17th Sunday in Ordinary Time
1 Kings 3:5, 7-12 Romans 8:28-30 Matthew 13:48-52
For a third Sunday our Gospel today is taken from Chapter 13 of St Matthew’s Gospel, the Sermon of the Parables. Following the first great sermon of Jesus on the Mountain, when he taught the Beatitudes, great crowds followed him and were witnesses to many of his miracles of healing. They also were privy to his further teaching of the disciples on matters such as prayer and fasting, treatment of neighbours and enemies, justice and charity. Those close to the Lord understood much of what he taught but many needed further explanations and enlightenment. The Parables formed the great teaching resource which Jesus used. The disciples could listen to the stories and then parallel and compare them to their own life situations. The sower is the Lord, the seed is the word of God and the soil is our lives. The wheat is the people who have heard the word of God and the darnel is the enemy of the Kingdom and the evil one among us. The tiny mustard seed is the one who seems insignificant but grows to be an important part of the Kingdom of God. The early disciples could identify with all of these images and we, too, despite our ‘sophistication’ can glean from the Lord’s clever teaching.
The parables of the treasure in the field and the pearl of great price ought to raise our hearts and help us to appreciate the great gift that we have already received without having to bargain or even make any sacrifice. This gift of Faith has been handed down to us and is sustained by the sacraments that we receive at no cost to ourselves – reminders of God’s love and care for us. When God cast His net into the sea, searching us out for the Kingdom of God, He got back a great mixture of people, all with different faults and talents. That is how the Church is made up. It is a Church of Saints and Sinners and we are called to accept each other and try to understand each other. We need to pray for balance, to know the difference between good and evil, the Wisdom which Solomon asked for in the 1st Reading today.
The final parable or image which Jesus gives in his sermon from the boat on the lake is of a person who becomes a disciple, a follower of the Lord. This disciple immediately has access to Wisdom, new and old. What the Lord seems to be saying is, that in the Church there is not the option of being EITHER conservative or progressive. The disciple who follows the Lord faithfully is determined to conserve all that is good: the Sacred Scriptures; the Wisdom of the Prophets and of the Laws; the Traditions of the Church. And, of course, the Lord wants his disciples to move on and use these treasures for the building up of the Kingdom, of the Church.
When we become disciples we are confirmed in the Holy Spirit and in that Baptism we are given the tools to build up our Church: the gifts of the Spirit; Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Strength, Knowledge, Holiness and Respect for God. These are not nebulous or abstract gifts or concepts. They are the reality of the Treasure that has been bestowed on all who are driven by the Spirit of God.