The Need for Myths

“But Jesus said, Allow little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”  Matthew 19:14

I once attended a conference at Saint Louis University, where Fr. Paul Coutinho, S.J. spoke.  While speaking he talked about a conversation with another priest on what would be done if the historical Jesus of Nazareth was proven not to have existed.  The other priest said he would turn in his collar and give up the priesthood.  Father Coutinho’s response was “I would die for the myth.”

So much of our understanding of Jesus is myth born out of individual spiritual experiences.  Many believers picture a personal relationship with Jesus even though they have never met him in person.  Pastors and priests study ancient history and archeological information and describe Jesus’s life as though they know personally know what Jesus experienced.  Tens of thousands of books have been written on Jesus.  How could so much be known about Jesus based on the Four Gospels?  We write as if we know Jesus because we all need individual and shared myth stories.  Myths can be rooted in human truths that cannot be expressed any other way than with stories.  Stories and myths allow us to connect with each other and our society with shared understandings and values.   These stories inspire us to do better and unconsciously affect everything we do.

Sometimes, a myth needs to be reframed for us to shift paradigms and act differently.  In the Christian faith, Jesus is expected to return and judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end.  (Nicene Creed, 325 A.D.) This belief that Jesus needs to come again because we are not capable of overcoming our sinful nature runs counter to our belief he already saved us on the cross to pay for our sins.  He sent the Holy Spirit to guide us and Jesus has not left us when we love him as written in John 14.

15 “If you love me, you will obey my commandments. 16 I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper who will be with you forever. 17 That helper is the Spirit of Truth. The world cannot accept him, because it doesn’t see or know him. You know him, because he lives with you and will be in you.  (John 14)

18 “I will not leave you all alone. I will come back to you. 19 In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. You will live because I live. 20 On that day you will know that I am in my Father and that you are in me and that I am in you. 21 Whoever knows and obeys my commandments is the person who loves me. Those who love me will have my Father’s love, and I, too, will love them and show myself to them.” (John 14)

Perhaps we need to reframe our myth believing that Jesus already gave us everything we need, if only we believe in his love and the Kingdom of God now?

Are we like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz where we always had the power to go home in our ruby red slippers?  If only we believe as children do?

“But Jesus said, Allow little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”  Matthew 19:14