Throughout their lives, many Christians, as well as nonbelievers, have heard the story of the three wise men who journeyed from a far distance to see the birth of Jesus Christ. Author T.S. Eliot, however, tells the story from a different perspective, one of the magus, in his work, “Journey of the Magi.” In this, Eliot describes the long and arduous adventure these three men embarked upon while simultaneously adding in additional allusions to the life of Christ. All of these images combine to compare and contrast the realities of both life and death in the context of Jesus’s birth and Christianity. By doing so, Eliot has created a new and fascinating experience for his readers by bridging the gap between the worlds of life and death. Looking …show more content…
Next the reader encounters an interesting line stating, “we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel.” In Exodus, God brings ten plagues to punish the Egyptians. The tenth plague is the killing of all first born sons who have not put the blood of the lamb on the lintel of the door. Why does Eliot add this allusion to the poem since this is before the birth of Christ though? Eliot’s intention with this image is to foreshadow the death of Christ. By saying there were vine-leaves instead of blood over the lintel, and Jesus is God’s son, the reader can understand what is bound to happen. Also, another image given to the reader is that of “pieces of silver.” Judas, the disciple who betrayed Jesus, did so by collecting thirty pieces of silver. Combining all of these images together gives the reader almost a timeline of the occurrences leading up to the crucifixion. How does this connect back to the Garden of Eden though? In the beginning of time, God created the world and every living creature that inhabited it free from sin. However, because of the deceitfulness of Satan, Eve ate the fruit and thus created the downfall of every human. Even at the beginning of existence, life was needed to bring death. It was this death of innocence that brought about the need for Jesus’s birth and …show more content…
The narrator even discusses whether they were “led all that way for Birth or Death.” Of course, there was the literal birth of Jesus, but there was also the birth of a new age of religion. Coming from Persia, the religious beliefs centered on multiple Gods instead of a single power. However, the men realized that their previous life is now over, and would have to live with the knowledge that they had been wrong their entire lives. This is why the narrator says “this Birth was Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.” They were “no longer at ease” in their kingdoms because they felt they no longer belonged “with an alien people clutching their gods.” It is because of this inner turmoil that eventually the narrator concludes that the only way to ease his “agony” would be for his literal death. This may not be as horrific and depressing as it seems, however. Jesus is now born which means sin has been forgiven and humanity now has a chance at salvation. Eliot’s goal here is to express that these men now long for the eternity they are allowed in Heaven with God because nothing on earth will every amount to the greatness of Him and His love. In conclusion, “Journey of the Magi” is a wonderfully creative poem that expresses the belief that without death, there would be no life, and vice versa. In order for the world to be saved from sin, God had
First of all, the speaker starts her poem personifying death as a kind gentleman who comes to pick her up for her death journey. It is obvious if the reader looks at “He kindly stopped for me” (2). T...
A Comparison of Two Accounts of Life After Death Materialism is the view that the body and mind are inseparable, and for there to be life after death then the body must be resurrected. This is much like the Christian view of life after death. John Hick was a materialist and he argued that, in certain circumstances, it would be possible that the dead could exist as themselves after death, if an exact replica were to appear. Hick uses thought experiments to show the person who dies in this world is the same person who is resurrected in the next. He uses examples of using a character named John Smith.
McMurphy’s self-sacrifice on behalf of his ward-mates echoes Christ’s sacrifice of himself on the cross to redeem humankind. McMurphy’s actions frequently parallel Christ’s actions in the Gospels. McMurphy undergoes a kind of baptism upon entering the ward, and he slowly gathers disciples around him as he increases his rebellion against Ratched. When he takes the group of patients fishing, he is like Christ leading his twelve disciples to the sea to test their faith. Finally, McMurphy’s ultimate sacrifice, his attack on Ratched, combined with the symbolism of the cross-shaped electroshock table and McMurphy’s request for “a crown of thorns,” cements the image of the Christ-like martyrdom that McMurphy has achieved by sacrificing his freedom and sanity.
A parallel of the parable of the lost sheep is found in the Gospel of Matthew. The remaining two parables in chapter fifteen of this Gospel are unique. The reader may assume that the source of the material found in and around this passage comes from both Q and Special L. The use of triplets is common in Luke and that is precisely the literary technique we find in chapter fifteen. The parable of the lost coin that follows the lost sheep is almost identical in content. Th...
