Memorial of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Priest

 Lectionary: 404

"Do you understand all these things?"
They answered, "Yes."
And he replied,
"Then every scribe who has been instructed in the Kingdom of heaven
is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom
both the new and the old."

Amid a group of friars one evening, several years ago, one particularly opinionated fellow asked a very pointed, but rhetorical question of the room. He allowed a dramatic pause to drive home his point. The answer was obviously "Yes!" but an audience is not supposed to reply audibly to a rhetorical question. However, one spoke up: "Yes?"

The friars broke into laughter and, for the moment, the moralizing preacher was silenced.

I wonder if the Lord's question today, "Do you understand all this?" was rhetorical. Despite their right answer, how much did the disciples understood of the mysteries of the Kingdom of God?

The Lord's analogy of a fishing net which catches both desirable and undesirable fish is not hard to understand. Waste is a fact of life in every industry. We routinely waste time, money, materials, people, opportunities, and so forth. It's unfortunate; it might be avoided; but it happens. And more efficient attempts and recycling may be more costly than the waste. But how does that catch resemble the congregation which forms around the Word of God?

Perhaps, our efforts as Church should not be terribly efficient. We can afford to waste time with unlikely souls who offer little and take much. There is something to be said for futility and failure, setbacks and losses. It's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. It's better to obey a foolish directive than to challenge legitimate authority, even if the authorized person seems misguided or incompetent.The cross of Christ seemed utterly pointless. The Evangelists saw that irony clearly as they studied Isaiah's Fourth Suffering Servant (Is 53:4. 7-8)

We thought of him as stricken,

struck down by God and afflicted...
Like a lamb led to slaughter
or a sheep silent before shearers,
he did not open his mouth.
Seized and condemned, he was taken away.
Who would have thought any more of his destiny?

Before his Crucifixion, the disciples could not understand much of what the Lord said about the Kingdom of God or his mission as the Messiah. They could only watch and witness; and when he rose from the dead they could only tell others what they had seen and heard.

Too often we try to explain the ways of God with our speculative questions and fabricated answers. We do better to follow the Spirit of the Lord and imitate his holy obedience.