Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Riddles reveal mysteries. Yet riddles confuse sharp minds, stupefying even the ingenious. Stupefied, many reject riddles discounting them as absurd, becoming hardened not only in heart but also in mind. Minds and hearts hardened, they no longer ponder or wonder about the riddles, especially those that offer incredible insights concerning life. Frustrated, people detach from exploring riddles, becoming complacent or worse indifferent concerning the deeper meaning and purpose of life.
The whole of Scripture is a riddle, filled with strange stories and narratives. The Scriptures challenge our way of thinking engaging our minds to explore new vistas. Jesus, the master storyteller, speaks in riddles on purpose (John 16:25). He makes us think and ponder, inciting us to decipher his message. Because He speaks in riddles, many challenge his thoughts, trying to trick and trip Him up. They want to prove Jesus wrong, especially when He challenges our spirituality.
Some riddles include powerful faith statements: Life comes through death. Take up your cross daily. Eat my body and drink my blood. Others are just absurd teachings that offend, even disturb us: Love your enemy. If asked for your cloak give him your shirt. Yet, Jesus makes the most absurd proclamation, “I am God!” His claim comes when He forgives sins, when He cleanses the temple, when He challenges the Pharisees and their authority. But most of all, He declares to Caiaphas, I am the Son of God (Mark 14:61-62). This was blasphemy. But is it true? This is the greatest riddle each person must ask and answer.
Riddles (a better translation of the Hebrew word from which we get parables) not only compares two opposites, that is what the word parable means, comparison, but challenges our minds to probe for hidden and deeper meanings. The hidden meaning, the mysteries of God, are divine secrets that only those who deeply desire will find the answers. The parables, yes pointed stories laced with a moral teaching, are throughout the Scriptures. Yet, if properly understood, parables reveal God’s heart. He wants a relationship with us. He wants to be our friend (John 15:15). Friendship with God, however, demands growth, change, a new way of life. His ways contradict. God wants to transform our ways according to his ways, his heart and mind.
Speaking in riddles those who care to understand will grasp the unrighteous behaviors that distort and disturb God’s friendship with us. These behaviors lead to dire consequences. Read Nathan’s parable to David concerning the ewe lamb (2 Sam 12). David committed adultery, then murder, then covered it up. Because of his infidelity, his child died, and the sword would never leave David’s Kingdom.
Those who refuse to acknowledge their unrighteousness will suffer the pains of broken relationships. The prophet Hosea eloquently lives this broken relationship having to marry Gomer, the harlot. His prophecy, adultery leading to divorce, epitomizes Israel’s covenant infidelity. Those who reject the riddles become harder in heart denying any need for forgiveness disconnecting themselves from any form of relationship with God, much less a loving intimate union, a marriage (Is 62:5 Hos 2). Those, however, who seek understanding penetrate the love and forgiveness of God’s Fatherhood. He longs to bind Himself with his people in a covenant relationship, a faithful marital bond.
God’s view of life is dramatically different than ours. To reveal God’s ways, Jesus, using the Old Testament Scriptures as his foundation starts to speak in riddles. His disciples notice the dramatic change. They ask, “Why do you speak to them in parables” (Matt 13:10). He answers: “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 13:11). Jesus wants to reveal Himself as the Divine Messiah, the promised one of God. More than fulfilling the prophecies, Jesus reveals Himself as Man Who is God. Those who delve and explore this riddle, the incarnation: God becomes man, see and understand the Scriptures not as literature, but as an inspired invitation to enter into the covenant, an intimate relationship with God.
In the beginning, God made a covenant with Adam and Eve. The whole creation narrative reveals a liturgical procession leading us into the presence of God. It then climaxes with the Seventh Day. Each new day builds upon the previous day adding greater glory, honor, and majesty. Each new day draws us deeper into the presence of God. By his spoken Word, God has power to bring forth not merely stars and planets, land and sea, trees and flowers, birds and animals, man and woman, but also unveils God’s glory. He is the source of all created life because God is life Himself. The Psalmist praises God’s divine presence alive in all of creation when he writes, “The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge. (Ps 19:1–2). God speaks and his words become real. Or as Pope Benedict declares, “The glory of God is the living man. And the life of man is the vision of God” (Sacramentum Caritatis, # 71).
The greatest act of creation, God speaks, blessing and hallowing the Seventh Day, the Day of the Covenant. “God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all his work which he had done in creation” (Gen 2:2-3). On that day all of creation rests; it is admired and adored because God’s handiwork reveals his glory and beauty. On that Day, the Seventh Day, we rest—abide—in God’s presence and God rests—embraces—us into his life. We are in intimate relationship with our Creator. Peace reigns because peace produces harmony. We are in friendship with God.
The Seventh Day concludes creation but includes us in his presence. We share in God’s glory for we are made of his glory. The Day of the Covenant marks this total exchange. God gives Himself completely to his creation and we return all of ourselves back to Him. Our fidelity to God’s true presence gives thanks to the Lord. The Seventh Day then celebrates the covenant, the total complete and free exchange of God’s glory binding us his people in his divine beauty.
Covenant blessings continue through Noah and Abraham. With Moses, however, the covenantal blessings now come with a curse. If the Israelites keep the covenant, they will be blessed a 100 fold. If they fail to keep it, a seven-fold curse will come upon them.
I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice, and clinging to him (Dt 30:19–20).
Isaiah reveals the reasons for the curses: the people declared good as evil and evil as good. Poignantly he states, “Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight!” (Isaiah 5:21 RSV-CE). To protect the covenant, Jesus uses Isaiah’s parable who quotes Moses’ warning (Deut 29:4-5).
Go, and say to this people: ‘Hear and hear, but do not understand; see and see, but do not perceive.’ Make the heart of this people fat, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.” (Is 6:9–10; see Matt 13:13-14).
Jesus comes to heal, not condemn. He comes to reveal, not hide the mysteries of the Kingdom. He comes, as Jeremiah tells us, to give us a new heart, a new spirit, a new covenant.
This is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people (Jer 31:33-34).
Our old hearts are blind, deaf, and hardened, torturous, beyond remedy (Jer 17:9). Jesus comes healing our hearts and restoring our fidelity. To do this Jesus gives us eyes to see and ears to hear so we may “Confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, (then) you will be saved” Rom 10:9). Or as Pope Francis explains: “Faith’s understanding is born when we receive the immense love of God which transforms us inwardly and enables us to see reality with new eyes” (Lumen Fidei, # 26).
Instead of leaving us in our darkness, Jesus invites us into the light. This light, Divine Illumination, gives us the answers to life’s riddles. No longer do we struggle trying to find the answers, Jesus comes and gives us the insights into the meanings of the parables. We are, as Jesus tells us, blessed because our eyes see, and our ears hear (Matt 13:16).
Understanding the parables breaks the hardness of our hearts, cuts them to the quick, protecting our hearts from becoming stones. Riddles create questions and instead of resentment and ridicule arising, the riddles pierce our eyes, open our ears, and allow our hearts to be touched, healed by love. Divine love contains rays of light illuminating our minds, so we see, hear, and understand the mysteries contained within the parables. Understanding the mysteries illumines not only our friendship with Jesus, but enlivens every friendship we have. No longer living in the dark, separated, divorced, or abandoned, our lives become a beacon for the Divine Light of Christ to dwell within.