Faith

A truth that must be proclaimed – Thursday, 17th week in ordinary time – Matthew 13:47-53

The Gospel text of today has the last of the seven parables found in chapter 13 of the Gospel of Matthew. The text of today also has a message meant for the scribes of the day and for the clergy of today.

The kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught every kind of fish (verse 47). Right away we are reminded that the kingdom is not sanitised but is diverse and different. We would like to live in a kingdom of the righteous only but then again that would be wishful thinking. There are all kinds and all sorts in the kingdom.

Earlier, in the parable of the wheat and the weeds, Christ highlighted the presence of satan and his minions. Jesus used that parable to teach with authority the consequence of sin; sin will find us in the fires of hell. It is for the sake of those who continue to live in denial of the reality of hell that Jesus gives the second such parable.

A drag net was one of the many ways that fishermen employed to catch fish. Two boats would be fitted with a net and as they moved the nets collected every kind of fish that happened to get trapped. As fishermen will tell you, not every fish that is caught is edible and even more, there are some fish which have no value in the marketplace. Attempting to sell them would be a burden to the fisher monger.

When Christ spoke his truth, he used a pedagogy that is employed even today, when children are taught. It is a method of teaching that moves from the known to the unknown. Jesus’ parables were largely based on farming or fishing which was the occupation of most of his listeners. Employing this method, he made clear what he intended to teach. When he spoke to the crowds of his time, as he does with us through his word today, he wants us to understand that death will come as it came to the fish. Death did not just come to the bad fish it came to all that were caught in the net. But the point of the parable is not merely to focus on the reality of death but of judgment that follows.

“The angels will come!” That is what we will experience at death. But don’t think that because you see an angel when you die you have won a seat in heaven. We are told that they come with a clear mission. The dragnet may have caught fish but not every fish has value. There are good fish and bad fish and the bad fish must be got rid off.

For the second time in Chapter 13, Jesus talks of the ‘furnace of fire’ reserved for the evil. Interestingly, in both the parables that speak of judgment, the consequence of evil is clearly enunciated; ‘evil will be bound and burnt in a furnace of fire where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth’ (verse 30 and 50). Yet, heaven is not described with the intensity that hell is. The parable of the wheat and weeds refers to heaven as “my barn” and nothing more. The point of the parable is not to tell us of the joys of heaven but the reality of the suffering in hell.

To my mind, Christ is reiterating the reality of hell over heaven. He wants to stress this reality lest we begin to think that hell is a tool used by parents to drive their children into submission. Hell, for many, has become symbolic and casual talk. We say, “go to hell” or use it as an exclamation of frustration when we say, “Oh hell.” We have turned the fate of our souls into a piece of frivolous conversation. Yet that reality will come to burn us if we do not take it seriously.

This truth must be proclaimed especially when clearly understood. In verse 51 Jesus ask the disciples if they have “understood all this?” Their answer is yes. If our answer is also yes, then we become ‘the scribe’, the priest, the religious, the laity who then must proclaim this truth. If we are trained for the kingdom, as Christ says, then we have to proclaim the truth of Christ; both old and new.

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Our brand of Christianity, Community and Ministry -Wednesday, 17th Week in ordinary time – Matthew 13:44-46

Today, we look at the fifth and sixth parable in a chain of seven parables that Matthew lists in chapter 13. The purpose of the parables is to give us an insight into the dynamic nature of the kingdom of Heaven or the Kingdom of God. Both the parables mentioned in today’s Gospel have an object of great value at the heart of the narrative. In the first case it is treasure and in the second it is a pearl of great price. However what is different in both the parables is the way in which the seeker stumbles upon them and that becomes our take away for today.

The treasure in the field is stumbled upon; it is not actively sought after. Without a socio-cultural explanation, the parable sounds a bit shady and dishonest. We are told that someone finds a treasure in a field which he hides again in that field. One would wonder, why did the man not honestly declare that he has found a treasure so that the one who had hidden it may rightly claim it?

