I will just say that WAY too many homilies I have heard at Mass are hard over on the 'literal' meaning of the text, with no exposition on the larger "myth" (I use that in the technical sense of pointing to a larger reality) contained in the text.  For some, going beyond exactly what the text says is threatening.  For others (like me), that's where it gets exciting, where it lives and breaths, and where insight and growth are found.  Homilists don't do enough to distinguish between fact and truth.  The bible has an abundance of the latter, if you don't dwell too much on the former.