16th
Sunday in Ordinary Time
July 20, 2014
Matthew 13:24
– 30
“I will open my mouth in parables, I will announce what
has lain hidden from the foundation of the world (Mat 13:35).”
Today’s Gospel
features Jesus’ competence to teach the people in parables. In the synoptic
Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke), the parables are abound. But, why did Jesus
deliver His message in the parables? Is not it better to speak in
straightforward fashion to avoid confusion and misinterpretation?
One of the
probable reasons is that telling parables is something particularly Eastern way
of understanding. Like Confucius, Buddha, and some other great gurus of the
East, Jesus had penchant to teach through stories. This is a beautiful way of
expressing the truth precisely because it appeals to the ordinary experience of
His disciples. When Jesus met the people from the agricultural context, He said
the parable of the sower. And, when He encounters people living in the cities
of commerce, He taught parables on talents’ investment. Yet, there is profound
truth lies beneath.
However, for
some of us, reading parables posts a fundamental difficulty. Often, the truth
seems fluid and escapes direct understanding. What is this all about? Can he
just tell us what He wanted to tell us? We cannot blame Jesus of being a Jew
and teaching through parables, but we may trace our tendency for looking the
plain and even instant answer from our highly Westernized education system.
Gerhard Lohfink, an author of Jesus of Nazareth, revealed the western obsession
to facts and data. Truth has to be measurable, observable and verifiable. Thus,
things that fall short of these categories, has no claim to be called truthful.
I do not say that Western style of learning is not good, but I am saying it
differs greatly from the ancient East. In fact, without rigorous and discipline
sciences of the West, it is impossible for us to have a computer to type this
reflection and a printer to produce this writing you are reading now!
Yet, when we
encounter Jesus and His parables, we are invited to set aside our
western-trained mind and see the beauty of it. In this fast-moving world, reading
parables slows us down and allow us to reflect. We need to chew it slowly and
let the truth unveil itself in our own understanding. As a novice preacher,
parables are a great help for me. When I write a reflection on one of Jesus’
parables, I spend a moment of silence every day for a week, just to have a
dialogue with it. How can I relate the parable of the good soil into my life as
a students? How does the parable of the yeast speak for marriage people?
Amazingly, the parables always give me with ever fresh answers.
Dear brothers
and sisters, often, we are like the disciples. We are impatient and rushing in
looking at the keys behind various happening in our lives. Why did I flank the
exam? Why didn’t I have an ordinary and normal family? Why did my close friend
have to suffer HIV? Please, Lord, answer me now! Yet, there is no easy and fast
solution to those questions. The more we demand, the more we are frustrated. Thus, Jesus taught us the parables. He gave us
a method to cope with life’s hardest moments, to walk straight in a crooked way
and to rise again every time we become ashes. Fr. Timothy Radcliffe, OP, my
favorite author, once said that hope is not about attaining our expectations or
a quick fix to our problems, but despite an unwanted results, we are still able
to discover meanings. Let us enjoy every parable we encounter, let them sink
deep into our system and allow them to lead us into God’s time and wisdom.
Br. Valentinus
Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP
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