While there was some sort of banking system at the time of Jesus (Jesus makes reference to it in 25:27)  the populace at large resorted to their own form of safety deposit. They would dig a hole in the earth and an oak tree in the valley would be the marker. But wars had a way of displacing people from their lands, if not, the oak tree could have been chopped down to be used. As a result, it was not uncommon for treasures to be lost.

So, should you be lucky and stumble upon a treasure, that treasure could be yours  only if you owned the land. The person in the parable has found a treasure by chance. He could only legally lay claim to it if he purchased that plot and to do that he would have to sell “all that he owns.” Yet he does it for the he knows that what he owns at present is a shadow of what lies in that plot.

The second parable also has a treasure at the heart of the narrative but this time the merchant is in search of fine pearls. He is not in search of one but many. We are told that his desire to own many pearls changes the minute he finds one of ‘great price.’ Pearls in the oriental world were more valued than the diamonds of today. He too, like the person in the previous parable, goes and sells all that he owns in order to buy the pearl.

The kingdom of God is dynamic; there is no one way to encounter it. We may be that non believer who stumbles upon it because the Christian believer begins to talk about his or her faith experience of Christ in the bus or the train or it may be something that we are seeking because the emptiness of the world cannot fill the void in our soul. What ever be the case, thousands of people over the years have had this ‘Christ experience’ promoting them to give up all that they followed, possessed, held or believed in order to embrace  Christ and his Church.

If the kingdom of God is dynamic, then we have to ask ourselves if we have made it static. We have to ask ourselves If we have insisted on promoting and projecting our brand of Christianity, our brand of ministry, our brand of community. It is painful to see  so many Churches and ministries stuck in a mould and lost in a time capsule with some of its members suggesting that their way must be the only way to make Christ known.

But for us who find or have found Christ at some stage in our life, there is a challenge thrown to us too. The merchant and the man who found the treasure knew at once that what they had stumbled upon or found was far greater than what they held on to. Christ is far greater than the relationships or the earthly possessions  or power that we may have at the present moment. Perhaps many have had that moment when they encountered Christ and realised he was what they really needed but they may not have had the courage and the willingness to let go of all they had.

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Hitlers of the world, beware! -Tuesday, 17th week in ordinary time – Matthew 13:36-40

Due to a number of memorials and feasts last week, the second of the seven parables of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew was dropped from our teaching. The parable that has been come to be known as the parable of the wheat and the weeds, (13:24-30) was given to us as a reminder that the Kingdom of heaven will face opposition.

For some reason, Matthew punctuates the parable of the wheat and their weeds and the explanation that is found in today’s Gospel text, with the parables of the mustard seed and the parable of leaven. He ends these two parables with the words of the prophet Isaiah; “I will open my mouth and speak in parables. I will proclaim what has been hidden from the foundations of the world.”

The disciples, prompted by Jesus’ proclamation ask him to explain the parable of the weeds in the field. Jesus treats this parable more like an allegory than a parable. He clearly assigns a character to each of the elements in the parable. We have sadly, done the same with the parable of the prodigal son when in reality that parable had a single point only; and that was the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees. Yet in this case, Jesus treats this parable as an allegory.

Even if you want to dodge the obvious meaning of this parable; this is one of those ‘in your face truths’. Jesus gives us the eschatological (the study of the end times) equivalent to the seven elements that will come to pass at the final judgment.

The modern mind living in a modern world may have its own spin on life but they wont be able to spin death. It’s interesting how the theories of life abound yet there is silence on the reality of death. Death is the only certainty that we know of right at our birth and Jesus addresses that certainty with authority. He asserts the reality of God and his created world. He asserts the reality the children of the kingdom of light and the children of evil. He asserts the reality of death and judgment. He asserts the reality of hell and heaven. There is no dodging this parable.

