Word to the Wise
Thursday, July 26, 2012 - Thursday in the 16th Week in Ordinary Time
[Jer 2:1-3, 7-8, 12-13 and Matt 13:10-17]"Why do you speak to the crowd in parables?" He said to them in reply, "Because knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted. To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away."
Teachers and preachers know well that some students or listeners "get it" and some don't. Sometimes the cause may be due to physical or psychological deficits that can be remedied with care. But sometimes the reason is that the student or listener is hostile or indifferent to the teacher/preacher or to the message! It is this latter situation to which Jesus is referring in today's gospel scripture. The gift of faith and the Kingdom is freely available to all persons, but some will never "open" the gift.
The parables are one of the trademarks of Jesus' preaching. He did not invent them, but those who knew him, remembered the picturesque lessons and later wrote them down in the gospels. Although scripture scholars have written large books about the parables in an attempt to define what is or is not a parable, it is the experience of Jesus' teaching and preaching that is important to us here. Some of what he says seems almost like a riddle. Some of it is simply colorful and culturally appropriate metaphor or analogy! What they all do is to make us think about our faith. The Gospel of Matthew uses the parables and the reactions of the listeners as a way of showing how Jesus was accepted by some and rejected by others. One explanation the evangelist gives is that Isaiah predicted this kind of response. We know, too, that Jesus would occasionally have to give some "extra time" to the disciples in order to make his parables clearer.
Ultimately, for us, there remains the question of our own understanding of the parables. If we find them "quaint" because we are from a big city where such agricultural images are not part of our experience, do we try to come up with parables that will apply? Do we reject the message because the language or image is not "relevant?" Perhaps the challenge of our age is to imitate Jesus in finding ways to speak to the people in ways that apply to their experience. Some will listen and some will not, but that does not absolve us disciples from the task of preaching and teaching the Kingdom of God. AMEN