July 23, 2017

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time A Wisdom 12: 13, 16-19; Romans 8: 26-27; Matthew 13: 24-43 What is heaven all about? It is about God. What is heaven like? Today Jesus gives us three parables which give an insight into heaven by prefacing them with “The Kingdom of Heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field….The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed… The Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast … Next week Jesus gives two more parables: “the Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure buried in a field…The Kingdom is heaven is like a net thrown into the sea… Then the following week Jesus brings His apostles up a high mountain and is gloriously transfigured. For the past few weeks Jesus has been defining what discipleship is all about. Today He draws attention to the focus of our work as disciples, namely the kingdom of heaven. This seems to be an easy topic, but it is defined by people who want to get to heaven so therefore they will adopt the entrance rules according to what they feel will get them there. Heaven is where God is; shouldn’t He be the one to lay out the entrance rules? There are a number of books which tell of the last moments of people’s lives and a vast number of books that tell of a person who has had an ‘after life experience’. Wouldn’t these give us a clear picture of heaven? I personally shy away from all these books putting my trust and belief in what Jesus says. But I have enjoyed Mitch Albom’s books, especially Tuesdays with Morrie, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Have a Little Faith because they show people who live according to Jesus’ triple law of love. Today’s reading from the book of Wisdom sets the theme for the Gospel reading by showing us that God judges with mercy and permits repentance for our sins. The book of Wisdom is loaded with rich vocabulary and wonderful phrases that encourage its readers to recognize what truly counts for wisdom in each of our lives. It challenges us to look for the wisdom that God gives versus what the world offers. The book show us that if we live the Wisdom of God we will enjoy living forever with God, immortality with God, living forever in Heaven. It show us that God is like a teaching, loving Father who guides us each step of the way. This wisdom from God saved the faithful Israelites during the Exodus by providing them manna from heaven along with quail. See how much God loves you! Moses said repeatedly. See how much God has forgiven you for your sins and rejections of His love! We can see in this passage God is like a teacher leading them patiently, realizing that we all learn from our mistakes. The call is to continue living in the Lord. Wisdom states, “But though You are master of might, You judge with clemency, and with much lenience You govern us; for power whenever You will, attends You. And You taught Your people, by these deeds, that hose who are just must be kind; and You gave Your children good ground for hope that You would permit repentance for their sins.” In our pursuit of heaven God realizes we can’t comprehend His unrelenting, and incomparable love, so He helps us. Paul states very plainly in his letter to the Romans that we weak human beings just don’t know how to fulfill the most basic of our Christian duties: to pray the way we ought. Most of us confine our prayers to those of petition. But we really don’t know what we should ask for. This is not a problem for Paul; we must realize that the Spirit is within us, always helping us. One spiritual writer defined prayer as ‘the divine within us appealing to the divine above us.’ Paul continually adds that the heart of all prayer is being alive to call God ‘abba’ or ‘daddy’. This is the term that Jesus used. Do pray in this way? Jesus is using parables to describe the reality of the Kingdom of Heaven…God’s rule. The farmer in the first parable is looking around at his field which symbolizes the world. He sees people who are both good and bad. The weeds in the parable seem to be indistinguishable from the wheat until they harvest. So the farmer must be patient and tolerant until the harvest. We know the good people in our lives and we certainly are aware of the bad. We need the same virtues to be used for both. It could be the gift of ourselves that helps turn a bad one into good. The mustard seed, it is an ordinary seed which is very tiny. When it grows it is nothing more than a large shrub. God's kingdom is in the simple, the ordinary. The Kingdom of God’s love grows when we share our love. God takes care of the growth. But if we hide the love we are not living what love is all about. Jesus continues with the parable of the yeast. Look at the vast amount of dough that results from the yeast - three measures, this would be about fifty pounds. This could easily feed well over a hundred people. Jesus is telling us this is how the kingdom works. It can start out tiny, when it catches on and begins to work, it produces an extraordinary amount. Jesus is talking about love; your love, my love. When it is given and not hoarded, God will take care of it's growing and spreading. This is what heaven is all about. Within each one, the Spirit is sown. It may be difficult for us to grasp the extent of the change which is going on inside of us or even realizing that this change is achievable. To be real this must happen through the Holy Spirit and prayer. The transformation of the world into God’s love does not come from our complaining. It comes from our action and living love. Any change starts with you and me. So we ask, How am I living God’s triple command of love? This is my way to heaven. This is heaven where only love is. So I reflect on: • Am I my most severe critic? Am I too hard on myself? In what areas of my life? How does this attitude affect my prayer life? • What times or events in my life have awakened me to an awareness of God’s great kindness to me? Am I grateful? • Do I trust the Spirit to help me pray as I ought? Do I ask for this grace? • I look at the time when my faith life seemed to be at a low point. Who helped me to see God? Did I continue to pray? Did my prayer take a different form? Was it more personal like talking to ‘Abba…daddy’. Sacred Space 2017 states: “The weeds are a species of wild wheat, sometimes known as ‘false wheat.’ Only at harvest time can the farmer distinguish the real from the false. Jesus is saying that good and bad are mixed together in this world and indeed in each of us. We must be patient with others and with ourselves. Jesus does not condone or encourage what is not of God; yet He seems able to acknowledge that different motivations and spirits are at work. How might I let this spirit of Jesus shape my life? Perhaps I can look back on events in my life that seemed barren or weedy and see now that God was at work. “