Parable of the King’s Sons Free from Tribute

Oct 252009
 

Parable in Matthew 17. Not used liturgically, but is very important. It implies Christ’s claim to Divine Sonship (admitted by all commentators except such extremists as hold that the Christ of the Synoptists holds out no such claim). The time is after the Transfiguration; the place Capharnaum, probably the house of Peter; the occasion: the attempt to collect from Christ the annual temple tax, ordained by “the Law” (Exodus 30). Peter had hastily assured the collector that his master would pay it. Christ coming into the house confronted Peter (ere he could inform him of the incident) with the question: whether the king’s sons must pay tribute and custom. The answer supposed is: No. Thus Christ plainly declared that he claimed to be “the son of Jehovah; the God of Israel, to whom the temple tax was due.” By theological reasoning the parable may be proved to teach, moreover, that the apostles, too, as Christ’s family, are free. Hence the “we” in Christ’s answer: “that we may not scandalize.” This may teach us further that the law of evangelical freedom must not be abused so as to scandalize the little ones.

Parable of the King Going to War

Oct 252009
 

Parable in Luke 14. A companion of the parable of the “builder” and emphasizing the same idea. It is taken from international political life: a ruler engaging in war must know the military strength of the enemy as well as his own. If there be any reasonable fear, that he might be defeated in battle, he better enter peace negotiations. Literal application same as in the “builder.” General application is possible by abstracting from the literal meaning and using the parable independently. Then it may teach us that the spiritual warfare which we must wage daily against the prince of this world requires detachment from both self and the world.

Parable of the Sower

Oct 242009
 

[sower]Title applied to one of the few parables recorded concurrently by all three Synoptists (Matthew 13; Mark 4; Luke 8). It belongs to that group of parables dealing with the Kingdom of Heaven. The discourse was addressed to a “great multitude” by the shore of Lake Tiberias. Christ was teaching them from the boat. The similitude Jesus employs is a familiar picture of the Palestinian peasant sowing his field. Every detail of typical Galilean fields is depicted: the small foot-paths (“wayside”), hard and beaten, running straight across the field; the parts strewn with stones and boulders; the luxuriant growth of thorns and thistles; finally, the more or less good soil. The sower scatters the seed. Christ tells where each one falls and its fate. Some seed falls on the foot-paths, it is trodden down or devoured by the fowl of the air; some on the rocky ground, this germinates and sprouts quickly, but having neither moisture nor roots it is scorched by the sun and withers away; other seed falls on better ground but the thorns and thistles depriving it of light and air choke it; a considerable portion falls on good soil and yields fruit in varying degrees, thirty, sixty, and a hundred fold. Christ Himself fully and minutely afterwards explained to His disciples the truths He would impart by this parable. The sower is Christ; the seed is the tidings of the Kingdom of God; the wayside, indifferent and careless Christians with hard and unimpressionable hearts; birds of the air, Satan; the rocky ground, superficial Christians, creatures of impulse and without stability; scorching sun, temptations and persecutions for the faith; the thorny ground, inordinate desires and passions of the heart, and anxieties and allurements of the world. After showing the three-fold fate of the unfruitful seed, Jesus balances the picture and gives the triple species of the fruitful seed seen in the thirty, sixty, and hundred-fold yield. Points for application are inexhaustible. The precise date when this parable was uttered is uncertain; probably during the second year of His ministry. This parable is read, according to Saint Luke’s account, on Sexagesima Sunday.

Parable of Light of the World

Oct 242009
 

[Christ Teaches Saint Nicodemus]Parable found in John 3:1-21. Gospel for Monday of Octave of Pentecost.

In the nightly visit of Nicodemus Christ explained the mystery of redemption, the means to it being faith in Jesus as the Christ. The unbeliever is already judged (verse 18) because he remains in darkness by his own free will (verse 19). Moral corruption prevents him from coming to the light (Jesus), lest his rottenness become exposed. Rather than face this he would deny revelation.

Light is the symbol of joy (luminous thoughts give us thrills), of life (light vivifies living creatures), of happiness (days of light are days of happiness). Jesus is the giver of light; in redemption He brings to the believer truth, blessing, and peace. The evangelist called the Word Light. “In him (the Word) was life and the life was the light of men,” and “The light shines in darkness, and darkness did not comprehend it” (refused to be enlightened). Christ himself repeatedly announced: “I am the Light of the world” (John 8, 9). The sense is clear. In the divine economy we must believe in Christ, to be possessed of the light of life. But this light must likewise be our moral guide, and reveal the otherwise unfathomable mystery of unbelief.

Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicode’mus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him.”

Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Nicode’mus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, `You must be born anew.’ The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know whence it comes or whither it goes; so it is with every one who is born of the Spirit.”

Nicode’mus said to him, “How can this be?”

Jesus answered him, “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand this? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen; but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does what is true comes to the light, that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been wrought in God.

Parable of the Hidden Treasure

Oct 242009
 

[Hidden Treasure]Parable in Saint Matthew’s Gospel 13. One of the parables of the lakeside reproduced by Saint Matthew; in which different aspects of the Kingdom of Heaven are brought out by Our Lord. This parable is followed by that of the pearl of great price and that of the fishing net and forms with those a group of parables found only in the Gospel of Saint Matthew. The two parables of the hidden treasure and of the pearl of great price are closely related and teach the same lesson, namely the supreme value of the Kingdom of Heaven, for which all else must, be sacrificed without any hesitation. The lesson comes out so clearly that Our Lord does not give an explanation of these two parables to the disciples.

