The Boy Who Never Was

Learning to decipher the mystical symbols

It had been a long and tiresome night, and the Boy Who Never Was had tossed and turned every which way, trying to find a way to fall asleep. He had understood the idea that Jesus didn’t particularly like to handle money. Instead, Jesus had let Judas Iscariot take care of the purse. What had bothered the boy that night, though, was the idea that Jesus had chosen a taxcollector named Matthew to be one of his 12 disciples.

Matthew was also called “Levi,” the son of Alpheus, and he was therefore Jewish. Like most tax-collectors who worked for the Romans, he was despised for his profession, and Jesus himself believed tax-collectors and prostitutes were among the most ostracized social outcasts. They were not liked generally because they had reputations for overcharging the people on behalf of the Roman government and keeping much of the proceeds for themselves. These public sinners were also called “publicans.” Why Jesus would have chosen such a despicable person to follow him was confusing to the Boy Who Never Was.

“Nowhere in holy writ does it say that money is the root of all evil. Money itself was not a bad thing. It can be a great blessing for many who don’t have it. It is only whenever people worship it as their own God, that it causes bad results,” the Yeti said. “Holy writ clarifies for thus: ‘For the love of money is a root of all kinds

of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs’ (1 Timothy 6:10).”

“I wish I could understand the mystical symbols of the Bible like you can,” said the boy to the Yeti. “Certain writings like the Book of the Apocalypse are so difficult to understand.”

“You’ve already begun to understand it,” smiled the Yeti. “You are right, in the fact, that they are mystical symbols and cannot be taken literally. Whenever men would ask the Lord something, He never gave them a straight answer, but rather, He would answer with another question, compelling them to make the effort to figure it out for themselves by using their brains. If you truly want to understand the mystical writings, you have to first read the earlier prophets, like Ezekiel.”

“Wasn’t he the man who used to write about dry bones coming back to life?” the Boy Who Never Was asked of the Yeti.

“Indeed he was,” answered the Yeti. “The Prophet Ezekiel was versed in stories dating back to the Greeks, way before his time. His writings promoted the belief in everlasting life after death.”

“I wonder how that concept came about?” the Youth pondered.

“Well, aside from the Prophet Ezekiel and his Greek predecessors, there was an Italian poet named Dante Alighieri who wrote a masterpiece of literature titled ‘The Divine Comedy.’ In it, he divided the afterlife into three parts: First there was ‘Inferno,’ which was the place reserved for the punishment of sinners and evil doers; next, there was ‘Purgatorio,’ which was kind of like the ante room of waiting place where souls were purified as they waited for entrance into Heaven. Lastly, there was a place called ‘Paradiso’ reserved for people who had lived good lives and who dwelt among the presence of God, the saints and the angels. It was there that Dante was reunited to his true love ‘Beatrice.’ A lot of the rest Dante had based to the tales of the ancient Greek, that had passed them over to the Romans,” the Yeti ended thoughtfully.

“I’m not sure that I know enough to understand how the Greek stories melded with Dante’s medieval thought, to become one of the 12 points of the Catholic Nicene Creed,” the youth said. “I think I need a little more background as to just how the idea that dry bones can come back to life, evolved.”