The Secrets of the Kingdom of heaven: The nature of the Kingdom of God may also be seen from the parables of the Kingdom narrated by Jesus. Jesus has himself explained the purpose of the parables about the Kingdom. Parables are meant both as a help and as a hindrance to our understanding of the secrets of the Kingdom of God. It is a help to those people like the disciples to whom it has been given by God to understand those secrets. It is a hindrance in understanding to those others to whom the gift of understanding is not given by God Himself. It might seem a little unjust that God seems to show partiality and yet demands compliance from everyone. The answer to this dilemma is provided by Jesus himself when he reveals the logic of God's action. "For the man who has will be given more, till he has enough and to spare; and the man who has not will forfeit even what he has" (Matthew, 13: 12). The parable of the talents is an example of this truth. In short, we may say here that God has deposited in each and every human being the seed of the Kingdom that each one should attend to and nurture. Those who do will be given more and more of the blessings of the Kingdom, while the others who are immune to their inner inspirations will forfeit even what they have.
The Obstacles: Jesus unfolds the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven by detailing out 3 obstacles that stand in the way of the seed of the Kingdom from bearing fruit. They are lack of understanding the Word of God,, trouble or persecution on account of the Word and worldly cares and the false glamour of wealth choking the Word. "But the seed that fell into good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it, who accordingly bears fruit, and yields a hundred fold or, it may be, sixty fold or thirty fold" (Matthew, 13: 23). In order to let the seed of the Kingdom bear fruit in us, we have to prepare our heart, i. e., the center of our whole being, to be soft and unhindered by unwelcome guests after our mind takes in the implications of the arrival of the Kingdom. Thus the Word of God occupies center stage in the realization of the Kingdom of God in us.
The Evil: Another secret of the Kingdom is revealed in the parable of the darnel among the wheat. This refers to the actual situation in this world where Satan enters the field where God's Word has been sown. The secret of evil in the world and the rationale of God allowing it till the end of the world may be seen from this parable. God does not use His omnipotence and eliminate all evil till the end of the world for three reasons. First, God respects the freedom and power of choice He has bestowed on His creatures even to the seeming detriment of His own power. Second, God is patiently waiting for the evildoers to desist from evil and return to their senses even though this may be impossible in the case of Satan and his cahoots, the devils. God earnestly waits for the human agents of evil to turn back from their evil ways where we see the importance and relevance of gospel proclamation. Third, the ultimate victory belongs to the Good and not to the Evil and therefore God in His wisdom cannot be defeated by the powers of Darkness. "And then the righteous will shine as brightly as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father . If you have ears, then hear" (Matthew, 13: 43).
The Growth: The parable of the mustard seed reveals the secret of the growth of the Kingdom of God. It is immaterial how small and ordinary is the inner prompting of our heart, if only we are ready to take note of it and nurture it carefully it will grow on its own. In course of time they are bound to grow into great accomplishments giving succor and solace to many from all walks of life. We have ample examples in the achievements of so many good people in the fields of education, health, social development and a myriad of ways of empowering the ordinary and helpless people. "... it becomes a tree, big enough for the birds to come and roost among its branches" (Matthew, 13:: 32).
Good Influences: The parable of the yeast reveals the secret of good influences culminating in the kingdom of Heaven. A little is enough from our part to influence a mass of people for the good and here too we see the imperative of the Gospel proclamation urging people to turn from their evil ways and be forgiven. If we turn away from our wicked ways, God will not remember our past is the promise that should work like yeast in flour (See Matthew, 13:33).
Unseen Value: The next secret of the Kingdom of Heaven why a man sells with joy whatever he has was told by Jesus using the psychology of a trader. A trader is a person who exchanges his own things, be it cash or things, for another that is of greater value. The Kingdom of Heaven is compared to a treasure and to the action of a merchant looking out for fine pearls. In the first case, it is an ordinary person who happens to come across by chance a treasure lying buried in a field. His immediate action was to bury it again because at that moment he was not prepared to handle such a precious find. He needed time to act wisely although anyone who looked at his possessions as against the land he was going to buy in exchange of his vast holdings would laugh at him and brand him a "fool" or as "crazy". However, the man himself goes with sheer joy and sells everything he has and buys that field. The simple reason for his seemingly strange action is that he has known a secret concerning that field unknown to others. Similar is the case with the merchant whose eyes are trained to see value in precious stones which are all alike to ordinary people. His action of selling everything he has, to buy a single stone is justified only from his point of view unknown to others who are unable to see any special value in that one stone.
