What is the kingdom of God like?

 Then He said, "What is the kingdom of God like?  And to what shall I compare it?  It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and put in his garden; and it grew and became a large tree, and the birds of the air nested in its branches."

And again He said, "To what shall I liken the kingdom of God?  It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened." 

And He went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem.  Then one said to Him, "Lord, are there few who are saved?"  And He said to them, "Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.  When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open for us,' and He will answer and say to you, 'I do not know you, where you are from,' then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.'  But He will say, 'I tell you I do not know you, where you are from.  Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.'  There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out.  They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God.  And indeed there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last."

- Luke 13:18-30

Yesterday we read that Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.  And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up.  But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, "Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity."  And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.  But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath; and he said to the crowd, "There are six days on which men ought to work; therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath day."  The Lord then answered him and said, "Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it?  So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound -- think of it -- for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?"  And when He said these things, all His adversaries were put to shame; and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by Him.

Then He said, "What is the kingdom of God like?  And to what shall I compare it?  It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and put in his garden; and it grew and became a large tree, and the birds of the air nested in its branches."  My study bible says that in Palestine the mustard plant grows to a height of about ten feet.  Let us note that Jesus says that the birds of the air nested in its branches.  This is an allusion to the angelic ministers who may make a home with us; but it all begins with a tiny seed that grows through faith.

And again He said, "To what shall I liken the kingdom of God?  It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened."  First Jesus gave us the image of growth of the tall mustard tree, which begins with a tiny seed, but can provide a foundation for the nests of birds of the air.  Here Jesus adds to our understanding of the growth of this Kingdom; it can also grow by permeating and enfolding, transforming the nature of whatever substance with which it is mixed.

And He went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem.  Then one said to Him, "Lord, are there few who are saved?"  And He said to them, "Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.  When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open for us,' and He will answer and say to you, 'I do not know you, where you are from,' then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.'  But He will say, 'I tell you I do not know you, where you are from.  Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.'  There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out.  They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God.  And indeed there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last."  Note the juxtaposition; the Kingdom is energetic and expansive, transforming whatever it enters.  But here, as Jesus goes about His mission through the cities and villages, He gives a caution to all, and the emphasis is on judgment, discernment, awareness.   In Matthew's Gospel, He contrasts the narrow gate with the wide ("wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it" - Matthew 7:13).  There, the description of these two ways reflects a widespread teaching in Judaism, which would also carry over into early Christian writings attributed to the apostles.  But here in Luke, as Jesus has already set His sights on Jerusalem, the perspective is more eschatological.   Put together with the parables about the growth of the Kingdom, it strikes a warning note, that this gracious gift is open to those who will take it as seriously as its true weight and value is worth.   Its growth and its transformative properties are a part of the process of repentance and awareness.  They also require of us the discipline of good servants, responding to His commands in living lives of faith. 

The "two ways" are an important theme in both Jewish tradition and early Christianity, as mentioned above.  In the Didache, they are referred to as the way of life and the way of death.  There is a sense that one is either going in one direction or another -- on the path toward a fullness of communion with Christ, or not.  In today's reading, Jesus stresses an urgency to making this choice for life, for the gift of the Kingdom.  We're first given descriptions of what this Kingdom is like and what it does.  Jesus describes a tremendous and mysterious growth from something very small, but which produces great branches that can even host new life, a foundation for the nests of "the birds of the air."  Then there is the enzymatic growth of the fermentation of leaven, which works mysteriously as an ingredient which transforms everything from within.  But when, as He teaches in the cities and towns, He warns that this opportunity for participation in the Kingdom is a narrow gate, He gives us the perspective not only of discipline and making astute choices, but also of a limited time in which to do so.  He gives us a sense that this gift of the Kingdom is rare and precious, and that it takes a kind of awareness and alertness to enter.  A narrow gate implies a limited sort of a choice, one which we must choose deliberately.  We can't just go along with the crowds to enter into a narrow gate.  We must seek it out, we must truly want that particular entrance.  The narrow gate brings to mind Jesus' statement regarding the difficulties with which a rich person enters the Kingdom:  "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God" (found in Luke 18:18-29).  In one interpretation of this statement, the "eye of the needle" is understood as a particularly narrow gate of the city, for which a camel loaded with baggage would have to be unburdened altogether in order to pass through.  However we look at Christ's statement, it is clear that He is demanding of His listeners the proper attention necessary to their salvation, an urgency they don't seem to grasp.  His warnings take on the familiar sense that our time is shorter than we think, and life more urgent in its call of what we are to be about, and the particular things that require our attention.  Our complacency with what we already have and know, and particularly with an assurance that we are doing all we need do, seems to be particularly emphasized here.  What our ancestors in faith have done before us is not enough, if we wish to join them in this Kingdom.  Where is your narrow gate?  Is there a particular choice you need to make?  Are the great gifts of this Kingdom something you take for granted?  The nests of the birds of the air await the root of the tiny seed He offers us.

