Dcn Tom Lindell

My Brothers and Sisters,

Jesus’ parables about the Kingdom of God (in Matthew, Kingdom of Heaven), employ simile because they always begin: The Kingdom of God is “like”…

Matthew chapter 13 is replete with symbolic similes, e.g., seed (grain, mustard), yeast, hidden treasure, jewel merchant, and fish net. Today’s reading speaks of the last three.

Jesus’ followers struggled to understand what he was saying and kept asking what he meant by the stories he told. Many of them thought that his reference to the Kingdom was a reference to the afterlife, or the future. Scholars, however, have begun to view that he was referring to the idea that the kingdom of God is within.

What is the connection of hidden treasure, the jewel merchant, and the fish net?

The stories of treasure and a pearl seem to refer to discovery—to begin to understand what it is like to uncover something of great personal value, irrespective of how they obtained it. Now we enter the arena of metaphor, for kingdom is not a literal kingdom, rather a word that describes what everyone would understand, but not literally.

The fish net is also a way to bring forth something of value—food, but Matthew’s usual style is to couple the catch with separating the good fish from the bad. It is typical of the writer to employ judgement about who is in and who is out.

It is one thing to attempt to describe the Kingdom, but it is another live it out after discovering what it means to us.

I am reminded of an Episcopal church out East that had a sign above the door to the outside. It read: SERVANT’S ENTRANCE, meaning it is what is outside the building that matters. It is about what we do with what we have come to understand about our responsibility to share with our neighbors.

I sought my soul,
But my soul I could not see.
I sought my God,
But my God eluded me.
I sought my neighbor,
And I found all three.

—William Blake

—Dcn Tom