In today’s Gospel reading, we hear Jesus telling numerous parables. The first is the parable of the weeds in the field. He then tells the parable of the mustard seed, and of a woman who mixes yeast with flour. Why did Jesus speak in parables? It tells us in today’s Gospel. To get the answer, read it!
Parables are a great way to communicate messages that may be difficult to understand. In essence, they are stories with a lesson. Unfortunately, sometimes the parable can be hard to understand. In today’s Gospel, the disciples don’t get the parable of the weeds in the field. So they ask Jesus to explain. He does, so that the disciples can then go out and teach the people the lesson from the story.
Jesus was a great story teller. This can have positive and negative aspects to it. On the positive side, people love a good story. It gets them to listen, to relate. On the negative side, sometimes the message may get lost in the story. I’m afraid there are many to whom this has happened with Jesus. They see Jesus as nothing more than a wise story teller. They lose the message that Jesus is the eternal Son of God. They like the message, but minimalize the messenger. If they only realized that, in this case, the messenger is actually greater than the message.
Father, help us to realize that Jesus is more than just a great story teller. Help us to spread the word that the messenger is Your Beloved Son. Amen.
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