No one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, "The old is better"

 After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office.  And he said to him, "Follow Me."  So he left all, rose up, and followed Him.  Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house.  And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them.  And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, "Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."

Then they said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?"  And he said to them, "Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days."  Then He spoke a parable to them:  "No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old.  And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined.  But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved.  And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better.'"

- Luke 5:27-39

Yesterday we read that it happened when Jesus was in a certain city, that a man who was full of leprosy saw Him; and he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean."  Then He put out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed."  Immediately the leprosy left him.  And He charged him to tell no one, "But go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as a testimony to them, just as Moses commanded."  However, the report went around concerning Him all the more; and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities.  So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.  Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem.  And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.  Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him.  And when they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus.  When He saw their faith, He said to him, "Man, your sins are forgiven you."  And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, "Who is this who speaks blasphemies?  Who can forgive sins but God alone?"  But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answered and said to them, "Why are you reasoning in your hearts?  Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Rise up and walk'?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" -- He said to the man who was paralyzed, "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."  Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.  And they were all amazed, and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, "We have seen strange things today!"

 After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office.  And he said to him, "Follow Me."  So he left all, rose up, and followed Him.  Levi is also known as Matthew.  He is a tax collector, member of a group of people widely hated by their society.  Tax collectors are seen as collaborators with the occupying Romans, who are willing to use intimidation and force to extort their fellow Jews.  Matthew leaves his occupation and accepts Christ's call to "Follow Me."  My study bible notes that from the beginning of His ministry, Christ has been a friend of tax collectors and sinners -- one of the Pharisees' complaints against Him.  Levi is possibly one of the tax collectors who were prepared for Christ by John the Baptist (3:12).

Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house.  And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them.  And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, "Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."  Matthew gives a feast to express his joy and gratitude.  It's important to understand what it means to find salvation with Christ; here, Levi/Matthew is restored to community.  The scribes and Pharisees, however, complain about the company which Jesus keeps.  My study bible calls this guest register of those at the feast "a stirring demonstration of the fruit of Jesus' love and forgiveness."  It will be an ongoing theme of Luke's Gospel to understand the Church as hospital, and Christ as Physician, who came to heal those who are sick.  To understand sin as sickness is essential to understanding the healing balm of mercy.

Then they said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?"  And he said to them, "Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days."   Jesus' earthly life -- the time when the Bridegroom is with His friends -- is one of joyous blessings.  But there will come a time when His followers will practice the fast.  This is an intimation by Christ of the events that will culminate His earthly life. 

Then He spoke a parable to them:  "No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old.  And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined.  But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved.  And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better.'"  As the religious authorities begin to confront Christ, so His teachings reflect what is to come -- the new start that is necessary, a new covenant.  My study bible says that this saying, "And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better,'" is only found in Luke's Gospel.  Accordingly, my study bible says, it illustrates the difficulty with which the Jews would accept the new covenant, the inner resistance that a person faces in turning away from a sinful way of life, and also the general stubbornness of the human heart. 

In today's reading, we're given an illustration of hospitality.  While there are those who scorn the sinners and tax collectors at Matthew's table, Christ sees them differently, as patients who need healing.  In a certain sense, Jesus' statement that those who have drunk old wine do not desire the new also represents the healing action of medicine.  What's good for us -- a change -- is not automatically desired.  Jesus presents this as human nature, when He says that "no one" who has drunk old wine immediately desires the new.  What we're used to, what we have already accepted, we say is "better."  So, who do we invite to our table?  Christ speaks of change, and the desire to change.  He dines with those in need of change, who want change.  This itself is His new doctrine, one of repentance, transformation, change.  Is sin permanent?  Must it afflict us forever?  Can we break free of old behaviors, old debts?   The key here is the desire to change.  Some would mistake Christ's company with tax collectors and sinners to say that this is the example for all of us, in the sense that we must keep company with those whose behaviors and habits may be less than desirable.  But that's too facile; that is simply taking this story purely at face value without looking into the meaning of Christ's words.   What is remarkable and new here is the effect of transforming sin, the desire for repentance and change.  The expanding wineskins are an illustration of that change.  They must be able to accommodate the new.  What is important about these sinners at this feast is not that they are sinners, but that Christ is at their table, the special guest of honor, the Bridegroom.  What marks these people as different, the great change in the midst of this society, is simply that they seek the company and teachings of Christ for themselves.  We are all invited to this table, but the key is that we seek the guidance of the Physician for ourselves.  Hospitality is an image of the Eucharist, the cup to which all are invited -- but it is also the cup of change, transformation, repentance.  It is the cup that asks us to participate in the life of Christ for ourselves, to become a member of His Body.  How can we accommodate the changes He will ask of us if we really want to be a member of the wedding party at the table?  What new wineskins do we need to become to contain all the internal enzymatic action of God's energies within us?  The message of this table, of this Physician, and of His cup, is precisely one of change and transformation, of ever-active renewal.  It is for those who are willing to give up the old and familiar, and to be called to the new -- even to become the new.  Perhaps it is those who are truly aware of their own illness who are prepared to leave everything behind, and trust in faith that where they are being led has to be better.  Shall we go on this journey with them?  What do you have to lose?  Or gain?

