How do we know when Jesus uses hyperbole?

[deheister]

If Jesus was using hyperbole when instructing his listeners to pluck out their eyes or to cut off their hands and feet if these should cause them to sin (Mt 5:29-30, Mt 18:8-9, Mk 9:43:47 ), why wasn’t he using hyperbole when he told them to eat his flesh and drink his blood? (Jn 6:48-58)

A cynic would argue that human convenience invokes “hyperbole” when confronted with a direct command to maim oneself, but in the absence of such a humanly “high-risk” proposition, taking things literally is fine.

How do we know which way to respond to Jesus’ own words?

Where else is hyperbole used in the Gospels, so that we may learn to recognize it?

 

[Fr.Vincent_Serpa]

Hi,

If you will note, most of His disciples left Him when He told them that they must eat His flesh and drink His blood. (Jn 6) He could easily have explained that He did not mean that they literally had to eat His flesh and drink His blood. But He didn’t.

Context, for the most part, shows us when Scripture is using hyperbole and other literary forms as well—under the guidance of the Church’s magisterial authority—which other Christian churchs do not have.

Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P.