October 29, 2011

Reflection (The readings are below, for your reference)

Who knows what Jesus meant to say in the telling of these stories? Scholars have studied them for two thousand years. Today, what the stories say to me is this: As different as a mustard seed is from a great shrub, as different as unleavened bread is from leavened, that’s as different as this life is from the kingdom of heaven. As amazing as the transformation is from seed to tree, from flour dust to bread, that’s as amazing as the transformation from this life to the next is.

Namaste

The Readings

Nehemiah 4:1-23 (NRSV)

Revelation 7:9-17 (NRSV)

Matthew 13:31-35 (NRSV)

Jesus put before them another parable:"The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in a field;  it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches."  He told them another parable:"The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened."  Jesus told the crowds all these things in parables; without a parable he told them nothing.  This was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet:

"I will open my mouth to speak in parables;

I will proclaim what has been hidden from the foundation of the world."