The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field

 Another parable He put forth to them, saying:  "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches."  Another parable He spoke to them:  "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened."

All these things Jesus spoke to the multitude in parables; and without a parable He did not speak to them, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:

"I will open My mouth in parables;
I will utter things kept secret from the foundation of the world."

- Matthew 13:31-35

We are in chapter 13 of Matthew's Gospel, in which Jesus introduces the telling of parables into His ministry, beginning with the parable of the Sower.  Yesterday we read that Jesus put forth another parable to them, saying:  "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.  But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared.  So the servants of the owner came and said to him, 'Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field?  How then does it have tares?'  He said to them, 'An enemy has done this.'  The servants said to him, 'Do you want us then to go and gather them up?'  But he said, 'No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them.  Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, "First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn."'"

  Another parable He put forth to them, saying:  "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches."  Another parable He spoke to them:  "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened."  My study bible tells us that the mustard seed and the leaven represent the disciples who, according to Theophylact, began as just a few men, but "soon encompassed the whole earth."   It adds that these also stand for faith entering a person's soul, which causes an inward growth of virtue.  This soul will become godlike and can receive even angels (in the image of the birds of the air).   Both parables speak of the explosive and mysterious growth of the Kingdom, both within us and among us.  (See Luke 17:21; in Greek, both meanings are suggested in Jesus' statement).

All these things Jesus spoke to the multitude in parables; and without a parable He did not speak to them, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:  "I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things kept secret from the foundation of the world."  Matthew quotes from Psalm 78:2.  We're given another meaning to the use of parables.  Tremendous mysteries are included in them, truths of which Jesus has told the disciples that "many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it" (Wednesday's reading).

What do we read in the parables?  What do we hear?  Can we relate to these stories that tell us about the kingdom of God?  We have seen how others have understood them:  the powerful growth of the Kingdom from a small seed (Jesus' word) expanding to all the known world in a remarkably short time via the Apostles.  The leaven (yeast) measured into the meal (or flour) changes the entire chemistry of the flour itself, its enzymes doing their work in secret and hidden ways we can't easily observe -- but we see their effects.  In fact, the Greek word for leaven is ζύμῃ/zyme, from which we get the word "enzyme" (which means literally "in leaven").   In fact, this mysterious process is also found in other images given by Jesus, particularly wine, which requires enzymes for fermentation.  The image of the leaven in the meal and the "new wine" that needs "new wineskins" given earlier in Matthew's gospel (see this reading) really mirror one another in this aspect of transformational energy that mysteriously changes the complex of the whole.  The "wine" suggests to us that it is this new covenant with Christ that enables the mysterious work to take place.  Our faith in the word (the "seed") connects us to this force that produces growth, expanding within us and among us, "in our midst."  We have endless examples of how this process works, in the community of the Church and all of its history, in the stories of Scripture.  St. Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus is one example.  The transition we see in the disciples from their beginning with Jesus and throughout His ministry, perhaps most clearly given to us in the stories of St. Peter, teach us what changes and transformations of character occur.  The expansion of the Church itself tells us about the far-reaching effects from one small seed, growing even today in nations where one would not expect such growth.  But perhaps for the purposes of this blog, we may consider the growth in us over the long haul, the entire period of our lives, as we grow more deeply enmeshed in our faith, coming to share a dependency upon God where once we depended on other externals in our lives.  To experience God's hope and love helps us in ways that other things we rely on cannot, and the growth of a person in this light produces a creative fruition that can't be estimated -- revealing fruits that are hidden until this "enzymatic" work in us manifests the secrets of potential in the true self created in Christ.   The Kingdom grows as the field that grounds our life and being, connecting us in the present time to its eternal reality, intersecting present life with the life of the age to come (Galatians 1:1-4).  These are deep mysteries in which we are allowed to participate through the saving ministry of Christ, His death and Resurrection.   The gifts of the Spirit are an example of how that Kingdom grows in people, the field and ground of our being working in us, giving us glimmers of our participation in it, and it in us.   Let us consider a golden mustard seed, and the tremendous shelter it may give for even the birds of the air, or the leaven that enlivens the whole of the flour.