I think that he could be making a statement about mistranslations and how the messages of the past and the bible can be lost. By "Dread the passage of Jesus, for he will not return." he could mean that we should not take the messages of the bible and Jesus too seriously otherwise we end up waiting for something that never comes and instead of finding our own paths, whilst we wait for this second coming that never comes we fill our void with shallow materialistic wealth "and we bought a car that we did not use..."
'Time Jesum transeuntum et non reverentum' (this is the correct way of writing it) in latin means "you have to fear when Jesus passes by and he's not honoured, respected'
'Time Jesum transeuntum et non reverentum' (this is the correct way of writing it) in latin means "you have to fear when Jesus passes by and he's not honoured, respected'
I don't think it's about not taking the Bible seriously, given that there are actual demons in the narrative and the signs of the Second Coming DO begin to appear at the end. I think it's more about our capacity for self-deception and complacency, about reading what we want to hear into the things we're told -- the demons give them an ominous, enigmatic explanation and the couple first misinterprets it as an assurance that there will be no Second Coming (so there's nothing to worry about and they can do as they please), then fails to think any further...
I don't think it's about not taking the Bible seriously, given that there are actual demons in the narrative and the signs of the Second Coming DO begin to appear at the end. I think it's more about our capacity for self-deception and complacency, about reading what we want to hear into the things we're told -- the demons give them an ominous, enigmatic explanation and the couple first misinterprets it as an assurance that there will be no Second Coming (so there's nothing to worry about and they can do as they please), then fails to think any further about it. They mire themselves in the banal, the material, and the selfish, and grow apart. So when the signs of the Second Coming begin to appear the narrator is suddenly confronted with the nagging fear that he may have misinterpreted the demons' words -- that the demons meant Jesus IS coming, but when he passes by this time he won't be coming back to pick up any stragglers. There will be no "Third Coming" and the two lovers will find themselves unprepared and unworthy... After all, why did they seek wisdom from demons in the first place?
There's also the possibility that the demons were simply lying and the couple believed them because they wanted to believe them. So when the signs of the Second Coming appear, the narrator realizes he might have wasted his life and tries to reassure himself that Jesus isn't coming and the Judgment isn't at hand. Hence the repetition at the end -- he's repeating it as a mantra or a prayer, trying to convince himself that the signs don't mean what he fears they mean.
I think that he could be making a statement about mistranslations and how the messages of the past and the bible can be lost. By "Dread the passage of Jesus, for he will not return." he could mean that we should not take the messages of the bible and Jesus too seriously otherwise we end up waiting for something that never comes and instead of finding our own paths, whilst we wait for this second coming that never comes we fill our void with shallow materialistic wealth "and we bought a car that we did not use..."
'Time Jesum transeuntum et non reverentum' (this is the correct way of writing it) in latin means "you have to fear when Jesus passes by and he's not honoured, respected'
'Time Jesum transeuntum et non reverentum' (this is the correct way of writing it) in latin means "you have to fear when Jesus passes by and he's not honoured, respected'
I don't think it's about not taking the Bible seriously, given that there are actual demons in the narrative and the signs of the Second Coming DO begin to appear at the end. I think it's more about our capacity for self-deception and complacency, about reading what we want to hear into the things we're told -- the demons give them an ominous, enigmatic explanation and the couple first misinterprets it as an assurance that there will be no Second Coming (so there's nothing to worry about and they can do as they please), then fails to think any further...
I don't think it's about not taking the Bible seriously, given that there are actual demons in the narrative and the signs of the Second Coming DO begin to appear at the end. I think it's more about our capacity for self-deception and complacency, about reading what we want to hear into the things we're told -- the demons give them an ominous, enigmatic explanation and the couple first misinterprets it as an assurance that there will be no Second Coming (so there's nothing to worry about and they can do as they please), then fails to think any further about it. They mire themselves in the banal, the material, and the selfish, and grow apart. So when the signs of the Second Coming begin to appear the narrator is suddenly confronted with the nagging fear that he may have misinterpreted the demons' words -- that the demons meant Jesus IS coming, but when he passes by this time he won't be coming back to pick up any stragglers. There will be no "Third Coming" and the two lovers will find themselves unprepared and unworthy... After all, why did they seek wisdom from demons in the first place?
There's also the possibility that the demons were simply lying and the couple believed them because they wanted to believe them. So when the signs of the Second Coming appear, the narrator realizes he might have wasted his life and tries to reassure himself that Jesus isn't coming and the Judgment isn't at hand. Hence the repetition at the end -- he's repeating it as a mantra or a prayer, trying to convince himself that the signs don't mean what he fears they mean.