St Matthew, Chapter 13, verse: 51, The Kingdom of Heaven: Understanding.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Conclusion of the parables) Part 1.   

The kingdom of heaven is like.  This is the message that Christ has given to his disciples.  He wants them to understand what the kingdom of heaven is like.  He wants them to know the truth of the kingdom.  He wants them to have wisdom of the kingdom.  He wants them to perceive the wisdom of his words that they may convey to others the message of the kingdom.  For they will be the messengers.  They will be the healers.  They will be the miracle workers after Christ has finished his work here on earth.  Theirs is the task of being the teachers to all the world through the message of Christ.

The disciples, therefore must have understanding.  The disciples, therefore must have knowledge.  The disciples, therefore must have wisdom before Christ leaves this earth.  So he gives them stories.  He gives them parables.  He gives them sayings that they may be filled with his knowledge.  He gives them the memories that they may remember his words for all eternity.  Then comes the test.  Will they remember?  Will they reply?  Will they convey the message as it was given to them?  So he asks his disciples, "Have you understood all these things?" They said to him, "Yes."  

And this is our question today.  Have we understood all these things?  Have we understood the meaning of the sower?  Have we understood the meaning of the weeds?  Have we understood the meaning of the net?  Have we understood the meaning of the pearl of great value?  Have we understood the meaning of the treasure hidden in the field?  Christ asks us to understand.  Christ asks us to hear.  Christ asks us know that we know.  For in these parables lies the wisdom of the kingdom of heaven.  In these parables lies the knowledge of Christ.  In these parables lies the door to our joy and our peace hear on earth.

Christ watched the people as he preached to them.   He saw the state of their minds as he sought to free them from the oppression of the evil.  Yet many were lost.  Many would not perceive.  Many could not understand.  For they had closed their eyes that they may not see.  They had made them deaf that they may not hear.  They had captured their hearts that they were lost in the world and lost to the kingdom of heaven.  Are we the same today?  Are we lost in the world?  Does the world have our eyes blinded, our ears closed, our hearts sealed to the message of the kingdom? 

We are so unaware of the ease with which we are drawn into the world.  We have no understanding of the need to protect our eyes, to protect our ears, to shield our hearts to the attractions of the  world.  We go to movies, we listen to music, we feel in our hearts the things that are given to us that make us feel.  We are drawn into the world without having any understanding of the need to resist.  We have no understanding of the safeguards that must be placed upon our souls to keep the evil one out and to allow the Holy One in.  We are wide open to all that the world offers without any safeguards.  Christ came to give us safeguards.  He came to give us the knowledge of the kingdom that we may have protections for that which is most precious and dear, our souls. 

Yet the world presents an almost irresistible attraction that most will not resist, most will not protect, most will not understand the need to guard against.  And once we travel down the wide path, the door is closed that we may not return to that which we have lost.  The door is closed so that we fall into the dream of the world and are trapped into an eternity of damnation.  Wake up from the world!!  Guard your souls!  Protect what is precious and shut out the evil one from your life that he may not trick you to take the wide path that leads to destruction.  Christ is here for you.  Christ is waiting for you.  The Holy Spirit will walk with you, if you only let him.  Come!  Walk the narrow road and take back what is yours!

St Matthew, Chapter 13, verse: 12, He who has vs He who does not have.

Our paragraph topic is:  (The disciples ask why He speaks in parables) Part 2. 

Christ has spoken to the people in parables and the disciples want to understand why.  This is a change for them.  He has taught before, directly to the people.  But now he talks in parables, he talks in stories and the disciples are puzzled.  So they question him that they may know why.  Christ tells them that it is given for them to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.  But to the crowds it is not given.  So he talks in stories that those who have hearing will hear the message and those who do not, will hear an entertaining story.

Many have come.  Some have come to hear.  Some have come to be entertained.  Some have come to be healed physically.  But few have come to have their souls cleansed.  Christ has told the story of the sower.  Some seed fell by the wayside and the birds came and ate the seed.  Some seed fell on rocky ground and did not have root.  When the sun came they were scorched and withered away.  Some seed fell upon ground with thorns.  And when the seed grew the thorns grew also and choked the seed and it died.  Some seed fell on good ground and yielded a hundredfold, some sixty and some thirtyfold.  The question asked is how does this apply to us.  Christ said he who has ears let him hear.

