Welling Up to Eternal Life

Luke 14:25-33

Great crowds were traveling with Jesus, and he turned
and addressed them, “If anyone comes to me without
hating his father and mother, wife and children,
brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot
be my disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross
and come after me cannot be my disciple. Which of you
wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down
and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for
its completion?  Otherwise, after laying the foundation
and finding himself unable to finish the work, the
onlookers should laugh at him and say, ‘This one began
to build but did not have the resources to finish.’
Or what king marching into battle would not first sit
down and decide whether with ten thousand troops he
can successfully oppose another king advancing upon
him with twenty thousand troops?  But if not, while
he is still far away, he will send a delegation to ask
for peace terms. In the same way, everyone of you who
does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my
disciple.”

Bible scholars teach us that in the Jewish language,
there is no comparative form.  It is either or not.
That is why Jesus does not say “if anyone loves Me
more than his father or mother…”  He rather says,
if anyone hates his father or mother.  It is either
love or hate, no comparative term like love more or
hate more.  But if we translate this to our English
language, we would by our language culture use the
comparative form.

This saying of Jesus is often followed by many who
leave their families and enter into the religious state
of life or the priesthood.  It is a very noble state
of life because they actually follow the counsels of
Jesus.  But as the parable teaches, one must first
“sit down” and see if one has the resources to enter
into such a calling - otherwise making such a resolve
and commitment will only be a failure.  When we are
called to renounce possessions in life, let us “sit
down” and see whether we have enough inner strengths
and resources to have faith in the providence and
mercy of God.  Discernment is a gift and it can be
prayed and asked for.  It will teach us what is the
better way in committing ourselves to Christ.

Matthew 13:31-35

Jesus proposed a parable to the crowds. “The Kingdom of
heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and
sowed in a field. It is the smallest of all the seeds,
yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants. It
becomes a large bush, and the birds of the sky come
and dwell in its branches.”

He spoke to them another parable. “The Kingdom of heaven
is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three
measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was
leavened.”

All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables.
He spoke to them only in parables, to fulfill what had
been said through the prophet:

I will open my mouth in parables, I will announce
what has lain hidden from the foundation of the world.

“I will open my mouth in parables…”

The scribes and the Pharisees often challenge Jesus to
speak plainly, not to speak in parables, as He was so
often want to do.  But Jesus knew what was in the hearts
of the scribes and the Pharisees.  And His mission was
not to speak of the Kingdom in terms of facts or rules
or laws or regulations; rather, Jesus wanted the people
to learn that the Kingdom is of the Spirit and its
manifestations are justice, joy, peace, charity, wisdom,
temperance, fortitude, generosity and many, many more
realities that expand our soul and make it more akin
to Christ.  In the gospel above, Jesus again tells us
what the Kingdom of God is like through two parables:
that of the mustard seed and that of the yeast.  As is
His mission to spread and proclaim the Good News, the
growth of the mustard seed into a big tree and the
yeast that made the whole batch of yeast and wheat
flour leavened - so is the Kingdom of God expanded
until “many birds of the sky…dwell in its branches”.
As the mustard seed of God’s Word is implanted in each
of us, God’s Kingdom grows and many believe and seek
refuge and shelter in it.

Matthew 13:24-30
Jesus proposed a parable to the crowds. “The Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off. When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well. The slaves of the householder came to him and said, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from?’ He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ His slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ He replied, ‘No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them. Let them grow together until harvest; then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters, “First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn.”‘”

“Let them grow together until harvest…”

The mystery of the Kingdom of heaven cannot be fully grasped by our humanly limited perceptions. But Jesus, in His wisdom, uses parables with elements taken from daily life, to allude and refer to what this Kingdom is like. The parable above is one example. Many bible scholars interpret this parable to refer to the end times which Jesus also speaks about in His preaching. A parable akin to this one is that of the parable of the goats and the sheep - wherein the goats represent those against God while the sheep represent those docile and obedient to Him. At the end of time, the goats will be separated from the sheep and the sheep will inherit God’s Kingdom. This parable of the weeds and the wheat also refers to the end time. The man who sowed good seed can refer to Jesus who sowed the gospel amongst us, while the enemy who sowed the weeds can refer to the Evil One. Then Jesus teaches us the wisdom of lettings good and bad things grow together until the time is ripe for separating them: the End Times. In both parables, even when good and bad mix together, it is eventually the good who will inherit eternal life while the bad will be condemned for their own iniquities.

Matthew 13:16-17

Jesus said to his disciples: “Blessed are your eyes, because
they see, and your ears, because they hear. Amen, I say to
you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what
you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but
did not hear it.”

