Parables, Prayer and Discernment
We are hearing from a section of the Gospel of Matthew telling us that Jesus taught about the Kingdom of Heaven using parables. We have heard about the Sower and the Seed as a metaphor for God’s word in Scripture that can encounter challenges in the varying types of soil in each of us, but in the right soil can become very fruitful, bearing the fruit of spiritual insight and inspiration. The hope is that it will come to complete fruition through our actions and behaviors.
Last week we heard three parables, one making the analogy of wheat (goodness) and weeds (evil) growing together. The next two parables use a small mustard seed and a bit of yeast to emphasize that little things have more potential than we think to become something good – a large bush that provides a home for birds and leaven that makes bread light, airy and flavorful.
All of these images can be used for our reflection, prayer and even our discernment.
For example, in simple prayer and reflection, we may use the parable of the Sower to see our hearts, souls and minds as soil that the Word of God is landing in. We can simply request prayerfully that our hearts, souls and minds become rich soil and we may understand it more deeply.
We can use the parable of the wheat and weeds to help us be aware of evil in the world and the parables of the mustard seed and yeast to be aware of the small good things that we can do to make our world a better place.
Discernment is a prayerful process that urges us to be open to God’s Holy Spirit guiding us to make some of the more significant decisions of our lives. This weekend we hear a parable with two complementary images – FINDING a treasure and SEARCHING for a pearl. It begins with Jesus’ classic words…
The Kingdom of Heaven (God) is like…
He masterfully uses many parables to help us envision the Kingdom of the divine that connect earth and heaven, humanity and God, physical and spiritual.
My theologian friend Jack Shea describes this Kingdom like this, “The kingdom of heaven is always a combination of divine initiative and human freedom. Divine initiative is encountered in creation itself, the history of Israel, and supremely in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.” Shea goes on to describe it as relentless. He says, “...it will not be put off and so eventually will succeed.” (Spiritual Wisdom of the Gospels for Christian Preachers and Teachers, Liturgical Press 2004)
This week’s Parable of the Treasure in the Field and the Pearl of Great Price is a classic guide for our discernment. I have used this parable to help others in discernment, and I have used it over and over for my own – including now as I contemplate my future.
The kingdom of God is like the world we live in where many treasures lie. We traverse the earth and don’t realize the valuable things that lie beneath us and those that we pass over every day. The person in the story was probably doing two possible things: taking a short cut through someone else’s field, or farming the field for someone else. We know this because they do not own the field. They have to purchase it after they discover the unexpected value lying within it.
Another truth is that we can find something very valuable anywhere in the field of life.
After discovering it, they bury it again and then purchase the field.
Discernment often generates important questions. For example, from this parable we can ask, “What have you found in life? What have you discovered either by pure grace or by working? What have you learned in life?
The second part of the parable reveals a person who operates a bit differently. The merchant has learned about pearls. They use their God-given mind to study pearls and thus come to differentiate a good one from a bad one. They then make a wise decision in finding a VERY valuable pearl. They, like the first person, take a risk and garner the funds to purchase something that is of greater value than expected. Their SEARCH has guided them into greater value. So, the question generated is, “What are you looking for? Searching for in life?
So, I believe that the Kingdom of God is a combination of what we have discovered in life and what we are searching for. I know I am focusing on these two questions as I discern my future and offer them to you as you discern yours.