Corpus Christi Blog

Lessons of the Kingdom

07-20-2014HomiliesFr. Chad King

Like last week, in our Gospel Jesus again presents us with parables.  Remember that the purpose of parables are to teach us, in this case to help us understand something about the mystery of God and the Kingdom of Heaven.  Each of these 3 parables begin with, “the kingdom of heaven is like”.  However, these don’t so much teach what heaven will be like, rather they teach us about the spiritual life on earth, they teach us how to establish the kingdom of heaven on earth.  Let us look closely at each of these parables and see what we need to learn.

In the first parable, a man sows good seed which are to grow into wheat, but the enemy goes and sows weeds throughout the wheat, so that weeds grow along with the wheat.  But Jesus says it is better to not pull up the weeds in fear of pulling up the wheat as well, but to wait until the harvest is ready.  What is the lesson here?  This parable teaches that the kingdom of God will struggle against opposing forces.  And this point alone is something some people don’t understand about God.  If God is all powerful and He can do whatever he wants, then why can’t God just get on with it and solve their problem?  Why would the kingdom even have to have opposing forces.  For some reason, we know there is both good and evil in the world, and rarely does good or evil exist by itself, but always the good and evil we see seem to be intertwined.  We can see that in society, in politics, in relationships, and in our own hearts both good and evil is intermingled.  So what are we to do?  Like in the parable, it is human tendency to want to destroy, to just quickly get rid of the evil so all that we’d have left is nothing but good.  But Jesus says, no, that can be dangerous.  It is like if a tumor had grown to be around the heart, one has to be careful in how they cut out the tumor not to damage the heart.  What Jesus is saying is that the good is too valuable, it is too valuable to even accidentally throw it out with the evil.  And so God allows good and evil to grow together. 

St. Thomas Aquinas even taught that sometimes the good and evil are so interwoven that one could not have certain goods without certain evils.  He uses the example, there would be no survival of the lion if not for the death of the antelope.  If one was to do away with the violence and if there was no more killing, then there would be no more lion either.  Aquinas also says that there wouldn’t be the inspiration of the martyr if there wasn’t also the tyrant.  There would be no St. Maximillian Kolbe, no Edith Stein, if it wasn’t for Hitler.  I know this is a difficult topic to embrace, but perhaps  my sharing a personal example will be helpful.  I think about my stuttering, although I wouldn’t say stuttering is an evil, it certainly is a disorder, it is not normal, it is a disability.  But I also know that my stuttering has helped to shape my personality.  I have struggled with stuttering since I began to speak.  I believe that whatever patience, whatever compassion and understanding, whatever persistence and tenacity that I might have can be partly contributed to my stuttering.  I know that I would be a much different person if it wasn’t for my stuttering.  You see, there is good intertwined with the difficult.  Can you think of goods in your life that are due to a certain difficulty in your life.  Therefore, this parable teaches that sometimes it is good that good and evil co-exist, because God can bring about good out of the evil.

Now let us look at the 2nd parable in which Jesus compares His kingdom to a mustard seed.  Have you ever seen these small seeds, there are the size of a pin point.  The smallest of all seeds grows into the largest of plants.  It seems as if God wants everything good, even the best thing, his kingdom, to start small and grow over time.  Again, we can wonder why God just doesn’t get on with it, why mess around with the smallest of things and be willing to wait so long for it to grow?  Why does God desire good things to start small and grow over time?  I believe it is because God delights in our cooperation, yes a good God can do anything he wants and it would be good, but it is something better, it is another good, if he is patient and waits for our cooperation.  Look at how the Church started.  Jesus called 2 fishermen to follow him, they in turn invited 2 more, and the kingdom of God grew and grew, more and more people became disciples, but God desired it to started small and grow over time. 

There is another reason why God desires things to start small and grow over time.  When things start small they can fly under the radar while it gains momentum and grow in strength, while those involved can be tested and tried, and grow to be made ready.  Suppose you want to do great things for the Church.  If the Lord would have given everything needed all at once then maybe you and those around you wouldn’t be ready. But if it starts small then it can grow while those involved can deepen. For example, God told St. Francis to “rebuild his Church”. God could have done it himself, just like that (snap) God could have re-built his Church.  But no, God called Francis, and although Francis thought God had a small Church in mind, God had much bigger plans.  And God let Francis start small in his mind, he let him physically re-build the San Damiano chapel, God let Francis grow into the simplicity and single-heartedness of life because it was this simplicity of life that caught the attention of others, which eventually made Francis teach and lead others to live simple and holy lives.  This was the start of the Franciscan Order, and a resurgence of people willing to give their lives in service to God and His Church.  But in the beginning, if God would have explained what big plans He had in mind, Francis wasn’t ready, nor were the others ready to follow Francis. No, God delights that things start small and grow over time.  That way we ourselves, and those around us, can grow in obedience and trust, and with patience and perseverance we can see the Kingdom of heaven grow.

And finally, the 3rd parable.  The kingdom of Heaven is like yeast that is mixed with flour to leaven and make the bread to rise.  And notice that the yeast isn’t sprinkled on top, but it has to be kneaded into, it must be mixed in with the flour to be effective.  Again, God allows the good to exist side by side, to be mixed in with evil, this is because God knows the enemy is best defeated by Infiltration rather than by direct confrontation.  Again, even though God could with one mighty act destroy all his enemies, He doesn’t.  Why not?  Because God loves his enemies.  God wants evil to be converted, to be changed from within.  Like the yeast that is mixed to make the bread change from within and to rise, so God allows good and evil to be mixed, so that the enemy could change from within.  The Church’s purpose isn’t so much to line up in direct battle and attack the enemy, but the Church’s role is to gradually infiltrate, so as to transform the evil culture from within.

So today we are given 3 parables about the kingdom of God co- existing along with opposing forces.  The kingdom of God starting small, the kingdom of God infiltrating, the kingdom of God wrapped around evil.  And 3 Spiritual lessons for us to embrace and learn from, move slow, trust in the Lord, and pray and work for the coming of the Kingdom even as it works its way in the midst of evil.  

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