Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 103

“...knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted. To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away....

"But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear. Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it."

Twice in today's gospel the Lord reminds his disciples of their blessedness. This is not Luck, a blind goddess who bestows pleasant and unpleasant gifts, desirable and undesirable gratuities arbitrarily, willy-nilly, with neither purpose nor expectation. The beneficiaries of good luck owe nothing for their good fortune; while those who suffer bad luck -- or "bad karma" -- cannot be blamed for their misfortune. Their world is governed or misgoverned --depending upon your perspective -- by nothing and no one. As the LORD says in Isaiah, "I the LORD am God; there is no other." 

Christians like to say, "Everything happens for a reason;" and "God has a plan." We do not recognize or worship Luck. While the roll of dice and the fall of cards are statistically predictable, the Hand of God may be discovered in one particular moment when an ace of spades won a fortune or destroyed a future. The Bible has no truck with luck. There are few references to gambling in the Bible, and those few involve nonbelievers. When Jews cast lots to discover God's intentions they did not suppose that Luck would interfere. But when nonbelievers cast lots for Jesus's clothing, they commit sacrilege on several levels. They have played games with sacred tools; and they have violated the Messiah. (But, in their defense, they have not been blessed with knowledge.) 

The God we know -- the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob -- selects people of all ages, genders, and races, religions, and nations for his own purposes. In today's gospel the Lord reminds us we have received the specific gift of knowledge. We see what others do not see and hear what others have never heard. The "knowledge of the Kingdom of God" has been granted to us. 

The "knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven (which have) been granted to you" concern one's particular place in God's plan. This knowledge is not of arcane mysteries like those of the "mystery religions." These ancient cults appealed to vanity and arrogance. Their initiates claimed a secret knowledge of mysterious affairs hidden from ordinary mortals. But they did not engage the deep levels of our human nature where grace illuminates and vanquishes the roots of sin. Nor did they reveal the potential within every human being to be divine, a potential unimagined until the Crucified Man was revealed as God. That is a mystery which astounds the intellect even as it invites the heart. 

In today's gospel Jesus goes on to describe the demands of the Kingdom of God. The blessed are not given a free ride to freedom; their worthiness is proven by

1. their willingness to receive God's word, 
2. their devout reception of God's word, 
3. their courage under adversity, 
4. their perseverance, and 
5. their fruitful works of compassion.

Many people would regard their blessings as curses for the blessed are willing to live within God's fellowship. They welcome the controls, limits, and restrictions that come with belonging to something bigger than self. They habitually, reflexively make lemons of lemonade, and sacrifices of disappointment. Their ears hear the proclamation of good news and their eyes see God's kingdom where others are blind and deaf. They do not crave the freedom to be let alone; rather, they give one another the freedom to love God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength; and their neighbor as themselves.