Parables People and Purpose

 The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to examine the distractions that lead us away from the fullness of life that our relationship with Christ sustains.

Full Life Beyond Distractions

The Reading from the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah portrays Israel as the wife of the Lord.

* [2:1–3:5] These chapters may contain some of Jeremiah’s early preaching. He portrays Israel as the wife of the Lord, faithful only in the beginning, when she walked behind him (2:2–3, 5; 3:1). Consistent with the marriage metaphor, he describes her present unfaithfulness as adultery (2:20; 3:2–3); now she walks behind the Baals.

* [2:2] Devotion: Heb. hesed; Israel’s gratitude, fidelity, and love for God.

* [2:3] First fruits: the first yield of a harvest offered as a sign of dependence on and gratitude toward the Lord of the land, thus divine property. Israel, then, is a gift made to God, set apart for his use; cf. Ex 23:19.

* [2:8] Experts in the law: the priests. The shepherds: the kings and nobles. (Jeremiah, CHAPTER 2 | USCCB, n.d.)

Psalm 36 proclaims the rule of divine love and mercy over God’s friends,

* [Psalm 36] A Psalm with elements of wisdom (Ps 36:2–5), the hymn (Ps 36:6–10), and the lament (Ps 36:11–13). The rule of sin over the wicked (Ps 36:2–5) is contrasted with the rule of divine love and mercy over God’s friends (Ps 36:6–10). The Psalm ends with a prayer that God’s guidance never cease (Ps 36:11–12). (Psalms, PSALM 36 | USCCB, n.d.)

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus proclaims the Purpose of Parables and the Privilege of Discipleship.

* [13:1–53] The discourse in parables is the third great discourse of Jesus in Matthew and constitutes the second part of the third book of the gospel. Matthew follows the Marcan outline (Mk 4:1–35) but has only two of Mark’s parables, the five others being from Q and M. In addition to the seven parables, the discourse gives the reason why Jesus uses this type of speech (Mt 13:10–15), declares the blessedness of those who understand his teaching (Mt 13:16–17), explains the parable of the sower (Mt 13:18–23) and of the weeds (Mt 13:36–43), and ends with a concluding statement to the disciples (Mt 13:51–52).

* [13:11] Since a parable is figurative speech that demands reflection for understanding, only those who are prepared to explore its meaning can come to know it. To understand is a gift of God, granted to the disciples but not to the crowds. In Semitic fashion, both the disciples’ understanding and the crowd’s obtuseness are attributed to God. The question of human responsibility for the obtuseness is not dealt with, although it is asserted in Mt 13:13. The mysteries: as in Lk 8:10; Mk 4:11 has “the mystery.” The word is used in Dn 2:18, 19, 27 and in the Qumran literature (1QpHab 7:8; 1QS 3:23; 1QM 3:9) to designate a divine plan or decree affecting the course of history that can be known only when revealed. Knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven means recognition that the kingdom has become present in the ministry of Jesus.

* [13:12] In the New Testament use of this axiom of practical “wisdom” (see Mt 25:29; Mk 4:25; Lk 8:18; 19:26), the reference transcends the original level. God gives further understanding to one who accepts the revealed mystery; from the one who does not, he will take it away (note the “theological passive,” more will be given, what he has will be taken away).

* [13:13] Because ‘they look…or understand’: Matthew softens his Marcan source, which states that Jesus speaks in parables so that the crowds may not understand (Mk 4:12), and makes such speaking a punishment given because they have not accepted his previous clear teaching. However, his citation of Is 6:9–10 in Mt 13:14 supports the harsher Marcan view.

* [13:16–17] Unlike the unbelieving crowds, the disciples have seen that which the prophets and the righteous of the Old Testament longed to see without having their longing fulfilled. (Matthew, CHAPTER 13 | USCCB, n.d.)

