Following on the heels of last Sunday’s Parable of the Sower, we hear Christ proposing not one nor a couple but three parables! These timeless treasure troves contain divine truths, the depths of which our human minds can never plumb, no matter how many times we apply our minds to these gifts from the Divine Lord. These nuggets, with a simplicity of language are replete with profound meaning and are truly the signposts on the highway of our spiritual life.
Weeds And Wheat
The word Parable, derives from the Greek word parabolḗ meaning comparison or parallel. The simple story of a sower sowing good seeds by day and the enemy sowing weeds under cover of darkness draws from everyday human action that is familiar to everyone, yet contains truths that can be grasped by even the very young or the illiterate.
The main parable of today is expounded by the Divine Teacher for the benefit of the Disciples and thanks to the evangelist, reaches our own ears. We learn that the parable is a mechanism for revealing deeper truths of the spiritual world. That children of God face the evil menace of Satan and his underlings who ruthlessly seek our downward plunge into oblivion, that our soul is in constant jeopardy, requiring virtues of persistence and reliance on a loving and merciful God whose benevolence sustains us and whose grace fortifies us for the unending battle against a deadly foe. That angels are real and demons equally so and at the end of the age, there will be a reckoning with our eternal fate hanging in the balance. Christ adds this subtle warning:
Whoever has ears ought to hear. Mat 13:43
School of Christ
Servant of God, Fr, John Hardon s.j., theologian extraordinaire, teaches us that the Parables are the very School of Christ. Christ concerns himself only with reality: the world of the Everyday. No myths, no enchanted creatures, no talking animals, no supermen, no gods and goddesses. Just common, everyday human action. To follow Christ and live the spiritual life is to be living in a real universe and not running away from reality, closing our eyes and walking around in a dream. It is not the fancy, fiction, illusion and dreams of paganism, the world of make believe that enamors the world surrounding and engulfing us and is the religion of the masses.
What sells nowadays is not truth and knowledge but fiction, mythology and magic. Christ is relentless in teaching us to live from and with the Truth. At the heart of the parables is the One, True, Living Monotheistic God. The ancient Hebrews abhorred mythology and in fact, they had to confront it in all the cultures and religions that encircled them: Arabic, Babylonian, Egyptian, Greek, Hindu, Roman. All of these touted mythology but the Hebrews remained steadfast in their belief of the monotheistic God. The Old Testament foresaw the Messiah, who would “open His mouth in parables, announcing what lies hidden from the foundation of the world”. Psalm 78:2
Divine Wisdom
Behind the simple language of the parables is a divine eloquence. We would do well to make these part of our daily diet of mental prayer. In reflecting on these simple everyday stories of human action, we can discern the will of God – for we need to operate within the bounds of our unique, individual reality. We need the Wisdom of God to help us combat the wisdom of the world, which our fallen nature will naturally be enthralled by. The world doesn’t believe in becoming a Good Samaritan and praises the dishonest steward, continues Fr. Hardon.
The parables can be confusing. The disciples frequently approached the Master and asked Him to explain them, just as we saw in today’s Gospel.
Without parables he did not speak to them, but to his own disciples he explained everything in private. Mat 13:34
Christ does this as a model of the way in which He first teaches and then wants us to reveal His divine wisdom to the world. Each one of us can only absorb as much of the parables that our own ability allows. But like the disciples who were meant to instruct and live out the parables by word and deed, God has raised up chosen instruments that we can seek out for similar instruction. The all-wise God will not leave us without the means of understanding. This is why He established His Church! It is the sturdy interpreter and guide for spiritual life.
Living The Parables
Having borrowed so heavily from Fr. John Hardon, I leave us with this prayer that he composed for his conference on the Parables, which I heartily recommend for your own edification.
Lord Jesus, you taught us the parables as your principal way of explaining how those who believe in you are to live. Entertain these maybe over-educated minds of ours to become like little children to see the meaning behind the parables you have revealed, so that having lived the parables here on Earth we might possess their truth, which you are, in Heaven, through all Eternity. Amen.
http://www.therealpresence.org/archive/archives/Video/0744/RP0744016.htm
[Readings: Wisdom 12:13, 16-19; Romans 8:26-27; Matthew 13:24-43]