Christ explains to his disciples, "For to him who has shall be given, and he shall have abundance; but from him who does not have even that which he has shall be taken away."   What does he have?  What shall be given that he will have abundance?  These are questions that rang true in the minds of the people that they may make sense of what Christ was telling them.  Some may have questioned the meaning.  Most may have just passed it off as a story.  But the disciples knew what was being said by Christ.  They knew the mystery of his teachings.  They understood the hidden meaning of his saying.  Only a few would know.

Will you have abundance?  Many today, seek abundance.  They plant their money seed in ministries throughout the world in the hope and expectation that their money seed will bring back a hundredfold or sixtyfold return or thirtyfold return.  After all this is what we are given by our pastors and preachers and teachers.  We must sow into the church so that the church will grow.  We must give a bounty to God that he may open a window of bounty to us. 

Christ said that he who has, it shall be given and to he who does not have, even that which he does have will be taken away.  How is this that those who are less fortunate will become even more less fortunate because what they have will be taken away?  Is this the meaning of what Christ has spoken?  What fruit shall we bring forth?  If the seed is the word and it is planted in us how shall we grow and produce fruit?  Are you a fruitful Christian?  Will you have abundance in your life?  Do you have, that you may have abundance or will it be taken away, even that which you have? 

Christ loves you and wants you to be fruitful, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold.  He wants you to grow and yield spiritual fruit.  But some will only produce 30% of the time and 70% of the time they will not.  Some will produce 60% of the time and 40% of the time they will not.  And there are some that will be productive 100% of the time, at all times and in all ways.  Are you ready to be fruitful?  In which type of production category do you belong.  Are you a sometime christian, only 30% of the time?  Or are you a 60% christian leaving off 40% of who you can be?  Christ seeks all but looks for 100% Christians devoted to producing 100% of the time.  Be rooted in the good soil of Christ and you will produce 100% spiritual fruit that is pleasing to him.

St Matthew, Chapter 13, verses: 7 - 9, Seeds with the thorns and Seeds in the good ground.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Parable of the sower) Part 2. 

Christ sat on the shore and communed with the father.  And the people came to him in crowds.  Overwhelmed with their needs, he got into the boat.  He began to preach but this time he spoke in parables.  This time he did not teach directly to the people.  He changed how he taught.  He brought something different.  He spoke not to them but through them.  He spoke to those who had ears to hear.  For many had come to see.  Many had to come to hear.  Many had come to be entertained.  And so they were, for he spoke no more except in parables.  So that those who had would understand and those who had not, would not understand and that which they had would be taken away.

Christ continued to talk about the sower.  Many have heard to story.  It has been preached throughout the land by each and every preacher, pastor, deacon, lay person, priest, and commoner.   Many use the story as a platform for raising funds.  Sow your seed money and you will be rewarded with a great reward.  Is this the meaning of the passage.  Christ tells the story:
"And other seeds fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked them.  And other seeds fell upon good ground and yielded fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold."    

So the sower continues to sow his seeds.  He first sowed by the wayside and the birds came and ate the seed.  Then some fell on rocky ground and they had shallow roots.  So they  withered and died when the sun scorched them in the heat of the day.  Now some fall among the thorns and some on good ground.  And the fruit comes forth in bounty.  Some fruit comes a hundred fold, some sixty, and some thirty.  So what are we talking about.  Christ spoke in parables.  He entertained the people and filled the spirit of those who heard his message.  For there were many who came to be entertained.  There were many who did not believe.  There were many who did not understand.  And Christ said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"  

The mysteries of the kingdom of heaven are given but few receive it.  Few understand what they are given.  And few come to know the true value of the mysteries of the kingdom.  But for those who have ears to hear, great is their joy and overflowing is their peace.  Do you have ears to hear the message of Christ?  For he is sowing the seed.  Do not let your seed be scorched.  Do not let your seed be eaten by the birds of  darkness.  Do  not let your seed be chocked by the thorns of this world.  It is a precious gift, the seed.  Nurture it.  Treasure it.  Water it.  Keep the weeds out.  The mysteries of the kingdom await your discovery.  Can you hear them?  Can you understand?  Will you open your heart to the Holy Spirit to come in?  The treasures of heaven await your discovery.  Seek not the riches of this world.  For they are but dirt compared to the riches of heaven.  But first you must seek them.  You must desire them.  You must want to know them before they will come to you.  For those who seek will find.  Those who knock it will be opened to them.  And those who ask it will be given to them.