Selling Our Possessions: In the case of the Kingdom of Heaven what one sells is all-important. It depends on what is considered to be one's possessions. It should be an all-out sale where nothing remains as one's possessions. That is why many have left the world and gone to the deserts and forests, convents and monasteries etc., to seek out the promised Kingdom of Heaven. In all such attempts, however, it is possible to keep back our real possessions and carry them along with us wherever we go whereby one is not able to live a life worthy of the Kingdom. These possessions are our attachments to parents, siblings, wife, children, friends, and relatives as well as our material possessions. Unless we are detached from all of them, it is immaterial whether we have left one place for another or not. The greatest of our possessions is our own self that cannot be got rid of wherever we go. The only way to get rid of it is to become a servant and be willing to be humiliated like a child. The one who does so is likened to the person who found a treasure or the merchant who found a pearl of great value. (See Matthew, 13: 44-46).
Selection of the Good: The last of the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven is about what would happen at the end of the world. All kinds of people are in the Church that is meant to be the visible manifestation of the Kingdom of God on this earth. Judgment whereby the good will be chosen from among the bad will be accomplished at the end of the world just as collecting the good fish and throwing away the worthless ones by the fisherman (See Matthew, 13: 47-50).
In Real Life: Jesus was happy that his closest disciples understood what he said by means of all those parables. It was possible only because they had the charisma of understanding the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven bestowed on them by God Himself. And yet, we see that their life was not all of smooth sailing even after receiving this charisma, but was plagued by doubts, uncertainty, failures and repentance. All that changed only with the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost when they became new persons ready to take on the world irrespective of consequences.
How the learned and the wealthy also can serve the purposes of the Kingdom of Heaven is expressed by Jesus by a beautiful remark. "He said to them, 'when, therefore, a teacher of the law has become a learner in the Kingdom of Heaven, he is like a householder who can produce from his store both the new and the old' " (Matthew, 13: 52). Nicodemus was such a householder as well as Joseph of Arimethea , both of whom were secret disciples of Jesus for the sake of the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven. The supreme example of such a householder was Paul who was known as Saul before his conversion as a disciple of Jesus. We can see from his Epistles how he was able to bring out from his store both the new and the old. (To be Contd).
The Obstacles: Jesus unfolds the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven by detailing out 3 obstacles that stand in the way of the seed of the Kingdom from bearing fruit. They are lack of understanding the Word of God,, trouble or persecution on account of the Word and worldly cares and the false glamour of wealth choking the Word. "But the seed that fell into good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it, who accordingly bears fruit, and yields a hundred fold or, it may be, sixty fold or thirty fold" (Matthew, 13: 23). In order to let the seed of the Kingdom bear fruit in us, we have to prepare our heart, i. e., the center of our whole being, to be soft and unhindered by unwelcome guests after our mind takes in the implications of the arrival of the Kingdom. Thus the Word of God occupies center stage in the realization of the Kingdom of God in us.
The Evil: Another secret of the Kingdom is revealed in the parable of the darnel among the wheat. This refers to the actual situation in this world where Satan enters the field where God's Word has been sown. The secret of evil in the world and the rationale of God allowing it till the end of the world may be seen from this parable. God does not use His omnipotence and eliminate all evil till the end of the world for three reasons. First, God respects the freedom and power of choice He has bestowed on His creatures even to the seeming detriment of His own power. Second, God is patiently waiting for the evildoers to desist from evil and return to their senses even though this may be impossible in the case of Satan and his cahoots, the devils. God earnestly waits for the human agents of evil to turn back from their evil ways where we see the importance and relevance of gospel proclamation. Third, the ultimate victory belongs to the Good and not to the Evil and therefore God in His wisdom cannot be defeated by the powers of Darkness. "And then the righteous will shine as brightly as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father . If you have ears, then hear" (Matthew, 13: 43).
