As we have seen in our Gospel readings
for the past couple of weeks, Jesus utilizes parables to speak of the
Kingdom of Heaven. This use of parables is in line with Jewish
tradition, as is evidence in our first reading tonight.
If you look at Jeremiah's command about
the loincloth (Jer. 13:1-11), you can easily see that this command worked as a
parable. It was as if the LORD said: “The people of Israel is like
a man who goes and buries his loincloth, and after many months, comes
back to retrieve it to find it rotten and unusable.”
What's more, these parables use
everyday things and common sense to point to the truth of God and of humanity's
goal of eternal life. With Jeremiah, God shows us how close
he is to us, and how important it is not to neglect our relationship
with Him; with the parable of the mustard seed and the yeast (Mt. 13:31-35), we see
that this same God works within us to create greatness, but must be
found to be so close to us, so intimate with us, that in the end
there is no distinction between our wills and His.
These parables show us that Our God is
not a garment we can easily discard; He is not a seed that can
germinate without being planted in the soil of our souls, and He is
not yeast that can enliven the dough of our humanity without being
kneaded deep into our hearts.
They show us that Our God wants nothing
less from than our all, and He wants nothing less for
us than perfection.
With that knowledge before us, are we
willing to cling intimately to Him? Are we willing to receive his
grace in our souls? Are we willing to bury His Love deep into our
hearts?
If we are, He will take us on this
journey of life from the foundations of this world to the very gates
of glory.
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