Sermons by Fr Guy Nicholls (Cong Orat), our Chaplain, and Fr John Greatbach, plus one or two others

What is the way to glory and victory in the kingdom of God? Jesus told his disciples that he must first suffer rejection, be crucified, and then rise again on the third day. In so many words he explained that there could be no victory and no glory without the cross. Jesus' prediction of his suffering and death on the cross caused his disciples great dismay and disbelief. Peter, who was often the first to react to whatever Jesus had to say, wanted to protect Jesus from any threat or harm. That is why he rebuked the very thought of Jesus having to face rejection, condemnation, and crucifixion.

Why did Jesus use the word "Satan" when he addressed Peter? When Jesus went out into the wilderness to prepare for his public ministry, Satan came to tempt him to follow a different path than the one chosen by the Father in heaven. Now Jesus recognizes in Peter's response another temptation to seek a different and less costly path for accomplishing his mission than the way of the cross. The word "Satan" literally means "adversary" - one who stands in opposition. Jesus reminds Peter that his role is not to be an adversary but a disciple - one who gets behind his Master to follow with trust and obedience.

Jesus knew that the cross was the only way he could ransom us from slavery to sin with the price of his blood which was shed for our freedom. Through his sacrificial death on the cross, Jesus defeated Satan who held us in bondage to sin and condemnation. And Jesus defeated the power of death and overcame the grave through his resurrection. Through his obedience to his heavenly Father's will, Jesus reversed the curse of Adam's disobedience. His death on the cross won pardon for the guilty, freedom for the oppressed, healing for the afflicted and new life for those condemned to death. His death makes possible our freedom to live as the adopted sons and daughters of the merciful Father in heaven.

Jesus told his disciples that they, too, must be willing to lay down their lives in order to gain new everlasting life with the Father in his kingdom. There's a certain paradox in God's economy. We lose what we gain, and we gain what we lose. When we try to run our life our own way, we end up losing it to futility. Only God can free us from our ignorant and sinful ways. When we surrender our lives to God, he gives us new life in his Spirit and the pledge of eternal life. God wants us to be spiritually fit and ready to do his will at all times. When the human body is very weak or ill, we make every effort to nurse it back to health. How much more effort and attention should we give to the spiritual health of our hearts and minds!

What will you give to God in exchange for freedom and eternal life? Are you ready to part with anything that might keep you from following the Lord Jesus and his perfect plan for your life? Jesus poses these questions to challenge our assumptions about what is most profitable and worthwhile in life. In every decision of life we are making ourselves a certain kind of person. It is possible that some can gain all the things they have set their heart on, only to wake up suddenly and discover that they missed the most important thing of all. Of what value are material things if they don't help you gain what truly lasts for eternity. Neither money nor possessions can buy heaven, mend a broken heart, or cheer a lonely person.

A true disciple gladly gives up all that he or she has in exchange for an unending life of joy and happiness with God. God gives without measure. The joy he offers no sadness or loss can diminish. The cross of Jesus Christ leads to victory and freedom from sin and death. What is the cross which Jesus Christ commands me to take up each day? When my will crosses with his will, then his will must be done. Are you ready to lose all for Jesus Christ in order to gain all with Jesus Christ?

You have expectations of the Prime Minister of Great Britain. You have certain ideas about what he should do and say, especially in certain situations. You have expectations of what the schoolteacher should do. You have expectations of everybody who is in a particular role or public position. At the time of Jesus, the Jewish people also had expectations of what the Messiah should do. Jesus’ contemporaries expected the Messiah would solve their political problems. They believed that through the Messiah God would once again intervene and give them back control of Palestine which had been taken over by the Romans in 63 BC. In fact, for many centuries before that, the land of Palestine had been under foreign control, really since 587 BC when Babylon conquered Jerusalem. So there was a deep longing for centuries to have independence and self-government. They believed the Messiah would be a military commander who would head a rebellion against the occupation of their land.

But Jesus’ idea of what the Messiah should be and do was completely different to the expectations of his contemporaries. He did not encourage conflict or warfare; instead he said, “Blessed are the gentle, they shall inherit the earth…Blessed are the peacemakers, they shall be called sons of God…Blessed are you when people abuse you and persecute you and speak all kinds of calumny against you on my account. Rejoice and be glad for your reward will be great in heaven.” (Matt 5:5, 9, 11-12) As we heard in the Gospel today, when Jesus asked his disciples who people thought he was, they reported that some thought he was John the Baptist (come back from the dead because of his miracles), some thought he was Elijah (whom they believed would come back again before the time of the Messiah), and others thought he was Jeremiah or one of the other prophets come back again (Matt 16:13-14). We can understand why Jesus’ contemporaries did not think he was the Messiah because he was not doing or saying what they expected the Messiah would.

