Yes, of course the parables were stories. However, my thoughts were that they have different interpretations depending upon whether or not one read them in Gnostic terms or catholic/Catholic terms. Perhaps I should have said the parables and sayings of Christ. I can’t think of a good example off top of my head ( I need to get to work!) . However, I can remember reading the story of the man who found treasure in a field etc. I suppose one could say that a catholic could say this represents hearing the word of the Lord and orientating their life around catholic beliefs and that a Gnostic would see a message representing union with the Divine in this life and consequently shunning the world. probably not a great explanation but I am in a bit of hurry
I shall ponder more over this during the day
Scripture certainly has many different levels of interpretation, and interpreting something symbolically doesn’t necessarily mean that it can’t be taken literally either. Gnostics would agree with Catholics on the four ways of interpreting scripture: literally, spiritually, allegorically, and anagogically. Of course, with the parables, they can’t really be taken literally because they’re told to illustrate a point Jesus wished to convey. But even the parables can have deeper and deeper meanings to them, the more you ponder them.
One way of looking at the parable of the treasure in the field, which Jesus says represents the kingdom of heaven, is to see it as that hidden treasure within each one of us that connects us to God. There’s a similar story in the Gospel of Thomas, where Jesus says: “The Father’s kingdom is like a person who had a treasure hidden in his field but did not know it. When he died, he left it to his son. The son did not know about it either. He took over the field and sold it. The buyer went plowing, discovered the treasure, and began to lend money at interest to whomever he wished.”
The GoT also says that the “kingdom is spread out upon the earth, but men don’t see it.” The fact that both the father and the son in this parable were ignorant of the treasure they possessed illustrates the ignorance that most people are happy to live in, and they missed out on receiving salvation. Whereas the buy not only discovered the treasure, but was able to spread that to others and also increase his own – helping others grow spiritually also helps us grow spiritually. “For he who shall give life to a single soul and liberate it, besides the Light that is in his own soul, he shall receive other glory in return for the soul he has liberated.”
By the way, I can’t emphasize enough, shunning the world isn’t a Gnostic concept. We’re to be in the world, but not of it… There is a lot in Gnostic scripture that seems to imply that we should hate the world, but there are also similar statements in the Bible – and Catholics don’t take that literally either.
This, rather neatly, brings me to ( what is for me) the other salient point of Gnosticism: That the death and resurrection is in this life; that the passion of Christ represents being born anew in this life with a new understanding (Gnosis). In fact, many Gnostics mocked the Martyrs; they believed that they had completely misunderstood the meaning of the death and resurrection.
This is a major deviation from catholic beliefs which would be interesting to explore…
To Gnostics, the Passion of Christ was His incarnation, but here I think you’re talking about the crucifixion. That represents being liberated from the body, and existing in our true spiritual nature. We do have to receive the resurrection in this life – similar, I think, to how Catholics believe if you die in mortal sin you cannot enter heaven. The work must be done here on earth. The Gnostics did dislike martyrdom, but in context, that was because many early Christians were seeking out martyrdom so that they could die for their faith and go to heaven. Gnostics felt that that was pointless, and reduced salvation to nothing more than depending on your own murder to save you. But they also saw the persecution and execution of Christians as evidence of the archons fighting against Christian Truth. So while martyrs are to be honored, true martyrdom can’t come by seeking it out – *trying *to die for your faith is at best stupid, and and worst suicide.
On a side note, in my own tradition, we hold Requiem Masses every year to honor both the Cathar martyrs and the Knights Templar, as well as for the holy Tau Harmonius, a Gnostic bishop who was murdered by Nazis after saying Mass, and is considered the last of the Gnostic martyrs. So martyrs are still revered, Gnostic or otherwise, but the Cathars, Knights Templar, and Tau Harmonius didn’t seek out martyrdom – it found them. (Sorry for the long response! I tend to be wordy.
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