The kingdom of heaven is like…
MORNING
Psalm 119:41-64 • Isaiah 8:11-20 • Romans 10:1-15
EVENING
Psalms 19, 112 • Job 28:12-28 • Matthew 13:44-52
Most of us who are—or who have been—teachers have had the experience of saying something to a class which we thought was really important, only to read in the students’ facial expressions a complete lack of comprehension. After Jesus had told the crowd a story that we know as “the parable of the sower” (Matthew 13:3-9), his disciples asked him privately why he had spoken to them in parables. His answer troubles me: “The reason I speak to them in parables is that ‘seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand.’
‘You will indeed listen, but never
understand,
and you will indeed look, but
never perceive.’
This is a like the math teacher who tells a student who had just failed an exam miserably that he or she will never, ever, understand calculus, no matter how hard they try.
Our Gospel lesson for today comes later in Matthew 13 than the passage quoted above and contains three brief parables, each starting with: “The kingdom of heaven is like….” Read alone, these stories may sound ok, but if we listen to them after having heard those harsh words from Jesus, we understand that the stakes for the hearers are very high.
I cannot explain this puzzling passage from Matthew. All I can say is that when we hear the parables of Jesus we should listen for the meaning that lies beneath the surface, as in another parable in which a priest and a Levite—the supposed good guys—don’t come out looking so great, and a Samaritan, of all people, turns out to be the hero of the story, to the chagrin, I’m sure, of many in his audience. As someone once wrote, parables are like spiritual hand grenades.
Written by Bob McMath
In this time of separation I am thankful for those who produce and play a role in St. Paul’s online ministries, including Jack Cleghorn’s musical “Friday With Friends” program. Keep it up!