But Peter received a huge grace from God. Peter proclaimed, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” because the Father had revealed to Peter that Jesus was the Messiah (Matt 16:16-17). Jesus declared that Peter was a happy man because the Father had revealed to him who Jesus really was. Although Peter and Jesus’ other disciples now knew Jesus was the Messiah, they still did not understand that Jesus was a peaceful Messiah. The two disciples on the road to Emmaus on Easter Sunday evening said to Jesus whom they still did not recognize, “Our own hope had been that he would be the one to set Israel free.” (Luke 24:21)

After three years of listening to Jesus preaching and watching his miracles, they still did not get it. Even on the day of Jesus’ ascension into heaven, we read in the Acts of the Apostles that they asked if the time had come for him to restore the kingdom to Israel (Acts 1:6). So even after Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to them and taught them for forty days, they still did not get it. It would take the coming of the Holy Spirit on the apostles at Pentecost before they would fully understand the type of Messiah Jesus really was.

After Jesus admitted to the apostles in our Gospel today that he was the Messiah, he warned them not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah. (Matt 16:17, 20) He did not want to raise false expectations about his ministry. For that reason, in John 6:15 we read that after Jesus multiplied the loaves and fish, he fled back to the hills alone because he realized the people were about to come and take him by force and make him king. Now that Peter has proclaimed Jesus to be the Messiah and Jesus has admitted to his disciples that he is in fact the long-awaited Messiah, Jesus must correct their false notions of who the Messiah really is and explain that he is a suffering Messiah who will die for the people. In our Gospel next Sunday, we will hear Jesus correcting Peter when Peter objected to Jesus’ prediction of his suffering and dying in Jerusalem. (Matt 16:21-22)

Jesus came revealing the Father’s plan for the world. The problem was that people were looking at Jesus only from a worldly point of view with their notion of what the Messiah should do. What about us? Where do we get the information that feeds and nourishes our minds? Do we take our understanding of the meaning of life and our values for living from the world or do we take our values from Jesus and allow his teaching to feed and nourish our minds? If we allow our minds and way of thinking to be formed and influenced by the thinking of the world, we may end up on the wrong track like some of the disciples. But if we listen to Jesus’ words and probe them until we understand, then we will be blessed people as Jesus called Peter blessed in our Gospel today (Matt 16:17). If we do not understand some aspect of the Church’s teaching, we can probe and question and probe and question until we find the reason for the Church’s teaching. The Church is a caring mother and has very good reasons for leading and guiding people in the way she does. It is out of love and care for us that the Church teaches us as she does. Jesus has come to show us the way to the Father. The way of the world often only leads to hell, sometimes hell on earth, but the world wants to disguise where it is leading us, because the world profits when we follow the ways of the world. We take our guidance from Jesus because he is the Christ, the Son of the living God, the only one who can save us. (Matt 16:16)

Today we give thanks to God for the great honour bestowed on Mary in not allowing decay to touch her body. At the end of her earthly life she was assumed body and soul into heaven. It was indeed fitting that no decay would touch her body because she had given birth to Jesus and also because she was sinless. She was immaculately conceived and remained sinless throughout her life. Death is the result of sin as Scripture tells us (Rom 6:23) so therefore she was assumed body and soul to heaven  at the end of her earthly life.

One of the titles we give to our Lady is Ark of the Covenant and our first reading opens with John’s vision of heaven in which he sees something which would startle his contemporaries – he sees the Ark of the Covenant (Rev 11:19). The Ark of the Covenant had been missing for centuries after Jeremiah had hidden it before the Deportation to Babylon and we can imagine the shock that John’s account would have caused in the first century as he related that he saw the ark in heaven. The Ark of the Covenant in the Old Testament was precious not because of its gold decoration but because it contained three precious items (Heb 9:4):

the two tablets of stone containing the ten commandments which had been written by the hand of God,

manna,

Aaron’s rod.

We can say that the Ark of the Covenant in the Old Testament prefigured Mary in the New Testament, it was pointing forward to Mary in the New Testament. But how and why? Well let’s look at what Mary carried in her womb

Jesus the living Word of God, the Word made flesh (not just written on stone as in the Old Testament)

Jesus was the Bread of Life (John 6) (fulfillment of the manna of the Old Testament)

Jesus was the Priest of the New Testament (Letter to the Hebrews) (Aaron was a priest and those descended from him were priests but Jesus is the Priest of the New Testament)

So the Ark of the Covenant in the Old Testament was pointing forward to a far greater Ark of the Covenant in the New Testament to Mary, who carried the living word of God, Jesus.

