Why do you have to be so cryptic,Jesus?

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time July 27

First reading 1 Kings 3:5,7-12
The Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream and said, ‘Ask what you would like me to give you.’ Solomon replied, ‘O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in succession to David my father. But I am a very young man, unskilled in leadership. Your servant finds himself in the midst of this people of yours that you have chosen, a people so many its number cannot be counted or reckoned. Give your servant a heart to understand how to discern between good and evil, for who could govern this people of yours that is so great?’ It pleased the Lord that Solomon should have asked for this. ‘Since you have asked for this’ the Lord said ‘and not asked for long life for yourself or riches or the lives of your enemies, but have asked for a discerning judgement for yourself, here and now I do what you ask. I give you a heart wise and shrewd as none before you has had and none will have after you.’

Psalm                                                                          Psalm 118:57,72,76-77,127-130

Second reading                                                      Romans 8:28-30

We know that by turning everything to their good, God co-operates with all those who love him,
with all those he has called according to his purpose. They are the ones he chose specially long
ago and intended to become true images of his Son, so that his Son might be the eldest of
many brothers. He called those he intended for this; those he called he justified, and with those
he justified he shared his glory.

Gospel                                                                     Matthew 13:44-52

Jesus said to the crowds, ‘The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field which someone has found; he hides it again, goes off happy, sells everything he owns and buys the field.

  ‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls; when he finds one of great value he goes and sells everything he owns and buys it.

  ‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea that brings in a haul of all kinds. When it is full, the fishermen haul it ashore; then, sitting down, they collect the good ones in a basket and throw away those that are no use. This is how it will be at the end of time: the angels will appear and separate the wicked from the just to throw them into the blazing furnace where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.

  ‘Have you understood all this?’ They said, ‘Yes.’ And he said to them, ‘Well then, every scribe who becomes a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out from his storeroom things both new and old.’

Reflection by Fidji Rivera-Sarmiento

Back in Christian Living class, we were always tasked to memorize the symbols and what they represent among all parables. Last Sunday was about the wheat and the weed, the mustard seed, and the yeast used in bread. In today’s Gospel, Jesus used a buried treasure, a merchant searching for the pearl of great price, then a net cast into the sea. Expectedly, our Lord would end the parable with the selection of what is good, then burning the bad. Morose ending, eh?

Here’s the article from Felix Just, SJ about the parables in the Gospels. Boy, are these students of the internet generation very lucky to have this list! We had to find all of them in Bible manually!  But if you must ask, if I TRULY understood why our Lord had to actually talk in parables, the answer is a resounding…NO. (Sorry, my CL teachers.) Why so cryptic, my Lord? Even the Apostles had to ask Jesus why. Let’s read this eksena from Matthew 13:10–17.

10  And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?”

11  ¹Jesus answered them, “^aTo you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, 

but to them it has not been granted.

12  “^aFor whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; 

but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.

13  “Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while ^aseeing they do not see, 

and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

14  “¹In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says,

‘^2aYou will keep on hearing, ³but will not understand;

⁴You will keep on seeing, but will not perceive;

15  ^aFor the heart of this people has become dull,

With their ears they scarcely hear,

And they have closed their eyes,

Otherwise they would see with their eyes,

Hear with their ears,

And understand with their heart and return,

And I would heal them.’

16  “^aBut blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear.

17  “For truly I say to you that ^amany prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, 

and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

So, did this explanation clarify my queries? Still not. See, I am not the beating-around-the-bush kind of gal. I hit the target right away. I love a little mystery here and there, and maybe bits of suspense. But I am not a fan of cryptic messages. Not that I dislike deciphering them, but I find it time wasting. Paikot-ikot, bakit kailangan malabo, kung pwede namang malinaw? But our Lord Jesus greatly used parables to describe the kingdom of God. He must have a big purpose for that. Could it be so the non-believers will continue to follow Him, na mala-teleserye ang dating? Or did He want to coat the bitter truth with something digestible? Was He kind of simplifying how God operates by using simple and sometimes inanimate objects? Then towards the end, the Lord would only reveal the meaning to the Apostles, na parang private debriefing lamang. Oh, my theories and me!

But was it effective? Precisely, YES! Did He convey the messages with conviction? Yes! Did the parables affect a reader in many levels each time one reads it? Truly. Parables hit me differently when I was in grade school compared to how it moves me now that I have my own family. And besides, to those who honestly hunger for God’s Word, the parables become a memorable tool about the truths. At least for now, we perfectly understand how precious the kingdom of God is, and how Jesus want us to WANT it.

As my mother would quip, “Kung lahat naiintindihan mo, wala nang misteryo. Hindi na faith ang tawag ‘dun.”

Prayer

Dear Jesus,

I’m sorry for the many, many times I doubted. But You always found a way to refresh my faith. Thank You for Your Holy Spirit. Thank you for Your Words. Thank You that even if You are not physically walking around here telling parables, You instituted a Church to guide us in learning Your Words.Amen.