on imagery and Pharisees

Today I meant to delve further into the types of images we create, but I was thinking about creativity.  I will try to explain my examples from yesterday at some point later in the series. I wish I had built into my series some creative writing exercises as even though I love the subject, I am certain I am not practicing the best of my writing or maybe having as much fun as I could, so I will add it somewhere – image by imagery. 🙂

Taking a cue from Beth Moore, I apologize because I took an unexpected turn to talk about chiasms and alchemy, which are topics perhaps hard to read or understand if unfamiliar with the subject. Just bare with me because I will make a point.

How many of you like to read fantasy books? I don’t read one particular type of book, but what I love about the Harry Potter series and other similar series (like K. B. Hoyle’s the Gateway series) is the alchemy. What many authors of the past have done is use elements and imagery of magic and reality to create stories that capture spiritual elements in a way that intrigues readers who may not be interested in spiritual imagery or questions beforehand. One element that is often used is the idea of the serpent eating his own tail, which symbolizes infinity. Personally, I prefer a circle.

In literature and in the Bible, there is a literary device called chiastic structure. This comes from the Greek letter, chi, which looks like this: X, which is like an open-ended infinity symbol. An idea is presented A, then idea B, then B’ is presented, then A’. (Sigh: I am not a literature teacher, nor am I super knowledgeable on this, and this is a very hard concept.) A and B usually contrast one another and then come back to the beginning point of A, thus the reason it is also called a “ring structure,” like a circle. Whether a reader knows chiastic structure is being used or not does not matter; it is a very effective manner of story telling. I believe it adds a great deal to a story. I don’t know if other writers do, but I equate alchemy, the idea that you can turn base metals into gold, to chiastic structure.

There are many examples of chiastic structure in the Bible, but I believe that the whole entire Bible forms a chiasm or circle. While I have researched this, I have found others that agree with me, but what I have found on it is that someone would have to devote their entire life to proving it to be true, but no one has done that yet. While I am intrigued, I don’t think this will be my life’s pursuit either. If anyone is reading this knows of any other research, I’d love to read it, because my study has been limited.

However, assume with me for a moment that the Bible is a like a circle or infinity ring. If an infinity ring, the middle point where it crosses is where the Old Testament meets the New. This means that what is happening in the first 5 books of the Bible is contrasted with the first 4 books of the New Testament and so on and so forth.

What in the world does this have to do with image? Well for me, I think of the first false image makers to be portrayed in the Pharisees. (They were by no means the first image makers). They were all about building images that were false. In the first part of the bible, we see literal idols and images carved into actual earthly elements, and then in the New Testament, we see men who have carved images into their very hearts and souls.

The Pharisees have taken something good, God’s law, and perverted it, so that the Law no longer gives life. They believe they follow the Law to a T, so they have no idea that they are idolators. What was a literal idol in the Old Testament has become a conceptual idol in the New Testament, but a perversion nonetheless. In the Old Testament, salvation comes through the giving of the Law (not the Law itself), but in the New Testament, Jesus is the clear picture of Law and salvation. Because the Pharisees refuse to tear down the idols in their own hearts, they cannot see the true life offered through Jesus. They believe Jesus is the idol, so they tear Him down, much like the Israelites could not wait for Moses to come off the mountain so they made a golden calf. However, Jesus is truth, not a graven image. He is the greatest expression of life, and in dying He breaks death. Even as He is dying, He is making a way for their heart idols to be removed.

Sometimes today, we do to Jesus what the Pharisees did to the Law. We pervert Jesus into something He is not – perhaps the most dangerous imagery and image making of all.

What are your thoughts?

This post is one of a 31 day series, Image Reflections: asking questions of being. You can read more in this series by clicking the icon below.

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