Kimberly Grassmeyer comments that Jesus admits that he speaks in Parables to the people, as they are unable to “see or hear” the mysteries that the disciples have absorbed.  Much of the passage relies on Isaiah’s prophesy that the people can look but not truly see, and hear but not truly understand, and as such  have “gross” hearts.

Reading that passage, I wonder if anyone else shares my suspicion that I fall into this group?  There is so much that I don’t truly comprehend from Christ’s teaching, so much of God’s word that is difficult to absorb.  Am I the person who doesn’t truly see, understand, and love God with my whole heart?  Am I among those who will have everything taken away?  Jesus told the disciples that many prophets and faithful people had fallen short in their attempts to do so - who am I to hope that I’m better than they?

Ahhh, but I’m a New Testament Christian, eager to believe in God’s Grace.  So I’ll cling to the closing phrase from Isaiah’s prophesy:

“lest they see with their eyes

and hear with their ears

and understand with their hearts and be converted

and I heal them.”

My prayer today is to ask that God continue, always, to open wide my heart, my eyes, and my ears, that I may be truly converted and healed.  That I may one day know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven.  And as importantly for this Christian, that I would live them out in my daily life on earth, sharing light and love with all people.  Amen. (Grassmeyer, 2026)

Don Schwager quotes “Ears that refuse to hear,” by Hilary of Poitiers (315-367 AD).

"Faith perceives the mysteries of the kingdom. A person will make progress in those things he has been immersed in and will abound with an increase in that progress. But in those things he has not been immersed in, even that which he has shall be taken away from him. In other words, he suffers the loss of the law from the loss of his faith. Lacking faith, the people of the law lost even the efficacy of the law. Therefore, gospel faith receives a perfect gift, because it enriches with new fruit those things that have been undertaken. But once it is rejected, even the help of one's former means of support is taken away. (excerpt from a commentary ON MATTHEW 13.2) (Schwager, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler reflects on Jeremiah who speaks about the Lord bringing the people from the desert and then they abandoned the Lord by being self-sufficient no longer dependent on the Lord for water and food. The Lord enacts a lawsuit to show the things they have chosen are not life giving. We choose food, acceptance, and these become central to our self satisfaction but Christ’s Love is the only Way to satisfy the deepest desires of our heart. Friar Jude notes Jesus quotes Isaiah today, typical in Matthew’s Gospel, written for a Jewish audience, to underline if the people reject his message in the simplest form they have rejected Him because they refuse to see. Jesus praises those who have opened eyes and ears to see and understand.

The Word Among Us Meditation on Matthew 13:10-17 comments that we can read this passage only as a condemnation of those whose hearts have become “gross,” but that would be too limiting. There is also an invitation here. 

So listen closely and look carefully when you are praying and reading Scripture. Welcome Jesus into your heart and ask him to let you sense his presence with you personally. Don’t let guilt or sin or boredom get in the way. Slow down and take your time; don’t rush through your prayer. Tell yourself that the words you are reading can speak to you and your situation. And trust that the God who loves you wants to speak to you!

“Lord, open my eyes and my ears to you!” (Meditation on Matthew 13:10-17, n.d.)

Father Richard Rohr, OFM, has long drawn comfort and wisdom from the writings of the young Jewish woman Etty Hillesum (1914–1943), believing her to be someone whose contemplative practice and mystical experience led to greater compassion and action in a hurting world. Shortly before her departure for internment at the Westerbork transit camp, Hillesum wrote in her journal. Hillesum fully accepted the brokenness of reality and chose to love ever more consciously.

Something has crystallised. I have looked our destruction, our miserable end which has already begun in so many small ways in our daily life, straight in the eye and accepted it into my life, and my love of life has not been diminished. I am not bitter or rebellious, or in any way discouraged. I continue to grow from day to day, even with the likelihood of destruction staring me in the face. I shall no longer flirt with words, for words merely evoke misunderstandings: I have come to terms with life.…

By “coming to terms with life” I mean: the reality of death has become a definite part of my life; my life has, so to speak, been extended by death, by my looking death in the eye and accepting it, by accepting destruction as part of life and no longer wasting my energies on fear of death or the refusal to acknowledge its inevitability. It sounds paradoxical: by excluding death from our life we cannot live a full life, and by admitting death into our life we enlarge and enrich [life]. [2] (Rohr, n.d.)