In appreciating the lesson taught in the parable of the hidden treasure, we must keep before our mind, the special point which Our Lord intends to teach and not press every single detail of the story as if meant to convey a lesson. Thus in the case of the parable of the hidden treasure Christ does not mean to hold up to our imitation the manner in which the finder gets possession of the treasure. The sole point which Our Lord intends here is the eagerness of the man who is willing to sell everything he owns in order to get the treasure, the latter being supposed naturally to be of much greater value; the application to the spiritual religious life is that the Kingdom is something of such incomparable value that no sacrifice made to enter it will be too great.

Parable of the Harvest and Few Laborers

Oct 242009
 

Parable of Our Lord occurring in the Gospels of Saint Matthew 9, and Saint Luke 10, in slightly different settings. In the former it is a reflection of Our Lord saddened at the sight of the multitude but poorly cared for by their spiritual guides; in the latter it is a part of the instruction given to the 72 disciples as a preparation for their mission as forerunners of Jesus. It is very probable that Our Lord uttered this entreaty more than once and in different circumstances. In any case the meaning is the same: God, the Father, or even Christ Himself, is the Lord of the Harvest, the field is the world, the crops to be harvested are first the Jewish people, then the Gentiles, the laborers the Apostles, their workers, and successors. These verses form part of the Gospels read in the Masses of various saints noted for Apostolic zeal: e.g., Saint Mark and Saint Ignatius Loyola (Luke 10) and Saint John Francis Regis and Saint Vincent de Paul (Matthew 9).

Parable of the Lost Coin

Oct 242009
 

[Parable of the Lost Coin]A parable told to the Pharisees and Scribes who were murmuring against Our Lord for stooping to receive and enlighten publicans and sinners (Luke 15); also read for the Gospel, the third Sunday after Pentecost. The coin lost was very small as coins go (15 to 25 cents), but it meant much to the poor woman; hence her care in searching for it and joy at finding it. So, too, sinners, despicable and of no value in the eyes of the Pharisees, mean much to God who out of His great love created and destined them for heaven. This explains the zeal of Jesus, and that of His true disciples, in searching out souls lost in the dark and hidden corners of sin, and His great joy, which the angels and saints share, when He has found and restored them to Him to whom as Creator and Redeemer they rightfully belong.

Parable of the Great Supper

Oct 242009
 

[Oriental supper]A parable occurring in Luke 14. The occasion of this parable was a pious exclamation, made by one of the guests at a supper to which Our Lord had been invited. As Jesus had just mentioned the reward in store for good done unselfishly at the resurrection of the just, a man exclaimed: “Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the Kingdom of God.” Jesus takes occasion to teach that the Kingdom of God is something which will require more than a pious wish, and He does so in the parable of the Great Supper.

A man, who is naturally to be imagined wealthy, has prepared a great banquet and just before the feast he sends a servant to remind the guests of the invitation previously accepted by them. At the last minute each one of the guests in turn excuses himself, alleging various reasons of more or less cogent character. Angered by this refusal, the man sends his servant to bring in the poor, the lame, etc., whom he may find in the city. After these have been brought there is still room left, then he sends the servant to bring in all whom he may find on the roads leading to the city, so that there will be no room for those that were invited.

The parable teaches that they alone shall enter the Kingdom of God who have listened to His call in a spirit of docility, without allowing themselves to be detained by other cares in the false hope that their place is secure. Several Catholic authors as well as most critics outside the Catholic Church hold that this parable, and that reported in Matthew 21, are two parallel forms of the same parable; still the identification cannot be regarded as certain.

Parable of the Grain of Wheat

Oct 242009
 

A parable occurring in John 12, given as an explanation, when after the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Philip and Andrew presented to Jesus the request of some Gentiles to see Him, of why He must suffer and die before His glorification. Jesus is the grain of wheat sown and destined to bring forth much fruit. Now, just as according to the law of nature the grain of wheat, under the penalty of remaining alone to rot, be trampled upon, or eaten, must die, that is, sacrifice all that it hides within itself in support of the life that develops within it under the influence of sun and rain, so too must Jesus, according to the law of grace, suffer and die, that is, sacrifice all that He possesses according to the natural order in order that mankind may be redeemed, souls saved, honor and glory given to God. The same law holds good for all men; to encourage us we have Christ’s promise of a great reward and assurance of the grace He merited for us. Saint Ignatius of Antioch applied this parable to himself, just before being thrown to the lions, in the beautiful words “I am the wheat of Christ, I shall be ground between the teeth of beasts, that I may become clean bread.” It can also be applied to the Holy Eucharist.

Parable of the Friend at Midnight

Oct 242009
 

This parable (Luke 11), the lesson of which recalls somewhat that of the parable of the widow and the unjust judge (Luke 18), teaches the efficacy of perseverance in prayer. An unexpected visitor having arrived, his host finds himself unprepared to entertain him as he would like to do. In spite of the lateness of the hour he goes to a neighbor and asks for the loan of some loaves of bread. The neighbor begins by refusing on account of the trouble it will cause him and the rest of his household. The refusal, however final it may sound, does not discourage the petitioner, who finally obtains his request.

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