Sunday Gospel Comment

 

Alberic Jacovone OSB

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YEAR A

1 Kg 3,5.7-12; Rom 8,29-30; Mt 13,44-52

Matthew’s Central Message 

The old & the new: When we read a book, we like to sum up its content in one sentence. Well, in today’s Gospel, we find the one sentence that sums up all Matthew stands for. Here is the background: Jesus is preaching His "Kingdom of God" and through seven parables, he explains what it is like, to live in it & be motivated by it. It’s like: a sower who sows seed & it falls on rich & poor soil - like good seed, sown & grown together with bad seed - in it the smallest seed becomes the largest plant - like yeast that leavens a whole batch of dough - like a hidden treasure and a pearl of enormous value that can only be secured by risking everything we have - it’s like a dragnet & in it all kinds of fish are caught & hauled ashore. And all along Jesus insists that we are indeed fortunate, since many saints & prophets of the past would have loved to hear this and be in this wonderful deal as we are and were never given the chance... In the end, Jesus asks: have you understood all this? His disciples say yes, but they still had a long way to go. At this very point Matthew situates his concluding statement that sums up all he wants to say at his time & to us in 2002: "Every Torah-teacher (scribe) who becomes a ‘Talmid’ (disciple) for the Kingdom of Heaven (=the Church) is like the owner of a home, who brings out from his storage-room things that are both old & new (13,52)". What is this ‘old & new’?

We can lose our treasure. In modern terms, Matthew says this: Consider where -you & I - are at, in the Church today; our ‘Church-in-the-modern-world’ is the same ‘Kingdom of Heaven’ that Jesus talks about in the Gospels: it’s you & me: together, we hold a treasure & wonderful deal for which people are ready to give up everything. Sadly, it does not feel like this. Today reflect on the Church we all love. Ask: for me now, what does it feel like to be a Catholic & a Christian?: Am I disappointed? What’s missing from the ‘wonderful deal’ that Jesus has promised, as we live in our Church? If we think our situation is sad, consider what it was like for Matthew & his Community at his time. He says: I was a 3rd generation Christian, as I wrote the Gospel after year 80AD. I wanted to address the problems of my Church Community in Antioch of Syria, where we 1st, got the nick-name "Christian". Just like you, we had ‘Conservatives’ (we called ‘Judaizers’, who demanded strict adherence to Old Jewish Ways) & ‘Progressives’ (we called ‘Liberated Believers’, who -as converts from the Pagan world, claimed to be free of Old Jewish Ways). We knew of course that Jesus spoke about the ‘end of the world’ -in fire & brimstone- urging all to stay focused & united in Christ who as Risen Lord & is with us, as he promised: ‘Behold I am with you until the end of time’. Yet, -like you, we lived in difficult times: under scrutiny & persecution by the Roman law, and under attack by the Jews, who expelled us from their Synagogue. Sadly we had disagreements & scandals among our leaders. (Peter & Paul at Antioch (After we had had a Council in Jerusalem in 50AD)... Paul lost, never to return! yet he moved the Church forward! -Read Gal. 2,11+). Just like you, our Church went though incredible changes; we too had many nationalities & tried to cope with a Christianity which was multicultural, for all nations. You too, whatever you do: stay united, keep focused together "old & new" forces among you, lest you lose the very treasure you so keenly seek or as you say, lest by throwing away the bath water, you throw away baby & bath tub as well. By losing either ‘old or new’, you lose the lot.

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