Pilgrim’s
Progress is an allegory. Allegories endeavor to communicate a central idea.
What is the chief aim of the book? To show various portraits of progress on
the pathway of faith!
To
measure the progress, names play a prominent role in the narrative.
Characters are given titles that generally fit into two categories: helpful
qualities (good) and hurtful qualities (bad). Lying within these categories
are thoughts of right and wrong—qualities are portrayed as black
or white, without any gray in between.
Recently,
the group looked at the contrast of PASSION and PATIENCE, passion being hurtful
and patience being helpful. The focus makes it easy to conclude that passion is
bad and patience is good.
Is
passion bad? One may think so by how the book uses the term. The coming of the
Spirit at Pentecost, however, was about passionately and powerfully communicating
the message of Christ. Is that a bad passion?
Bunyan
chose the word passion to communicate an idea, but his choice of that word
can lean toward confusion. Passion is not a black and white scenario. If the
book was written today, different words would fit the narrative better, such as
CARNAL for passion and ENDURANCE for patience.
The
author also used the name COURAGE to communicate a helpful component in the
progress of faith. When reading about his description of courage, however, it
does not take much imagination to envision a fierce Knight of antiquity waving
a sword at an invisible force, a Don-Quixote-type hero lashing out at
windmills. Is this an accurate portrait of courage? Should force define
a modern-day sojourner’s courage? Would the phrase “daring perseverance” lead
to a better understanding?
Matthew
11:12 was referenced, and rightfully so. Bunyan may have been thinking of this text
when writing the narrative. The focus of the verse is the ministry of John the
Baptist—the forerunner of the Messiah: “From the days of John the
Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has been coming violently, and the
violent take it by force.” Would the Scripture passage be better served if violence
and force were interpreted with words like zeal and fervor?
Such as, “With the coming of the forerunner, the kingdom of heaven has been
invaded with sinners who, by the zeal of their repentance, are fervently snatching
it away from the Pharisees who thought it belonged to them alone.”
After
the passionate ministry of John the baptizer came the Messiah. What is the
portrait of courage for those who now follow Christ, those abiding in
him and no longer yearning for his advent?
N.
T. Wright, writing about the death of Jesus, shows a weakness in the typical
understanding of forcefulness. Consider what actually happened on that Friday
afternoon? A new sort of power was let loose upon the world, the power of self-giving
love. This was the heart of the revolution launched on Good Friday. The
usual sort of power cannot be defeated by using the usual sort of means. If one
force overcomes another, it is still “force” that wins. The heart of the
victory of God, over all the powers of the world, lies in self-giving love.
So,
what attributes will bring us victoriously into tomorrow? What is the portrait
of COURAGE since Golgotha, shown by self-giving love? What is the cross-bearing
courage expected from his followers on their journey of faith? Its characteristics
may be witnessed in a variety of ways, based on circumstances, but they are all
rooted in resurrection love, new-life love. Courage has little to do with
domination and has everything to do with the blessed hope. It is “the
courage to face the consequences” of whatever the Spirit of God is asking of
you, even unto death—rooted in the love of Christ, not in the scorn of humanity.
The model of “force” Bunyan describes and many Christ-followers choose to embrace needs tweaking, needs to be filtered through the lens of love, not empowered by the scope of dominance.