St Matthew, Chapter 13, verses: 1 - 6, The Seed: by the wayside and on rocky ground.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Parable of the sower) Part 1. 

We begin a new Chapter of the gospel as told by St Matthew.  Christ has instructed the people in their heavenly family ties.  He took the opportunity to show the crowd that we are all one family, those who do the will of God.  It does not matter that we are naturally brothers or sisters or mothers or fathers.  In God's family we are all one, we are all brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers because we do God's will here on earth. 

Christ retired after giving this lesson and went to the beach.  He sat on the shore watching the waves come and go until the crowds surrounded him and there was no room or place for peace and contemplation.  St Matthew tells us that Christ got into a boat and began to preach.  He did something different this time.  Instead of instructing the people directly he taught in parables.  He told stories.  He gave instructions in messages that the crowd enjoyed but did not understand.  He spoke in parables.  

Most everyone has heard about the parable of the sower.  Christ tells it this way,  "Behold, the sower went out to sow.  And as he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside, and the birds came and ate them up.  And other seeds fell upon rocky ground, where they had not much earth; and they sprang up at once, because they had no depth of earth; but when the sun rose they were scorched, and because they withered away.    They had no root."

When I first read this parable I did not understand it.  It was just a story for me that had no meaning.  Even the explanation that is given, explaining about the evil one snatching away what was given, did not make much sense.  It was not until the spirit moved me and opened my eyes that I was able to see and understand how I was the one sown on rocky ground.  It hit me like a ton of bricks that my life could have been different, would have changed had I  had roots to anchor me in my spiritual life.  

I recall my high school years in the early sixties, 1961.  We had just moved from the downtown area, to a new subdivision of single family homes.  This was a step up for our family because we lived in rental property before and now we had a home to call our own.  This also meant new friends, new school, new church, and new environment.  There was no public school nearby to attend.  Private school was the only nearby school.  I am 13 going on 14 attending high school.  

I tell this to give some background into my roots.  The private school is Catholic and we had just come from a Baptist background.  So everything was new to me.  The entire Catholic experience was new and exciting.  Service was in Latin and it was inspiring to me to be a part of this new life.  I sought to learn all that I could about it and studied much.  The school was Catholic also and most of the students came from the Catholic elementary school.  I worked hard to fit in.  It was the need to be accepted that drove me and it was the new Catholic experience that inspired me. 

I became so involved in the church that I expressed interest in becoming a priest.  This stirred great excitement in the church and in the school.  The word, the seed, was planted within me but it had no root.  My intentions were expressed in my sophomore year, but by my senior year that seed had withered and my interest died.  I look back and think how different my life may have been had I had roots to carry me through to priesthood.  The support was not there, not at home nor in the school.  Sure I was moved up and my studies accelerated but I was left in the student body, subject to the whims and taunts of my fellow students. 

Trying to fit in had a tremendous impact on the forthcoming change of mind.  There was no one to relate to.  The priest were available.  The nuns were encouraging.  But there was no roots to sustain the new life that was trying to take hold.  I look back and think that if I were taken out of the student body and placed in another school especially designed for those of my age who expressed intent for the priesthood, maybe my roots would have grown.  If I were given special nurturing, maybe my roots would have spread.  If I were set aside and taken out of the rocky ground, I would have had a chance to blossom to yield fruit at an earlier age.  When the spirit opened my eyes, the thoughts of these experiences flooded me with emotions that brought forth tears.  I had no roots and they did not grow, and when the sun came, I withered and died.

Today my roots are in Christ, solidly planted in his words, and the Holy Spirit guides me.  Roots are essential to new life.  Christ is our earth.  He is our soil.  He is our nourishment that allows our roots to grow and flourish.  Do you have roots in Christ?  Are you sure of your nourishment?  What soil are you grown in?  The evil one awaits, to snatch away your seed.