We implore the Spirit to reveal if our development of a sophisticated understanding and practice of our Christian faith is to serve our desire for moral and intellectual justification of our self aggrandizement rather than the faith, hope and love of Jesus Way. 

References

Grassmeyer, K. (2026, July 23). Daily Reflection July 23, 2026 | Creighton Online Ministries. Creighton Online Ministries. Retrieved July 23, 2026, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/daily-reflections/daily-reflection-july-23-2026 

Jeremiah, CHAPTER 2 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved July 23, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/jeremiah/2? 

Matthew, CHAPTER 13 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved July 23, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/13? 

Meditation on Matthew 13:10-17. (n.d.). Word Among Us. Retrieved July 23, 2026, from https://wau.org/meditations/2026/07/23/1629640/ 

Psalms, PSALM 36 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved July 23, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/36? 

Rohr, R. (n.d.). Etty Hillesum: A Commitment to Life. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved July 23, 2026, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/etty-hillesum-a-commitment-to-life/ 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). Many Longed to Hear What You Hear. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved July 23, 2026, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/ 

Obstacles to Full Life

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to consider the obstacles we may have erected on our journey that reduce our ability to see and hear the prompting of the Spirit towards fullness of life.

Obstacles to Full Life

In the reading from the Prophet Jeremiah, God pleads with Israel to repent.

* [2:1–3:5] These chapters may contain some of Jeremiah’s early preaching. He portrays Israel as the wife of the Lord, faithful only in the beginning, when she walked behind him (2:2–3, 5; 3:1). Consistent with the marriage metaphor, he describes her present unfaithfulness as adultery (2:20; 3:2–3); now she walks behind the Baals. (Jeremiah, CHAPTER 2, n.d.)

Psalm 36 contrasts human wickedness and Divine Goodness.

* [Psalm 36] A Psalm with elements of wisdom (Ps 36:2–5), the hymn (Ps 36:6–10), and the lament (Ps 36:11–13). The rule of sin over the wicked (Ps 36:2–5) is contrasted with the rule of divine love and mercy over God’s friends (Ps 36:6–10). The Psalm ends with a prayer that God’s guidance never cease (Ps 36:11–12). (Psalms, PSALM 36, n.d.)

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus explains the purpose of the Parables.

* [13:11] Since a parable is figurative speech that demands reflection for understanding, only those who are prepared to explore its meaning can come to know it. To understand is a gift of God, granted to the disciples but not to the crowds. In Semitic fashion, both the disciples’ understanding and the crowd’s obtuseness are attributed to God. The question of human responsibility for the obtuseness is not dealt with, although it is asserted in Mt 13:13. The mysteries: as in Lk 8:10; Mk 4:11 has “the mystery.” The word is used in Dn 2:18, 19, 27 and in the Qumran literature (1QpHab 7:8; 1QS 3:23; 1QM 3:9) to designate a divine plan or decree affecting the course of history that can be known only when revealed. Knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven means recognition that the kingdom has become present in the ministry of Jesus. (Matthew, CHAPTER 13, n.d.)

Tamora Whitney notes that Jesus tells the disciples that he speaks in parables because, like the example of the seeds and the sower, not everyone who hears will listen. Not everyone who hears will understand. Some are like the people from the first reading who hear the word, but they turn away and defile the land like the seeds choked by weeds.

We need to be aware and be like the disciples who listen carefully and critically and not like the people who turn away from the true source. Let these words fall on us like the seeds in the good rich soil that will bring forth good and plentiful fruit. (Whitney, n.d.)

