While sitting on the bank of a river one day, I picked up a solid round stone from the water and broke it
open. It was perfectly dry in spite of the fact that it had been immersed in water for centuries. The same is true of many people in the Western world. For centuries they have been surrounded by Christianity; they live immersed in the waters of its benefits. And yet it has not penetrated their hearts; they do not love it. The fault is not in Christianity, but in human hearts, which have been hardened by materialism and intellectualism.
... Sadhu Sundar Singh (1889-1929)
(Is your heart for God more like a rock or a sponge? What helps to keep your heart open?)
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JER 18:1-6; PS 146:1B-2, 3-4, 5-6AB
MT 13:47-53
Jesus said to the disciples:
"The Kingdom of heaven is
like a net thrown into the sea,
which collects fish of every kind.
When it is full they haul it ashore
and sit down to put what is good into buckets.
What is bad they throw away.
Thus it will be at the end of the age.
The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous
and throw them into the fiery furnace,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth."
"Do you
understand all these things?"
They answered, "Yes."
And he replied,
"Then every scribe who has been instructed in the Kingdom of heaven
is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom
both the new and the old."
When Jesus finished these parables, he went away from there.
Reflection on the Scriptures |
The last parable in today's Gospel is, "Then every scribe who has been instructed in the Kingdom of heaven is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old." A person with wisdom will see treasure for what it is, no matter how old it is. Everything old is not necessarily good or bad by virtue of its age and the same
thing is true of all things that are new. This principle can be applied in many ways but I am reminded of a book written years ago by the scholar, Brevard Childs. He went through the Old Testament books and made recommendations for pastors on what commentaries and other types of materials to buy. He gave prices, strengths and weaknesses, and availability of resources. He warned the reader to beware of chronological snobbery. Many students of the day were all wrapped up in buying the latest
commentaries by critical scholars but Childs warned the reader not to overlook pre-critical commentaries and works by people like Martin Luther, John Calvin, or even earlier authors. We had become snobs; nothing written before the Age of Enlightenment could possibly be any good. Of course, we have seen the reverse type of snobbery, too; anything younger than the Council of Trent cannot be any good. No, there is both the new and the old in a trained scribe's storeroom, one who has been instructed
in the Kingdom of heaven.
- by George Butterfield
Revelations of Divine
Love - by Julian of Norwich
Fourteenth Revelation, Chapter 51
“He is the Head, and we be His
members.” “Therefore our Father nor may nor will more blame assign to us than to His own Son, precious and worthy Christ” When Adam fell, God’s Son fell: because of the rightful oneing which had been made in heaven, God’s
Son might not [be disparted] from Adam. (For by Adam I understand All-Man.) Adam fell from life to death, into the deep of this wretched world, and after that into hell: God’s Son fell with Adam, into the deep of the Maiden’s womb, who was the fairest daughter of Adam; and for this end: to excuse Adam from blame in heaven and in earth; and mightily He fetched him out of hell.
By the wisdom and
goodness that was in the Servant is understood God’s Son; by the poor clothing as a labourer standing near the left side, is understood the Manhood and Adam, with all the scathe [185] and feebleness that followeth. For in all this our good Lord shewed His own Son and Adam but one Man. The virtue and the goodness that we have is of Jesus Christ, the feebleness and the blindness that we have is of Adam: which two were shewed in the Servant.
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