For me the core message of the Lotus is the affirmation that a highest Dharma does exist and that it manifests to those who seek it or who need it according to their ability to understand and respond. According to Tiantai Zhiyi (538-597) this was expressed by the phrase gan-ying daojiao, meaning the communication of the eternal buddha-dharma in response to a person’s need and request. Even though a person may not understand life or the Dharma, the Lotus gives the assurance that true reality (= the Eternal Buddha) is responsive to one’s needs and assists a person and others to grow (as the rain assists different plants in chapter 5). This responsiveness becomes personified in chapters 24 and 25 by the diverse appearances of the Bodhisattvas Gadgadasvara and Guanyin, who are ready to meet the needs of believers. Since we have both faulty perception and a mistaken understanding about life, the responses of true reality to our needs sometimes take unusual forms, namely, well-intentioned and wise deception. For example, the promise of future pleasures may be needed to get little children out of a burning house (chapter 3), or the shock tactics of grief over the apparent death of their father may be needed to get irresponsible sons of a doctor to take their medicine (chapter 16); whereas for others a long period of preparation may be contrived before they are able to hear and respond (the poor son in chapter 4), and periodic rest and recreation may be needed for others before the journey is complete (the magic city, chapter 7).
A Buddhist Kaleidoscope; David W. Chappell, Organic Truth: Personal Reflections on the Lotus Sutra Page 63-64