The Growth: The parable of the mustard seed reveals the secret of the growth of the Kingdom of God. It is immaterial how small and ordinary is the inner prompting of our heart, if only we are ready to take note of it and nurture it carefully it will grow on its own. In course of time they are bound to grow into great accomplishments giving succor and solace to many from all walks of life. We have ample examples in the achievements of so many good people in the fields of education, health, social development and a myriad of ways of empowering the ordinary and helpless people. "... it becomes a tree, big enough for the birds to come and roost among its branches" (Matthew, 13:: 32).
Good Influences: The parable of the yeast reveals the secret of good influences culminating in the kingdom of Heaven. A little is enough from our part to influence a mass of people for the good and here too we see the imperative of the Gospel proclamation urging people to turn from their evil ways and be forgiven. If we turn away from our wicked ways, God will not remember our past is the promise that should work like yeast in flour (See Matthew, 13:33).
Unseen Value: The next secret of the Kingdom of Heaven why a man sells with joy whatever he has was told by Jesus using the psychology of a trader. A trader is a person who exchanges his own things, be it cash or things, for another that is of greater value. The Kingdom of Heaven is compared to a treasure and to the action of a merchant looking out for fine pearls. In the first case, it is an ordinary person who happens to come across by chance a treasure lying buried in a field. His immediate action was to bury it again because at that moment he was not prepared to handle such a precious find. He needed time to act wisely although anyone who looked at his possessions as against the land he was going to buy in exchange of his vast holdings would laugh at him and brand him a "fool" or as "crazy". However, the man himself goes with sheer joy and sells everything he has and buys that field. The simple reason for his seemingly strange action is that he has known a secret concerning that field unknown to others. Similar is the case with the merchant whose eyes are trained to see value in precious stones which are all alike to ordinary people. His action of selling everything he has, to buy a single stone is justified only from his point of view unknown to others who are unable to see any special value in that one stone.
Selling Our Possessions: In the case of the Kingdom of Heaven what one sells is all-important. It depends on what is considered to be one's possessions. It should be an all-out sale where nothing remains as one's possessions. That is why many have left the world and gone to the deserts and forests, convents and monasteries etc., to seek out the promised Kingdom of Heaven. In all such attempts, however, it is possible to keep back our real possessions and carry them along with us wherever we go whereby one is not able to live a life worthy of the Kingdom. These possessions are our attachments to parents, siblings, wife, children, friends, and relatives as well as our material possessions. Unless we are detached from all of them, it is immaterial whether we have left one place for another or not. The greatest of our possessions is our own self that cannot be got rid of wherever we go. The only way to get rid of it is to become a servant and be willing to be humiliated like a child. The one who does so is likened to the person who found a treasure or the merchant who found a pearl of great value. (See Matthew, 13: 44-46).
Selection of the Good: The last of the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven is about what would happen at the end of the world. All kinds of people are in the Church that is meant to be the visible manifestation of the Kingdom of God on this earth. Judgment whereby the good will be chosen from among the bad will be accomplished at the end of the world just as collecting the good fish and throwing away the worthless ones by the fisherman (See Matthew, 13: 47-50).
In Real Life: Jesus was happy that his closest disciples understood what he said by means of all those parables. It was possible only because they had the charisma of understanding the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven bestowed on them by God Himself. And yet, we see that their life was not all of smooth sailing even after receiving this charisma, but was plagued by doubts, uncertainty, failures and repentance. All that changed only with the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost when they became new persons ready to take on the world irrespective of consequences.
How the learned and the wealthy also can serve the purposes of the Kingdom of Heaven is expressed by Jesus by a beautiful remark. "He said to them, 'when, therefore, a teacher of the law has become a learner in the Kingdom of Heaven, he is like a householder who can produce from his store both the new and the old' " (Matthew, 13: 52). Nicodemus was such a householder as well as Joseph of Arimethea , both of whom were secret disciples of Jesus for the sake of the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven. The supreme example of such a householder was Paul who was known as Saul before his conversion as a disciple of Jesus. We can see from his Epistles how he was able to bring out from his store both the new and the old. (To be Contd).
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