The Parable of the Two Selves (Gospel of Thomas)

Today we look at the seventh saying in the Gospel of Thomas, which is the Parable of the Lion and the Man. Jesus said, “Blessed is a lion that a man eats, because that lion will become human. Cursed is a man that a lion eats, because that lion will become human.” 

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Transcript

Today we look at the seventh saying in the Gospel of Thomas, which is the Parable of the Lion and the Man. Jesus said, “Blessed is a lion that a man eats, because that lion will become human. Cursed is a man that a lion eats, because that lion will become human.” It is a confusing saying. There is a lot of eating and blessing and cursing going on and it hard to keep it all straight. 

For that reason there are different interpretations of what it means. Who is eating whom? Who is being blessed or cursed? And why? The lion and the man are obviously symbolic. Jesus is not talking about a lion literally eating a man and a man literally eating a lion. So let’s first look at what lions represent in the first century Jewish and Christian communities. 

The lion is a wild beast and was considered extremely dangerous in the ancient world. Lions were used as a means of executions, where the lion would kill and eat humans. Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den in order to execute him, although he was miraculously saved according to the Bible story. Christians were thrown into the arena to be killed my lions. The Second Letter of Timothy, which is traditionally ascribed to Paul, says, “I was delivered from the lion’s mouth.” The imagery of a lion was familiar to both Jews and Christians. 

Lions are mentioned quite a bit in the Bible. The lion is symbol of the tribe of Judah: the Lion of Judah. The First Letter of Peter likens the devil to a lion, saying, “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” Samson kills a lion and later eats honey from the lion’s carcass. 

Most important in determining what the lion symbolizes is the Book of Revelation, written about the same time as the Gospel of Thomas. Revelation is a book of full of symbols. Early in the book the Seer of Revelation has a vision of the throne of God, surrounded by four living creatures. He says, “The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle.”

These four living creatures represent the four types of creatures on earth: wild animals, domestic animals, human beings, and birds. Those were well-known classifications in Jesus’ day. So it is most likely that in The Gospel of Thomas the lion represents a wild animal. 

In the parable the lion represents our animal nature. Physically we are animals. Zoologically we are great apes. Our bodies are ape bodies. I refer  to this aspect of our nature as my pet ape. Our brains are ape brains. Buddhists talk about the monkey mind.  The apostle Paul refers to this as the flesh. Colossians talks about the fleshly mind. This is  the psyche, the ego, or the self with a lower case s, the psychological self. In short the lion represents the animal nature of a human being.

What does the man represent in Jesus’ parable in the Gospel of Thomas? It represents our higher nature. It represents what Genesis means as being made in the image of God. The man in the parable represents our true nature, our true Self. It represents what it means to be a fully authentic human. It is what Jesus calls the Son of Man, which was Jesus’ favorite term for himself. Jesus never called himself the Son of God, although he did not refuse that title. But he often called himself “the son of Man.” 

He was referencing a vision of the prophet Daniel. He has a vision in which he says, “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom.... his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away....” 

This “one like a Son of Man” is more than an ordinary human. He is a divine or messianic figure. So by referring to himself as the son of man, Jesus was both affirming his humanity and also pointing to something beyond animal nature.  This is the context in which Jesus told the parable of the man and the lion.

Jesus was saying he was physically human, but more than that. He was a true human, an authentic human. He was the Christ. We call this the Christ nature, what Buddhists call the Buddha nature. The man in the parable is the Self with an upper case S. It is who we really are. Our true Self, the divine Self, Christ consciousness.

So this parable is talking about two selves. One is represented by the lion and one by the man. The apostle Paul normally uses the terms flesh and spirit to describe these two aspects. Those terms are more familiar to us, and I like them better. But in this parable Jesus uses the lion and the man.

It reminds me of the well-known Native American parable of the two wolves. An elder explains to a younger person that within all of us are two wolves constantly battling for control: one representing positive qualities and the other representing negative qualities. The youngster asks, “Which wolf will win?” The answer is:  “The one you choose to feed.” That story is not a perfect analogy to Jesus’ parable, but it is helpful.

Now that we know what the two figures represent, let’s look at Jesus’ parable again. “Blessed is a lion that a man eats, because that lion will become human. Cursed is a man that a lion eats, because that lion will become human.” Let’s look at who is eating whom and what this means. In the first half of the saying the man is eating the lion. “Blessed is a lion that a man eats, because that lion will become human.” 

This may sound strange because humans do not normally eat lions. In fact the Torah forbids the eating of four-footed animals with paws, which would include cats, dogs, bears, lions, tigers, etc.  So the man is not blessed when eating a lion, but the lion is blessed when he is eaten by the man! 

Remember that the figures are symbolic of our animal nature and our divine nature. So the parable is saying that our animal nature is blessed when it is consumed by and becomes incorporated into and becomes one with our divine nature. The two natures become one whole. Two becomes one. Nonduality. It is a narrative way of saying that everything is the divine Self. Every part of us is ultimately an expression of Ultimate reality. When we see that, we see the lower animal nature is part of the One Authentic Human.

Then Jesus says, “Cursed is a man that a lion eats, because that lion will become human.” In both cases – the first and the second part of the parable - the lion becomes human. But here in the second part the man is eaten by the lion. 

This is referring to a person who is consumed by his/her animal nature, whose true nature becomes subservient to the animal nature. We forget who we really are. That, says Jesus, is a curse. It is not the way it is meant to be. If we allow our true self to be overcome by and consumed by our animal nature, then we are not fulfilling the meaning and purpose of human existence. 

Again in both parts of the saying, the lion become human. That is reminding us that no matter what happens in our lives, no matter what we do or do not do, the One Reality has the final word. It is always the One Reality. Nothing we do can change that. 

Another way of saying this is to say that the Son of Man is victorious, like in Daniel’s vision. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom that will not pass away. The world of duality will disappear, but the Kingdom of God is eternal. “Blessed is a lion that a man eats, because that lion will become human. Cursed is a man that a lion eats, because that lion will become human.”