This Sunday we hear parables about extreme behaviour and reasonable behaviour. The first two is speaks of people who would sell everything to get something precious. I remember asking myself, after getting the treasure and the pearl, how is the man going to eat? He has sold everything! The third parable is rather reasonable. Fishermen with a huge haul of fish would need to sort the fish out to sell them. So what was that about? God sorting those who are fit for heaven and those who are not? It seems so. The fourth parable seems similar and yet it is not the same. There is mention of different things: old and new, but there is not mention of which is the one kept and the one thrown away. Yet, how are these parables connected to the first two?
We see that all the parables are about possession. The man wants to possess the treasure in the field. The merchant wants to possess the precious pearl. the dragnet possess the fish by trapping the fish in itself. The householder possesses things old and new. All these are connected to the Kingdom of Heaven.
The first parable tells us that the Kingdom of Heaven is a precious treasure that we should acquire at all costs. We should allow God to rule in our hearts. The second parable tells us that the Kingdom of Heaven looks for precious things. We are the precious pearl, meaning that God would do everything to rule in our hearts, and we know that the rule of God is a rule of real and true love. Despite gathering everyone into itself, the Kingdom of Heaven is not accepted by everyone. So those who despise God would be allowed to leave it. However, outside the Kingdom of Heaven is the blazing furnace. Despite that, the Kingdom of God is meant for everyone, as the things both old and new in the storeroom.
This last point is also what the second reading is about. God chooses everyone. He sent His Son so that all would be justified and saved. However, he also allows us to make up our own minds. Thus, the third parable reveals to us the fact that there would be those who choose not to be justified and saved. How do we know we have chosen correctly? Our first reading tells us of the choice of Solomon. He asked for a heart to discern good and evil according to the dictates of God. In the world today, there are so many shades of good and evil because they do not follow the dictates of God but according to one’s own choosing. That is why one gets arguments like, “it is better to terminate a pregnancy than to bring a child into a world of suffering,” or “we need to be permissive to show the young that we love them, so we should not deny them anything.” More tragic is the argument that “I believe this is the right thing to do because it feels right.” Notice how the last one is dependent on oneself and not on what God has taught?
Today’s parable tells us to let the kingdom of heaven rule our hearts with love. The kingdom of heaven is precious; it welcomes all peoples. However, we enter the kingdom of heaven because we choose to follow God. We should ask God to give us wisdom so that we can be discerning, choosing the kingdom of heaven and rejecting that which is evil.
No comments:
Post a Comment