Don Schwager quotes “Ears that refuse to hear”, by Hilary of Poitiers (315-367 AD).

"Faith perceives the mysteries of the kingdom. A person will make progress in those things he has been immersed in and will abound with an increase in that progress. But in those things he has not been immersed in, even that which he has shall be taken away from him. In other words, he suffers the loss of the law from the loss of his faith. Lacking faith, the people of the law lost even the efficacy of the law. Therefore, gospel faith receives a perfect gift, because it enriches with new fruit those things that have been undertaken. But once it is rejected, even the help of one's former means of support is taken away. (excerpt from a commentary ON MATTHEW 13.2) (Schwager, n.d.)

The Word Among Us Meditation on Matthew 13:10-17 comments that Jesus knew the struggles of the human heart; he knew that these stories would have the power to speak to us in the day-to-day circumstances of our lives. For example, the parable of the sower and the seed might show you that your heart needs to soften about a specific situation so that it doesn’t become like the rocky soil that doesn’t bear fruit (Matthew 13:5). The parable of the servant who refused to forgive a small debt when he had been forgiven an enormous one might help you to forgive someone who has hurt or angered you (18:23-35). Or you might be feeling guilty over a sin in your life but afraid that God won’t forgive you. Yet what better portrait of the Father could Jesus have painted than that of the compassionate, merciful father in the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32)?

God has something to reveal to you through these stories—not only universal spiritual truths for all time, but something very personal for you today. So be expectant. When you sit with one of Jesus’ parables, no matter how familiar it is, let it slowly sink into your mind and heart. And remember Jesus’ words: “Blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear” (Matthew 13:16)!

“Jesus, open my ears and heart to your word today.” (Meditation on Matthew 13:10-17, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler discusses the transition of the Israelites from Covenant in the desert to self-sufficiency and a god they could control in the Promised Land. Jesus sought to present His teaching in the easiest way for people to understand, so that if they rejected Him, it would be their responsibility. Friar Jude reminds us that we find fullness when we allow God to work in our lives.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces Rosemarie Freeney Harding (1930–2004), a spiritual leader in the Black Freedom Movement of the 1960s. Her Mennonite faith shaped her commitment to radical hospitality, healing, and transformation. She describes the interracial community she and her husband Vincent formed at Mennonite House in Atlanta. As the Cape Breton novelist Alistair MacLeod [1936–2014] writes, “We are all better when we’re loved.” [1] . .Freeney Harding’s activism was inspired by her abiding and mystical experience of God’s love and justice. Rachel Harding recalls her mother’s vision.

There is no scarcity. There is no shortage. No lack of love,

of compassion, of joy in the world. There is enough.

There is more than enough.

Only fear and greed make us think otherwise.

No one need starve. There is enough land and enough food.

No one need die of thirst. There is enough water. No one

need live without mercy. There is no end to grace. And we

are all instruments of grace. The more we give it, the more

we share it, the more we use it, the more God makes. There

is no scarcity of love. There is plenty. And always more.

This is the universe my mother lived in. [2] (Rohr, n.d.)

We are invited to surrender our pride, preferences, and privilege as the way to prepare ourselves to live fully in communion with all God’s Creation.

References

Jeremiah, CHAPTER 2. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved July 21, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/jeremiah/2?1 

Matthew, CHAPTER 13. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved July 21, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/13?10 

Meditation on Matthew 13:10-17. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved July 21, 2022, from https://wau.org/meditations/2022/07/21/446197/ 

Psalms, PSALM 36. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved July 21, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/36?6 

Rohr, R. (n.d.). No Scarcity of Love. Daily Meditations Archive: 2022. Retrieved July 21, 2022, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/no-scarcity-of-love-2022-07-21/ 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture ... Retrieved July 21, 2022, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2022&date=jul21 

Whitney, T. (n.d.). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Online Ministries. Retrieved July 21, 2022, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/072122.html