesus cursing a fig tree

• we see Jesus talk about trees and fruit

• Paul builds up the comparison of Christian growth to that of plants

• he also gives us the idea of the Fruits of the Spirit

• and later builds up this idea that we, as Gentiles(non-Jews), have been grafted in (a form of transplant for, well, plants)

"Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gunna to get." Most are familiar with a box of chocolates, how you look at them and decide which one you want, judge it by the color and shape, then just hope you don't get the one that tastes like toothpaste. Forrest Gump's momma was comparing life's uncertainty to the uncertainty of a box of chocolates and we only know this by the follow up "you never know..." part. Imagine if the quote was just "life is like a box of chocolates." That could mean a number of different things: that life is full of little sweet moments and once they're gone you can't have anymore; that death only comes when you finish all the good moments you are able to have(that's really sad). The follow up helps the audience understand what she means.

Metaphor is a stronger rhetorical device that calls something something else. The association may not be as specific and may leave the audience to figure out exactly what it means. "Time is money" is probably the first one that comes to mind and is a very simple form where you are calling one thing something else. We get paid for the time we put in, we spend time, we don't want to waste time, we value our time, we give of our time, etc. A more indirect type of metaphor would be something like personification or sometimes even a whole poem like T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land. In this case, what the metaphor does is give one thing the qualities of something else. 

The point behind all of this discussion, however, is to look at metaphors in the Bible. More specifically the agriculture metaphors. 

Effectively, what is built up is this idea that someone(a good tree who produces good fruit) 'planted a seed' in all of us, Christians, and then (could be someone else) came along to 'water' it. The work of God and His Holy Spirit caused it to grow, and the result is a mature Christian. Something I tell my students - orange trees produce oranges, apple trees produce apples; it would be ridiculous to get mad because the orange tree in my back yard back home wasn't growing any pears. When trees that are supposed to produce fruit and they don't, you have a reason to get a little upset. Simply put, 'Christian Trees' should be producing 'Christian Fruit.' This can be seen in those seeds that are planted, the person who comes along and waters them, and in the manifestation of the Fruits of the Spirit in their life. The Bible provides encouragement for those who share Jesus and it's not taken very well(sower), and it also tells us how we got to be, as Gentiles, Christian Trees(grafting). The other darker side is that we see what happens to those trees that aren't producing anything, most of the time there is fire involved but when there isn't, curses. 

We Christians are wheat among the chaff. We are Christian Trees who are supposed to be (disciples) producing Fruit of other Christians who produce more Christians, and also producing Fruits of the Spirit in the way we live our lives. We shouldn't be discouraged because the Message of our salvation falls on deaf ears, and we should also never forget (as Gentile Christians) that we were grafted into this whole picture.

Yes, I am going somewhere bigger with all of this...