Christ places before the children of light the reality of the evil one and his agents. The children of light live in a world where evil is present and operative. We may wish, as sometimes this author does, that God wipes out from the face of the earth the Hitlers of our times; and they seem to abound – Yet, Jesus is emphatic, let both of them, the wheat and weed, the good and the evil grow together until the harvest. At the appointed time it will be God who will tell his reapers to collect the weed first. They are to be bound and burnt into the furnace of fire where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth . (Verse 30 and 42)

While many have proposed that the weed sown by the evil one was hard to identify as darnel (the weed) looked similar to wheat. Here, the parable is clear, even at its earliest inception, the weed as does evil, is easily identifiable. The parable of the wheat and weeds addresses the reality that evil and good co exist in the world and often times that evil is obvious to the world. We would want to eradicate that evil and wish it dead? While our human response may be a big yes, Jesus is concerned about collateral damage; the wheat might be uprooted also.

Christ recommends patience. “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” (Romans 12:19). The Gospel of today, having been proclaimed will end with the words, “the Gospel of the Lord,” to which we will respond, “thanks be to God.” This will be our Amen to His word and his promise. The evil man will perish even though he foolishly thinks he will live forever and then shall he be faced with the wrath of God.

Till then, let us be “the righteous that will shine like the sun on the day of judgment in the kingdom of the father. (Verse 43)

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A pest as potential – Monday, 17th Week in ordinary time – Matthew 13:31-35

Chapter 13 of the Gospel of Matthew highlights seven parables of Jesus. The Gospel of today focuses on the third and the fourth parable that Matthew records for us. Both these parables focus on the expansion of the kingdom of God albeit in different ways. In the first case the Kingdom of heaven is compared to a mustard seed and in the second to a yeast. In the first case the growth in the kingdom is visible, in the second it is invisible. God’s dominion is seen in unexpected and even ‘scandalous’ ways.

Clearly the kingdom of heaven cannot be stereotyped or put into a casting mould. The kingdom is dynamic and as much as we would like to have it packaged in bows and buntings, it is challenging and complex. It is for this reason that Jesus does not define what the kingdom of God is but compares it to what it is like. He is clear each time speaks of the kingdom when he says, “the kingdom of heaven is LIKE,” for the kingdom is this, yet much more.

The third and fourth parable present the kingdom’s growth in unexpected ways. God, like his kingdom is dynamic and beyond the ‘logical’ expectations of humankind. In speaking of a kingdom one would tend to use superlatives, a lowly mustard seed or some rotting leaven would be the last thing on our mind. Yet that is what Jesus chose as an example to give to us.

The mustard bush would by no stretch of imagination grow to be a ‘large tree’ that Jesus describes and that is the point that Jesus wants to make. Everything is possible with God. The mustard bush was considered a garden pest at the the time of Jesus. You can imagine the shock when Jesus chose a ‘pest’ as potential. Jesus does not want us to rule out the means or the measure that he can work with. If he can use, what was considered a small garden pest to become the tree that could shelter in its branches, then imagine how God can use you and me to bring about his kingdom.

Key to the internalisation of this text is our own ability to let God mould and make his kingdom the way he ordained it; with the elements he choses. This  also demands our surrender to his will and his way. This is perhaps the hardest part for us; to let go and to let God. We would tend to scoff at the ‘garden pest’ that God chose and would rather pick the attractive ‘fruit that Eve was draw to.’ Surrender to God’s will for his kingdom is perhaps the largest challenge for the clergy who must be attuned to the voice of God even when there is a temptation to jump into the driving seat and render God unemployed.

But such is the kingdom, that God has the power to take something negative and use it for the growth of his kingdom. Leaven or yeast was viewed by the Jew as a symbol of corruption. In the Mosaic Law, leaven represents sin or corruption. The law forbade grain offerings made with leaven (Leviticus 2:11). In fact, no yeast was allowed to be burned on the altar in any sacrifice. The grain offering for Aaron and his sons (the priests) was also not to contain leaven and was to be eaten in a holy place (Leviticus 6:17).

