Parables of the kingdom | Bandera

Parables of the kingdom

Fr. Dan De Los Angeles |August 03,2017
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Parables of the kingdom

Fr. Dan De Los Angeles - August 03, 2017 - 12:10 AM

Thursday,  August 3,  2017 17th Week in
Ordinary Time
1st Reading:
Exodus 40:16-21 Gospel:
Matthew 13:47-53

Jesus said to his disciples, “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a big fishing net let down into the sea, in which every kind of fish has been caught. When the net is full, it is dragged ashore. Then they sit down and gather the good fish in buckets, but throw the worthless ones away. That is how it will be at the end of time; the angels will go out to separate the wicked from the just and throw them into the blazing furnace, where they will weep and gnash their teeth.”

Jesus asked, “Have you understood all these things?” “Yes,” they answered. So he said to them, “You will see that every teacher of the Law who becomes a disciple of the Kingdom is like a householder who can produce from his store things both new and old.”
When Jesus had finished these parables, he left the place.

D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)

When the Pharisees asked Jesus about the coming of the kingdom Jesus replied: “The Kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17: 21). The original Greek used for “within you” is “entos hymon” which can also mean “in your midst”. Some bible scholars prefer to translate entos hymon to “in your midst”, instead of “within you”.   In light of Jesus’ condemnation of the hypocrisy of the Pharisees Jesus could not have told them, “The kingdom of God is within you.”  Jesus knew what was in their hearts. He even said, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you are like whitened sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness” (Matt. 23:27).
Probability is high that Jesus had said to the Pharisees, “The kingdom of God is in your midst”. He was directing their attention to what was happening around them. The blind received sight, the lame walked, those who had leprosy were cured, the deaf recovered their hearing, the dead were raised back to life, and the good news was preached to the poor (Matthew 11:5). In other words, the kingdom of God became real with the works of Jesus in their midst.

The kingdom therefore is not a mere sentimental existence in the heart but something concretely related to day-to-day human existence. That is why the parables Jesus used to describe the kingdom were related to realities as close to human experience as land (parable of the weeds growing side by side with the wheat), air (birds of the air taking shelter on a tree that sprouts from a small seed such as mustard) and sea (today’s parable of the fishing net).
By continuing the works of Christ we establish God’s kingdom on earth. – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM

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