Homily for 30 July 2023

 

Imagine you are going through a jungle and you chance upon a magic lamp. You rub the lamp and lo and behold there is a genie standing before you and he says, “You have one wish.. ask whatever you want!”  What would you ask for?  

In today’s first reading taken from the first book of Kings we witness the coming of age of the young King Solomon. Having just taken over the reigns of the kingdom Solomon like any other ruler begins to take measures to protect his kingdom. He marries the daughter of Pharaoh despite a law forbidding such marriages (Deuteronomy 7:3-4). Royal alliances were a way of consolidating power and ensuring peace. The enemy Pharaoh would surely not attack the kingdom where his daughter is queen! However, Yahweh expects Solomon to trust Him rather than royal alliances. It is Yahweh, not Pharaoh, who has the power to guarantee the future of Solomon’s kingdom. And it is in this context that Solomon, the son of King David is faced with an important choice. He is paid a surprise visit not by a genie but by God Himself in a dream and is offered a wish. Symbolic of his growing maturity Solomon praises God’s actions in the life of David. In all humility, he accepts that he is unable to lead the people on his own and instead of asking for long life, riches, or victory over his enemies, he asks for “an understanding mind” to rightly govern and judge. The prayer pleases God and He grants the request, giving Solomon not only “a wise and discerning mind” but also all that Solomon didn’t ask for - riches and honour.

The story of Solomon invites us to introspect our attitude towards God in terms of how much we really trust in his providence and also in terms of our prayer. What do we pray for? I often come across people who say that God didn’t answer their prayers. All their problems and all their struggles are still the same. Perhaps like Solomon, we need to also ask for an understanding mind to be able to discern how we should respond to the situations in our life. Prayer will never take away our problems, rather prayer shows us a path and gives us the strength to walk on that path.

In the second reading taken from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans, St. Paul assures us that God is the behind-the-scenes actor who makes things work for good. God has the power to bring good out of bad, to transform Good Friday into Easter. However, this transformation is experienced only by those who love God and respond to his call. There is also an interesting progression in the verbs used in the reading. We come across the words Foreknew, Predestined, Called, Justified and Glorified. We start from the beginning of time i.e. foreknew and continue to the end of time i.e. glorified. God’s goal is our justification and glorification, which involves being conformed to the image of His Son making us part of God’s larger family. From the beginning, we were created in God’s image but that image was distorted and broken in the fall of Adam and Eve. God foreknew that we would fall, but predestined us to be restored to our original image by becoming like the Son.

The gospel from Matthew continues from where we left last Sunday and presents before us three more parables about the kingdom of heaven, however, these do not have an explicit interpretation like the earlier parables. The parable of the treasure hidden in a field and the valuable pearl highlight some aspects of the kingdom that we have already seen earlier i.e. the growth from something small and insignificant to something much bigger - the treasure is in a much larger field, and there is just one pearl of great value. Also, there is an emphasis on the element of hiddenness. Both, the treasure in the field and the pearl are not easy to find.

The Parable of the Hidden Treasure and the Parable of the Pearl are both parables of discovery, joy, and action. The merchant is actively looking for pearls, while the other man just stumbles onto treasure in a field. Both, however, recognize the overwhelming value of their discovery and sell everything so that they might buy it. These discoveries disrupt their normal daily life; they demand risk and sacrifice. Jesus teaches that the kingdom of heaven is a treasure; it is valuable and something to be valued.

We could draw two lessons from these parables. First, the kingdom of heaven must be sought. It is not easily obtained or readily available. Though grace is a gift it requires a response. Neither man would have gained the treasure had they refused to pay the price. The second is that joy, not duty, drives these men to act. They do not sell everything to buy the treasure because they ought to do so, but because their hearts demand it. Do we proclaim the Gospel out of joy? Do we proclaim the Good News of God’s love and forgiveness or do we end up proclaiming The Bad News of our own judgement and prejudices?

The final parable has an eschatological emphasis similar to that in the parable of the weeds and the wheat. The reference to catching fish of every kind refers to the universality of God’s kingdom. Judgment at the end of the age separates the evil and the righteous who coexist up to this point, Judgment is the prerogative of God. The end of the parable makes an interesting mention of Scribes. Although scribes are often portrayed in a negative light in the gospel alongside the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the role of the scribes was extremely important. They had authority over the law. These scribes were leaders who were responsible for exploring the wisdom of the law, both the old and the new, and teaching it to the people.  The listeners who reply that they have understood the parables are like trained scribes who appreciate the new revelation in Jesus and the old revelation in Moses. The old things come from their Jewish heritage, and the new things are the expanded understandings drawn from Jesus’ teachings.

The message before us, therefore, is clear – we are called to build the kingdom of God. But, what does that actually mean? The Kingdom of Heaven is an ambiguous term. Unless we know what it meant to the people during the time of Jesus, we won’t know what it means today. I would therefore encourage you to watch the video that I had made specifically on this topic, you will find the link at the end of this video and also in the description.

Let us this week pray for the grace to be able to surrender to God and depend on his providence and be able to discern in prayer how we are called to contribute to the kingdom of heaven in our lives. May God bless us all.