Jesus
spoke in parables and God speaks to us in dreams because He wants us
to make an investment in comprehension. Take, for example, the
parable of the Good Samaritan. Jesus could have said “I as the Son
of God am now informing you that you should love and assist
strangers.” Well, I would say, “that’s an interesting
proposition Jesus but I don’t personally comprehend it much so it
doesn’t mean that much to me. You have filled a sound bite with
abstractions that you are telling me are true—ok, if you say so.”
Yet when he tells a parable with many possible applications that are
relevant today, and when he conveys this meaning by having me do some
of the investment work of comprehension myself, then it can be said
that I really, deeply, understand his speech and its meaning for the
first time and there is some chance that I might even apply it.
Now
dreams today are largely ignored as neurological flotsam and jetsam.
I think this materialistic belief is a major error. I think we
should understand them as parables from God. Last night I dreamed
that I was at a computer and was attempting to print out a blank
calendar for a month ahead. But instead of a future calendar, the
computer always returned a blank calendar from the past—a calendar
that would be totally useless in planning the future. Now when one
thinks of it, there could be a thousand possible interpretations of
this dream—all of them carrying some weight for various
applications. And perhaps God intends that I consider them
all and use them when appropriate. One application of this dream handy
today is that for the past 30 years I have been a City of Saint
Petersburg employee. The “calendars of the past” in which dates
certain could be reliably set may soon be supplanted by a less
structured retirement calendar. Like Dali’s clock faces, the future
may not be all that predictable. In any case, I have accepted “the
parable of the calendars” as God’s aid for me to keep in mind
while navigating the world.
Print Page
