A Cycle – 17^th Sunday in Ordinary Time 23

Mt. 13:34-43

Over the past three weeks we have heard Jesus’ teaching in parables.  Today we hear Jesus ask the disciples if they “understand these things.”  Of course, they respond with a resounding yes, they understand.  But we know they did not initially understand for they asked Jesus to explaining two of them.  I think if we were to answer that question, we would also say yes.  We have heard them many times and have heard homilies about them.  But do we understand them, and do we apply the message behind them to our lives?     

We can understand something and ignore it at the same time.  If you think back, Jesus gave us seven parables about the Kingdom of Heaven.  All of them begun by Jesus saying, “the Kingdom of Heaven is like.”   Two of those parables refer to the future kingdom, when Jesus returns in glory and restores creation.  Five of the parables refer to the Kingdom of God Jesus said is “among us.”  That Kingdom Jesus spoke of as being at hand.   It is the Kingdom He came to establish on earth.   

That kingdom is where the blind will see, the deaf will hear, the lame will walk, and the prisoners will be set free.  We are not just talking about the miracles Jesus worked because we can have twenty – twenty eyesight and not see God working in our lives. We can have perfect hearing and not be able to hear God speaking to our hearts.  We can be held captive by the wounds of our heart and feel numb and lifeless.  Jesus said He came to bring us life and life in abundance.  That is available t us in the Kingdom of God among us.  How do we get access to that Kingdom?  Jesus tells us to seek it but where do we start. 

Jesus is giving us a clue when He tells us we are like the heads of the household who bring forth the new and the old from his storeroom.  Another parable perhaps but those words should challenge us. Those listening to Jesus that day and yes us listening today have something in common.  We have had our faith formed by the law, the prophets, and by ritual sacrifices.  But did they understand, and do we understand?

The prophets pointed to a time when the law would be written on our hearts instead of on the tablets of stone and parchment.  The prophets pointed to the messiah who would free them and bring them peace.  Did they understand?

Did you notice how many times Jesus challenged and violated the law. How many times He challenged their concept of the Messiah.  They missed the prophecy of Isiah who said, “behold I am doing something new.”  Jesus scandalized the Pharisees by healing on the Sabbath.  He outraged the Pharisees when He did not admonish His disciples for not washing their hands before they ate.  What about His teaching about an eye for an eye was to be ignored and instead we should turn the other cheek.  It is a message that says we have been kept in check by the things of the past and now it is time for the age of the Spirit to open our eyes and hearts.

If we are going to understand any of the lessons of the parables, we must know we are called to do more than we are now.  Jesus is telling us we have been given the keys to the Kingdom, but the door must be opened by us.  Jesus invites, He does not invade.  Jesus calls, He does not command.  Jesus tells us there is a place here on earth where we will know we are worthy of all the promised of God. 

By living in the Kingdom, we will find peace amid turmoil.  We will find comfort amid pain.  We will feel the presence of the Father with us and hear His voice speaking to our hearts.  It is there that we will discover our own giftedness and willingly go and use that giftedness to help others who are hungering and thirsting for what God offers everyone.

We hesitate to respond because we are uncertain, and we are far too comfortable maintaining the status quo.  We may think we have responded and have invited Christ into our lives.  But the truth is we have not changed our lives very much. Bring Jesus into a part of our life but that means we continue to have one foot in the world and one foot in the Kingdom of God.  We have fallen for the lie spoken to us by the one who is a liar and a thief. 

All wisdom today tells us we need to have a personal relationship with Jesus.  Yet Jesus is inviting us into more than a personal relationship. He is inviting us into a covenant relationship.  Where Jesus is in every part of our lives.  That is what God was doing within us as we are baptized into the kingdom of God, sharing the mission as priest, prophet, and king.  As priest. Just as or priest makes Jesus present to us every time we celebrate the Eucharist, we too are called to make Jesus present to others. As Prophets we speak to those who need to feel the presence of God and to have their broken hearts healed.  As kings, we know the benefits of living as heirs to the promise and are able to share the benefits of kingdom living with others.

 These parables are more than interesting stories. They are spiritual truths.  There is a pearl of great price waiting for us to discover it. The Sower has planned the Spirit within us, and it is anxious to bear fruit and change our hearts.   We need to pray for the Spirit to give us eyes to see and ears to hear and hearts to respond.   Jesus asks, “do you understand.  If we do, then we are those heads of the household who must take what we know from our old way of approaching God and add in the new Leven of the Spirit and allow it to transform us.