I have a vine growing near my back deck. If I cut it down, am I killing Christ again (he is the vine after all); further, if I trim its branches, am I at risk of suicide or homicide (we are the branches after all).
Taking the afternoon off to do some fishing- using medium rare T-bone as bait- (Jesus called us to be fishers of men after all).
I have a rich friend I hope to see saved- I figure the easiest way to get a camel through the eye of a needle is puree- can I borrow some blenders?
Noticed a star in the sky this morining- should I worship it (Jesus is the morningstar after all).
Met an actual Pharisee yesterday- I was walking through a graveyard and saw a whitewashed tomb.
Later I found some scribes in the snake house at the zoo.
Oh, no my right hand offends me- better call me lefty from now on.
Oops, right eye too- how ‘bout Cyclops?
Jesus said he spoke in parables so people wouldn’t understand. That’s one place he was being literal. I wonder if he realized the lack of understanding would be canonized.
I agree with you that Jesus used metaphors and parables many times in His teachings and sometimes, Jesus had to explain to His Apostles what He meant in plainer language.
He also spoke quite literally many times.
How do you explain the fact that when the Apostles didn’t understand something they asked and yet in this instance, after having just given them a radical teaching, they do not ask nor does He explain that teaching to them?
Instead, He remarks on the difficulty of this hard teaching and gives them the opportunity to leave too.
What do they do? Question Him? No, Peter reaffirms that He has the words of eternal life.
Every time I see the argument you are making (and I’ve seen or heard it a hundred times if I’ve seen it once) I wonder how is it you possibly miss the inversion of his place in the statement. In a number of places he says “I am the...(vine, gate, bread, light, good shepherd, etc)” but then take the more exceptional statements “This (bread) is My body” “This (cup) is my blood” as being equivalent. I would say he isn’t really being as metaphorical as you think in any of those statements, but saying he is indicating his relationship to us. However in stating the elements of the passover meal are Him, he is stating his relationship to those elements.
And for your mocking of the Eucharist, vis-a-vis cutting a vine out or opening a door, we don’t thing any bread and wine are his body and blood, but those specifically made so by a priest ordained validly in apostolic succession saying prayers in the accepted form of the Mass the the intent that they be changed so. He is a specific vine and a specific door; He uniquely fills those roles.