Both New and Old

Gospel: Matthew 13: 47-53

Jesus tells us that those who are truly instructed in the kingdom of heaven take out from their storerooms things both old and new.  He asks us if we understand these things, if we understand what his parables truly say to us.  Naturally, the disciples say that in fact they do understand.  We, of course, make the same bold assertion.  Jesus knows better.  He knows that neither his disciples of that time, nor us, really understand the realities of the kingdom.

Take, for example, what he says about the old and the new here.  Traditionalists despise all things new.  They have created an artificial date where all things that come after that date are suspect and rejected.  Similarly, progressives have created a similar criterion where all things that came before their created date of validity are rejected as expired and stale.  If one were to compare the dates of these rival camps, one would discover the one thing these groups have in agreement - their own artificial constructs.

If we tilt to one of these extremes, we have an incomplete storeroom.  We find ourselves impoverished rather than enriched.  We deprive others of great treasures or great discoveries, and what we have in our storeroom is not the kingdom of heaven but a kingdom of our own making, a world of make-believe of one sort or the other.  Today is the day for the progressive to rediscover the treasures of the old, and for the traditionalist to realize the value of the new.   

The Model of Hospitality

Gospel: Luke 10: 38-42

Martha and Mary are often seen as representatives of the active and contemplative life in religion, a later interpolation of their story to be sure.  The original context of their presence in the Gospel stories is their model of hospitality that was the core of ancient religion and ethics, a foundation nearly erased in modern religion.   For it is much easier to muse on the abstractions of action and contemplation, much more difficult to apply the practice of hospitality to others.  

Martha is about the important business of providing food and drink to Jesus and his disciples who are those for whom she is offering hospitality.  The food and drink is important; the table is where hospitality is provided.  Yet, more important than the food and drink is our presence and attention to those for whom we offer hospitality.  To provide a listening ear and a friendly disposition to those at our table is the most fundamental element of the practice of hospitality.

In the mind and practice of Jesus, this hospitality is extended to all at table - friend and stranger, ally and enemy, native and foreigner.  For to be present to the guest is to become aware of the presence of Jesus among us, the presence of Jesus in the person at table with us.  Today's feast reminds us of these truths that we might practice them in our homes, our churches, and communities throughout the world.  That these ideas may seem alien to us today shows us how far we have strayed from the origins of our faith.

The Frustrated Gardener

Gospel: Matthew 13: 36-43

Anyone who has done farming or gardening understands the frustration of the parable in today's Gospel portion.  The farmer goes to great lengths in order to purchase and sow good seed.  She has prepared the soil assiduously, fertilizing it and removing any weeds or other harmful things from the planting beds.  In theory everything should produce nothing but good wheat.  And yet, the farmer wakes one day to find weeds growing up amid the wheat.  How could this have happened?

It is a great mystery of the spiritual life.  We have done the hard work for our souls, clearing away the soil within to create a good place for God.  We know that what God provides is also good, and yet we find within ourselves the presence of sin.  Like the weeds and wheat, we initially see no difference between them.  It is only when they grow longer that each manifests itself as what they are: good fruit on one side, and our sin on the other.  

Every life contains this mysterious paradox.  All that can be done is to begin the process anew over and over again.  Our life is a constant cycle of crop raisings.  We cultivate, plant, and observe the growth until harvest time where we sort out our good and bad.  Then the process begins anew and ends only at our death.  Only through sustained perseverance will we achieve some wisdom and success in the cultivation of our souls.