The Latin Cross displayed in nearly most if not all Protestant Churches throughout the world tells the story that Jesus is no longer on the cross but has risen. Jesus conquering death is the proclamation of our faith. The death and resurrection tells only some of the story. In the book Resurrection: The power of God for Christians and Jews, gives any reader the deeper meaning of what the kingdom of God means to us today, what it meant to Christians in antiquity and what it meant to the Jews primarily during the Second Temple period. Many of the things I was taught or learned throughout my Christian life have been challenged, as I will sprinkle some of them in this book review. As challenging as it was, this also provided me answers to questions
Redemption is the act of being saved by from sin, error, or evil. Redemption is a major theme in all writings, short-stories, novels, poems, plays, etc. Many people in their lives look to achieve redemption by the time they kick the bucket, however sometimes redemption is achieved with death. In Christianity I am reminded of the significance of the death of Christ on the cross to relate to the theme of redemption in death. In this paper I hope to accomplish a contrast of the novel A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines and the play of Hamlet by William Shakespeare, by using the theme of redemption in death, and also ultimately explaining
Many experts from several different fields (archaeology, medicine and historical researchers) have undoubtedly agreed that Jesus Christ “willingly” suffered one of the most taxing and excruciating forms of punishment and death. Prior to the crucifixion, Jesus was in anguish and terrible stress on the Mount of Olives, because of the burden of the sins of the whole world which was laid upon His shoulders (Luke 22:42; John 1:29). The scripture told us that Jesus prayed throughout the night without sleep, because as God in the flesh, He had seen what will befall him during his trial, which caused his great stress, and the agonizing situation that made sweat to drop profusely out from his body throughout the night.
Brown, Raymond. A Crucified Christ in Holy Week: Essays on the Four Gospel Passion Narratives. Collegeville, Minnesota: The Liturgical Press, 1986.
Death, to the surrounding people, can often be seen as a horrible and depressing time in one’s life, while the same result may occur in the person going through the time period. One must remember, though, that no matter how the person has lived throughout their life, everyone must die eventually, for it is the circle of life. The playwright, Everyman, notes of the importance of having devotion and loyalty in Jesus Christ, for that is the only way to Heaven. Also, the play and The Sandbox greatly illustrate how a person near death is feeling and his emotions, while also describing the sympathy of others around him and their experiences.
Edward Taylor’s Upon Wedlock, and Death of Children and Upon a Wasp Chilled with Cold are similar in their approach with the illustration of how beautiful and magnificent God’s creations are to humankind. However, each poem presents tragic misfortune, such as the death of his own children in Upon Wedlock, and Death of Children and the cold, enigmatic nature of human soul in Upon a Wasp Chilled with Cold. Taylor’s poems create an element of how cruel reality can be, as well as manifest an errant correlation between earthly life and spiritual salvation, which is how you react to the problems you face on earth determines the salvation that God has in store for you.
Aside from the holy force that propels the world, Thomas also examines how we alter the way our lives should naturally progress. Death is a stage of life; as a rose is bent or killed by the cold so should we age and eventually die in due time. However, Thomas analyzes human and natural...
Through imagery Poe teaches his readers that they are the ones that determine their life after death. In “The City of Sin” Poe describes the lives of the people who once lived in the city death
The slow feeling of the ending life is shown when the poem states, “we paused before…” with other terms like “and immortality” having its own line to emphasize the destination. The writer narrates the cause of death in the six-stanza poem in a journey form that depicts some interesting life experiences that people should have fun of during their lives. It is common that many individuals cannot stop for or wait for death that is if they can “see
What are parables of Jesus Christ? The word parable in general may mean the placing of two or more artifacts together to make a comparison or explain an ideology. This same concept could be related to the parables of Jesus Christ the son of God. Some people may choose to define these in various meanings depending on their own understanding. However, in my opinion, a parable is basically an analogy consisting of human circumstances that is accompanied with a spiritual or biblical lesson. Altogether, there are thirty-two parables; which could be found in the books of Mathew, Mark and Luke. Out of all these parables, eighteen of them are found in Luke and ten in Mathew. The eighteen parables found in Luke include, the Lost Coin, the Lost Son, the Unrighteous Steward, the Rich Man and Lazarus, the Unprofitable Servants, the Unrighteous Judge, the Pharisee and Publican, the Pounds, the Two Debtors, the Good Samaritan, the Friend at Midnight, the Rich Fool, the Watchful Servants, the Barren Fig Tree, the Chief Seats, the Great Supper, the Rash Builder, and the Rash King. The ten in Mathew include, the Laborers in the Vineyard, the Two Sons, the Marriage of the King's Son, the Ten Virgins, the Talents, the Tares, the Hidden Treasure, the Pearl of Great Price, the Draw Net, and the Unmerciful Servant. Again, the parables of Jesus Christ could be compared to a class of students with a teacher in the front. Basically Jesus Christ was the teacher and the whole world would be considered as the students. Out of all the parables of Jesus Christ, the main ones I will be talking about will be the parable of the good samaritan, and the parable of the sower.
One way humans have devised for dealing with the tragedy of death and the knowledge of mortality is to develop complex visions of what might follow death. In the religious tradition of Christianity, a focus on the belief of life after death is a central and indispensable tenet of their faith, however a wide range of ideas can exist. Christianity bases their beliefs of the afterlife on the various interpretations of biblical passages. Many times death in Christianity is followed by the admission to either heaven or hell, an ideology that is determined through how one behaves throughout their obeying God’s rules and regulations (Sumegi, 2014, Pg.111). Within the religious aspect of Christianity, great emphasis is placed on the ‘soul’ of the individual.