What's in a parable?

WEDNESDAY AFTER CREATION DAY

4 September 2013

Readings:

Genesis 1:14-23

Matthew 13:31-35

Key Verses (using the World English Bible):

Gen. 1:16, 21: “God made the two great lights… the stars…, and every living creature that moves.”

Matt. 13:34: “…without a parable, [Jesus] didn’t speak to them.”

Reflection

What a curious detail for the Gospels to add, that Jesus wouldn’t even speak to his followers without a parable.  This reminds me so much of Zen meditations.  You know what I’m talking about: the tree falling in a forest with no one around, the sound of one hand clapping, etc. I’d be lying if I said those didn’t often annoy me.  But, as Matthew sees it, Jesus had a similar approach in order to fulfill Psalm 78, which Matthew quotes as: “I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.” (Matt. 13:35, NIV)

We’re at the beginning of the Season of Creation.  Today’s readings echo that beginning by presenting us accounts of growth.  The world that God has just created now teems with fish in the sea and birds in the sky.  A man’s mustard seed grows into a tree where descendants of those first birds will nest.  A woman will use yeast in dough that eventually will grow into bread.  The parallel themes of these two readings lead me to another possible connection: what if God in Genesis speaks to us also in parables, just as Jesus did?

For some of us, a question like that crosses the line.  If Genesis is just a parable, then how did creation *really* happen?  And if it didn’t happen as the Bible says it did, why do we need the Bible at all?  I mean, God hangs the sun, the moon, and the stars in the sky in much the same way as we would hang lights, tinsel, and a star on a Christmas tree.  God talks to and blesses fish and birds—and, without words, they respond and obey.  What a quaint little story, literally unbelievable!

But I’ll remind you of another quaint little story, one in which a father unconditionally welcomes back his son who has squandered all his inheritance.  The Parable of the Prodigal Son never happened, but the truth and power of that story have spoken to Christians over two millennia.  Despite centuries of sermons and commentaries on this passage, has anyone ever realized that, right here, we have an example of God using a tale, a myth, to communicate to us something true about his being, about his love? 

The Gospels say that Jesus explained his parables to his disciples when they couldn’t figure them out.  Whenever in our quest we come across something we can’t understand, may we do the same, ask God to provide us insight and wisdom to uncover meaning behind what is hidden.

Prayer of the Day

Lord Jesus,

place your hands on our eyes,

that we may begin to catch sight of

the things that are not seen

more than the things that are seen.

Open our eyes,

that their glance may fall on the things to come

more than the things of this age.

Unveil the vision of our heart,

that it may contemplate God in Spirit.

This we ask through your most holy name,

for to you, with the Father, in the Holy Spirit

belong glory and power forever.

—Origen, 185-223

Hymn: “Most holy Sovereign God of heaven”

(Words: “Caeli Deus sanctissime”, translated by Maurice Bell, 1906; adapted by Joseph A. Soltero, 2013

Tune: ‘The Morning Watch’, Carl F. Price, 1913)

Most holy Sovereign God of heav’n,

You to the glowing sky have giv’n

The fires that in the east are born

With gradual splendors of the morn.

You, on the fourth day, did reveal

The sun’s enkindled flaming wheel,

And set the moon her ordered ways,

And stars their ever winding maze.

Now each in its appointed way

Still separates the night from day,

And with remembered signs declare

The times and seasons of the year.

O shed your light our hearts within,

And cleanse our minds from stain of sin,

Unburdened of our guilty load,

May we in freedom serve you, God.

Creator, what we ask be done,

Through Christ, your sole-begotten One,

Who, with the Spirit and with you,

Forever lives—God, One and true.

Amen.