Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 92

With many such parables
he spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it.
Without parables he did not speak to them,
but to his own disciples he explained everything in private.

Jesus uses his parables as a litmus test for his followers. Those who understand belong to him; those who do not are only confused. His bewildered but eager disciples frequently ask the meaning of his parables. If they don't understand him or his mission, they are fascinated by his teaching and by his personal presence and they want to know more. 

The Lord's disciples do not go away when he gives them hard, challenging teachings. They see people who pick and choose what they want to believe leaving in droves. But the faithful remain with the Church and the Lord. 

Saint Peter spoke for us when Jesus asked, "Will you also leave?" The first pope replied,

"Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”

Our understanding of the Lord's teachings begins with our trust in him. Many of us have known him all our lives, and are convinced that nations rise and fall, technologies appear and disappear, new ideologies develop and atrophy, but the Word of the Lord endures forever. 

Some of us were raised in a Christian household but disowned the faith for a while; we experimented with strange teachings and weird ideas. Or we thought we needed only our friends and our work; the rest of the world would take care of itself. They call it utopian individualism: “If you do your thing and I do my thing and everybody does their things, it will all mesh together like a well oiled machine and everyone will be happy!” That’s a bizarre creed, a fantasy from Never-Never Land by any standard. 

And some people just don’t care; they want to have fun and do what they want. "Eat, drink, and be merry; for tomorrow we die." 

When those experiments fail some of us have played with alcohol or drugs, or gambling, or sexual promiscuity. But nothing satisfies. Things that seem to work for others don’t work for us. We find no place in the very world where we’re born. Despairing of those pursuits, we think we must live only to survive another day; and then some of us consider suicide. Millions die because they cannot answer the question, "Why should I not kill myself?"

But you and I remain through all the difficult years, or we have returned to our faith in Jesus. And we are ready to be instructed; and we are ready to understand. Jesus is the Word of God made flesh. And so we ask him to explain his parables. 

Catholics do not pick and choose what we want to believe. Our religion may be a museum of endless, wonderful stories, devotions, and mysteries to be explored; but it's not a cafeteria of curious facts or fascinating ideas. When we hear a truth that we do not understand, that may be controversial or troubling, that doesn't fit popular notions of what God should say or how Christians should act, we ask for, and listen to, an explanation.

The world tells us that abortion is necessary; that we must kill some people; that there will always be warfare between races, religions, cultures, and economies. They tell us we can choose our sexual preference and gender. You can be anything you want to be! And you should be all that you can be! 

They tell us that we cannot control ourselves and must control our childbearing with surgery and chemicals. That self-discipline is repression, and “God save us from repression!” They tell us that everyone should decide how and when they will die; and there are doctors ready to put them down like injured horses. 

But we're fascinated by Jesus and by his parables; and when he leads us to a deserted place away from the nonsense, a place where he will teach us his way, we follow him. 

When the angel told Mary she would be the Mother of the Messiah, she asked, "How can this be since I do not know man?" We also might ask, ”How can this be?” when we hear the gospel’s challenge. And the answer might be the same: 

"The holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you." 

The Lord’s parables and our Catholic teaching invite thoughtful conversation, deep reflection, contemplation, and maturity. We teach our children how to be Catholic adults, and not how to think like children all their life. 

Wisdom grows in us like the Lord's mustard seed and Ezekiel's tree in today's first reading. Wisdom pushes nonsense out of our heads: 

For the Lord has planted his Church as a tree... 

...on a high and lofty mountain.

We put forth branches and bear fruit,

and become a majestic cedar.

Birds of every kind dwell within us,

every winged thing in the shade of our boughs.

And all the trees of the field shall know

that the LORD

brings low the high tree,

lifts high the lowly tree,

withers the green tree,

and makes the withered tree bloom.

For the mouth of the LORD has spoken, and so he will do.