The Pilgrim’s Progress – IV

“And I saw in my dream that just as Pilgrim and Pliable ended their discussion that they came to a swamp, and not paying attention to where they were going they both fell headlong into the murky bog. The swamp was named the Swamp of Despondency; it was named this because many who entered it left it suffering from discouragement and depression, often turning around and retracing their steps back to where they came from. Pilgrim and Pliable wallowed in the muck and mire, sloshing about trying to gain their footing; Pilgrim, because of the burden on his back began to sink.

“Pliable called out to Pilgrim, ‘Where are you? Is this the joy and happiness you talked about? If this is what we can expect on this journey, having just begun, who knows what lies ahead, if I can find my way out of here I’m going home and you can go ahead without me!’ And that was the last Pilgrim heard or saw of Pliable.

“As Pilgrim continued struggling to extricate himself from the swamp, crying for help the entire time, a man approached him and called, ‘Hello, hello. Who are you? Do you need help?’

“Pilgrim cried, ‘I’m trying to make it through this swamp and get to the Narrow Gate.’

“ ‘ Well why don’t you use the boardwalk through the swamp?’

“ ‘ I was so afraid and disoriented that I must have missed it – can you help me?’

“With that a hand reached through the fog and grabbed Pilgrim, pulled him up onto the other side of the swamp, and set him on firm ground.” [My rendering]. Pages 8 – 9 of the Barbour edition.

This is not exactly an enticing view of the beginning of the Christian life. Obviously John Bunyan was not attuned to the seeker sensitive approach to sharing the Gospel, and he certainly had never heard of the health and wealth or name it and claim it messages – or if he had he had not bought into them. (Actually the equivalents of the heath and wealth and prosperity messages, as well as other approaches that cater and pander to audiences have been around since the First Century, they’ve just been known by other names).

I’m not sure that the above passage is a mirror of the seed sown on rocky ground in the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13; Mark 4) because I don’t see Pliable having a direct encounter with the seed/Word; on the other hand Pliable does hear the testimony of Pilgrim/Christian and that testimony does include the promise of heaven, so if the two passages are not on all “points” there is certainly an overlap. Jesus says in Matthew 13:

“The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away.”

While it may be evident to the reader that with a name like Pliable that Pliable won’t endure the pilgrimage, there are certainly examples in life of Pliables becoming rocks upon whom Christ can build His Church – so I don’t think we ever know as observers the outcomes of others’ pilgrimages. I have also known rocks who apparently melted away and became Pliables – these things are a mystery because they have to do with the heart and only God truly knows the hearts of men. Perhaps a day will come in the Pliable of The Pilgrim’s Progress when he sets out once again for the Celestial City and this time arrives at his destination?

Do we follow Christ because of His blessings, or do we follow Him because the Gospel is true, because Christ is very God of very God and because He is the way, the truth, and the life? If we follow Christ because He is God, because the Gospel is true, then the circumstances of our lives are in one sense irrelevant to our obedience to Christ and to our perseverance in that obedience – we obey Christ because He is God. However, in another sense they are exceptionally relevant in that obedience in whatever our circumstances may be, by God’s grace, transforms us into the image of Jesus Christ and bears witness to others.

Pilgrim needed a hand to guide him out of the swamp – how aware am I of those in the swamp that need a hand? And how often have I needed a hand, a voice, a friend, or even a stranger, to let me know that I’m not alone on this pilgrimage?

“Lord, please give me eyes to see and ears to hear those in the Swamp of Despondency who have lost their way, and please use me to encourage them and set their feet on firm ground on their way to knowing You, on their way to the Celestial City.”