Yet it is this negative and corrupting influence that becomes the agent of growth in God’s kingdom. It is not that God deliberately chooses a negative or corrupting influence to build his kingdom but that in spite of such elements his kingdom will grow.

For me this is a personal teaching; a moment of God speaking to me. Our nation has been a troubled one, even more with the ruling dispensation deliberately provoking the secular fabric of this nation. But then again, dictatorship in its many disguises is on the rise while democracy has taken a beating worldwide. In India the state of Manipur has reached a war like situation with the state machinery aiding and abetting the violence.

Even men and women of faith will find themselves asking where is God? Why has he abandoned his kingdom? Why does he let evil men rule and reign? Why are the mighty let loose and the weak wrecked into the earth? God reminds us that the kingdom is his; he is in charge. It is he who can turn a corrupting symbol and work mysteriously. Let us let God be God.

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Empty vessels make the most noise. Thursday, 16th Week in ordinary time – Matthew 13:10-17

Empty vessels make the most noise. That’s a saying I grew up with and if you have never heard that one before, then you don’t celebrate my generation and the many such interesting idioms we were brought up on. Of course, not all of them were factually true but we knew what it meant and they sent home the desired message.

It seems like Our Lord has this idiom at the back of his mind even though this idiom dates back to the 1400s when the vessel concerned was a drinking vessel and the empty vessels were foolish or witless people.

Jesus has just concluded the first of the seven parables found in the thirteenth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. The disciples ask Jesus why he speaks to a certain ‘THEM,’ when he uses parables to communicate his message. While I will address who the ‘them’ is, it would be good to hypothesize what was behind this rather curious question. Perhaps to the mind of the disciples, the presentation of the parable of the ‘soil’ (read yesterday’s reflection) could have been presented in a more scholarly way as the rabbis did. Perhaps, Our Lord could have just dropped the storytelling and gotten to the heart of the matter.

In all probability, the disciples were refereeing to the Pharisees of chapter twelve as the ‘them’ in verse ten. Their question to Jesus would read, “Why do you speak to the Pharisees in parables?” The answer of Jesus fits in better if we safely assume the ‘them’ to be the Pharisees and this is with good reason, especially when we read this chapter with the attacks on Jesus by the Pharisees in chapter twelve.

It is to the simple and worldly unwise that Jesus has given the secrets of the kingdom of heaven. If you have any difficulty believing this then all you have to do is to search the annals of history to see that this is a fact. From the apparitions in Fatima to the ones in Velankanni. From the Popes who sit on the throne of Peter to this author who could not pass his standard seven math examination. God has chosen those who are considered foolish in the eyes of the world and made them his witnesses.

Christ is unsympathetic in his criticism of the Pharisees. They have not and will not receive the secrets of the kingdom. They may claim to have ‘knowledge’ but that it seems is a figment of their imagination for they ‘do not know the scriptures nor the power of God.” (Matthew 22:29). Christ is emphatic when he describes these ‘empty vessels’ who know (have) nothing and to add insult to injury he will take away even that nothing from them. (13:12)

It is not without reason that Christ takes on the Pharisees. These were the ‘separated ones;’ the religious elite who set themselves as desirous of being pushed to a higher calling. What they ended up being is not righteous but self-righteous. Christ now lays the charges, “seeing (the works he has done) they do not perceive (who he is) and hearing (his words) they do not listen. They can hear but chose not to listen. This was a conscious decision that they made and not their inability to understand and for this they are culpable.

The joy of presenting the simplicity of the faith in a down-to-earth manner was beneath the Pharisees who were lost in theological jargon and a world of traditions. The simple parables of Jesus which contained the secrets of the kingdom were all too quickly rubbished as gibberish by the Pharisees but was not lost on the simple-minded.

Christ continues to speak to us! While theologians have their places in their hallowed study halls of technicality and hair-splitting definitions of the faith and scripture, Our Lord is often heard the loudest by a humble preacher who speaks from his heart and wins over a sinner for heaven.

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