“…Blessed are your eyes…and your ears…”

Before and after this passage in the gospel of Matthew,
Jesus spoke to his disciples about the parable of the sower
who sowed seeds in different types of ground.  After
teaching the parable, Jesus also explained the meaning of
that parable.  If not for the explanation of Jesus, the
apostles would probably not be able to obtain fully the
meaning of that parable.  The apostles are blessed not
only by the teaching of Jesus but by the person of Jesus
Himself who as God, became man and lived among them. 
Prophets have foretold of this “shoot” from David that
would rule and reign with justice and righteousness.  But
they did not live to see the glory of the God-man Jesus
in human flesh.  It is the apostles and all those who
benefitted from his miracle works and healing ministry
that are fortunate to behold in faith that God Himself
is truly one of them and dwelt among them and worked
His mission of salvation among them.  That is why all
those who truly believed in Christ were willing to give
their very lives - with some even to the point of martyrdom
- because what they beheld and was blessed with was Eternal
Life Himself in human form.

Matthew 20:20-28

The mother of the sons of Zebedee approached Jesus with her
sons and did him homage, wishing to ask him for something.
He said to her, “What do you wish?” She answered him, “Command
that these two sons of mine sit, one at your right and the
other at your left, in your Kingdom.” Jesus said in reply,
“You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the
chalice that I am going to drink?”  They said to him, “We
can.” He replied, “My chalice you will indeed drink, but to
sit at my right and at my left, this is not mine to give
but for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”
When the ten heard this, they became indignant at the two
brothers. But Jesus summoned them and said, “You know that
the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and the great
ones make their authority over them felt. But it shall not
be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among
you shall be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among
you shall be your slave. Just so, the Son of Man did not
come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a
ransom for many.”

“the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve”

When at the trial of Jesus He said that “My kingdom is not
of this world”, then we understand better the bigger context
of truth in all His teachings - especially as regards this
one on service and self-sacrifice.  He teaches that greatness
in the kingdom of God is a service akin to Blessed Teresa of
Calcutta’s service, or that of a working mother who works 7/24
- non-stop[!] for the sake of her family.  We are called
not to lord over each other but to help and serve one
another as Christ Himself shown us in His washing of the
apostles’ feet.  Serving God in the Church begins in the
family - the “domestic church” of parents and children.
For it is also in this context that mothers, fathers,
sons and daughters serve each other and make sacrifices
so that the other members of the family can have a better
quality of life.  So the “kingdom of God” begins in the
Catholic family were each member of the family lives in
the spirit of the Sacred Heart of Jesus - a spirit of
giving, a spirit of charity, a spirit of generosity, a
spirit of service, and a spirit of self-sacrifice for
the sake of the other’s good.

Matthew 12:46-50

While Jesus was speaking to the crowds, his mother and his
brothers appeared outside, wishing to speak with him. Someone
told him, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside,
asking to speak with you.” But he said in reply to the one who
told him, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” And stretching
out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother
and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my heavenly
Father is my brother, and sister, and mother.”

…”Whoever does the will of my heavenly Father”…

It is surprising at times what Jesus teaches in His preaching.
Surprising because it goes beyond what is humanly conceived of
by simple people as the Jewish people of His time: that which
normally concerns the family.  In the story above, we would
normally, [when asked like Jesus], tell our relatives to come
in and be part of the group.  But Jesus, who is preaching the
Kingdom of God, makes it plain to His hearers that in this
Kingdom, “whoever does the will of God” is family.  Jesus
seems to be teaching that “Kingdom relationships” are just as
important as blood relationships.  And so He makes this point
by placing His disciples on an “equal” footing with His blood
relatives [when they do the will of God].

With this teaching of Jesus, we learn that people outside our
family should matter as much as our wife or children.  They
indeed matter a lot when they need our charity, or our mercy,
or our time, or some resource that we need that can help them
in their lives.

Matthew 12:38-42

Some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus, “Teacher, we wish
to see a sign from you.” He said to them in reply, “An evil and
unfaithful generation seeks a sign, but no sign will be given
it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. Just as Jonah was in the
belly of the whale three days and three nights, so will the Son
of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.
At the judgment, the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation
and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah;
and there is something greater than Jonah here. At the judgment
the queen of the south will arise with this generation and
condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear
the wisdom of Solomon; and there is something greater than
Solomon here.”

…”No sign will be given it except the sign of Jonah”…

When Jesus spoke about His mission and Himself, many did not
believe Him.  Even His apostles who followed Him did not really
understand what He was about.  They did not understand for Jesus
did not “comply” with what they expect the Messiah to be: one who
will politically redeem Israel from slavery to its foreign lords.
Jesus, however, performs His Messiahship by curing the sick,
giving sight to the blind, making the lame walk, making the
deaf hear, raising the dead to life, and casting out evil spirits.
And He reminds all those who listen to Him what will really
happen to Him - that through the example of the prophet Jonah
who was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale,
so will He be in the belly of the earth when he dies after
His crucifixion and then rises again to new life after three
days and three nights.  Many of us know and believe Jesus is
our Messiah who died for us and rose again to new life that we
too may have new life.  But we know this from hindsight.  The
Jews and the apostles, especially, did not have this privilege
that we do.  It was by sheer faith in His Word that they clung
to His message and teaching.  And they realized that indeed,
there is something greater than Jonah here, and there is
something greater than Solomon here, when He rose from the dead
and revealed the glory of God to them in His risen being.

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!