In today’s gospel reading, Jesus is confronted with a question posed by one of his disciples (and, let’s not forget, they’re the ones who are supposed to be on his side and in the know): ‘Why do you talk to them in parables?’. I wonder if it’s possible to detect a hint of exasperation as he explains, perhaps not for the first time: ‘Because ... the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven are revealed to you, but they are not revealed to them.’.

 

 

I’ve found life as a teacher to be a faltering experience, as I attempt, day by day and academic year by academic year, to discern whether any of the knowledge imparted, is truly finding a home in fertile soil. Countless have been the times a hand has shot up with the invocation, ‘Sir, I need your help. I really don’t get it.’ So one searches for simile, metaphor and parable to simplify, explain and encourage: ‘think of it like this’, or ‘a better way of approaching it might be ...’, or ‘don’t worry: you’re nearly there’ - and on and on I go. And, of course, it’s the encouragement that is so important, not least because information is worthless until it becomes something understood, something used and valued, something built on and expanded upon. For such success to be had, there must first be laid a good foundation: knowledge building on knowledge through a shared language and mutual agreement on the destination.

 

Is this not also a pattern for the Christian life, for the journey of faith, as we build continually and inexhaustibly on our knowledge of the God who is the source of all that lives and breathes? It is why we immerse ourselves in the liturgy, and the recitation of texts, so that what we repeat finds its home not only on our lips but also in our hearts. It is why we read our bibles and say our prayers, why we kneel in silence before Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, and why we teach others - not least our children - in simile, metaphor and parable to know and love Jesus, too: because, in all of this, we will know him better and love him best. We should, in the words of our hymn, pray God that he will continually ‘reclothe us in our rightful mind’, so that in purer lives we might him and his service find Click here to listen. 
 

Our anthem reminds us that the God who speaks to us in parables, so that we might draw closer to his kingdom, is also the God who made the universe and who ‘turneth the shadow of death into morning’ Click here to listen.