If we compare Mary visiting Elizabeth in our Gospel today with King David bringing the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem for the first time we get further hints that the Ark of the Covenant in the Old Testament was looking forward to Mary as the greater Ark of the Covenant in the New Testament:

David dances for joy in 2 Sam 6:5 and John leaps for joy in Elizabeth’s womb in Luke 1:44.

David calls out, “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?” in 2 Sam 6:9 and Elizabeth calls out, “why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” in Luke 1:43.

The ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite a few miles outside Jerusalem for three months, and the Lord blessed Obed-edom and his whole house in 2 Sam 6:11, and Mary remained about three months with Elizabeth in Luke 1:56 a few miles outside Jerusalem.

After John sees the Ark of the Covenant in heaven in our first reading he sees another vision, as if to confirm that Mary is indeed the Ark of the Covenant of the New Testament; he sees

“a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars…” (Rev 12:1)

The woman in John’s vision was pregnant and giving birth to a male child and at the same time a dragon was waiting to do harm to the child but both the mother and child were spared by divine intervention. We can understand this vision of John as Israel in the Old Testament giving birth to the Church in the New Testament and the dragon is the devil trying to destroy the Church.

An even better way to understand John’s vision is that the woman is Mary, the Ark of the Covenant in the New Testament, and she is helping each of us to come to birth spiritually because she is the Mother of the Church and the devil is making war on us. Some people find it difficult to see the woman as Mary but when you read this passage in the context of the rest of Scripture we can indeed see this passage as referring to Mary:

With good reason therefore down through the centuries Popes see the woman as Mary and specifically as Mary the Mother of the Church. Pope Pius X said of the woman of Rev 12,

“Everyone knows that this woman signified the Virgin Mary…”

(Ad diem illum laetissimum §24)

Mary’s Assumption into heaven, having completed her life while remaining sinless, reminds us, as Pope St John Paul II said, that the goal of the Church is heaven. We pray that one day the whole Church may be in heaven pure and holy like Mary in heaven,

“in the Most Holy Virgin the Church has already reached that perfection whereby she exists without spot or wrinkle.” (Redemptoris Mater §47)

Lumen Gentium a Document of the Second Vatican Council states:

“Today we give thanks to God for the grace and favor bestowed on Mary in her Assumption body and soul into heaven at the end of her life. It was a fitting reward for her who was the Ark of the Covenant who brought Jesus into the world, a far greater Ark of the Covenant than the Ark of the Covenant in the Old Testament. In heaven Mary continues to intercede for us, helping us to reach the goal of heaven which she enjoys. “…after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb Jesus.”

Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
Pray for us sinners,
Now, and at the hour of our death.
Amen.

Elijah in our first reading was recovering from a low ebb (1 Kings 19). He overcame false prophets on Mount Carmel to show that only the God of Israel is God (1 Kings 18). Then the king’s wife, who was promoting pagan worship, issued a death threat against Elijah. Elijah left and went south, and in low spirits lay under a broom tree. A divine messenger brought him food and drink and with that sustenance he continued south to Horeb, where our first reading today begins (1 Kings 19:9).

Horeb is another name for Mount Sinai. Elijah must have felt very vulnerable and isolated. He was the one true prophet in the midst of 450 false prophets. The Israelites had not been faithful to God’s covenant and now the king’s wife wanted him dead. We can imagine he went south to Mount Sinai for his personal safety but also we can imagine he was looking for an answer from God and chose Mount Sinai probably because that was where God communicated with Moses.

God did not let his faithful servant Elijah down; God gave him an answer in the cave where he was sheltering. God told him to go to the entrance of the cave and God would pass by him. There was something like a storm but God was not in the wind, nor in the earthquake, nor in the fire but God was in the gentle silence. I think there is a message for us in that also: if you want to meet God, you must have silence in your life; you must make space in your life for God to speak to you. When you continue reading past our reading today, we see that God gave Elijah a mission with tasks to accomplish in Syria and Israel. Now having been strengthened by God at Mount Sinai, Elijah went north again to carry out God’s wishes.

In today’s Gospel (Matt 14:22-33), the apostles’ boat was being tossed by wind and waves as they made their way across the Sea of Galilee. As if that wasn’t enough, they then saw Jesus walking towards them on the water but didn’t know it was Jesus and they were terrified. Jesus quietened their fears: “Take courage; it is I. Do not be afraid.” (Matt 14:27) Peter began to walk towards Jesus and was rescued by Jesus when he began to sink. How did it happen that Peter walked a little bit on the water but then began to sink? There is one very telling comment in Matthew: “when [Peter] saw how strong the wind was, he became frightened.” (Matt 14:30) Instead of remaining focused on Jesus as he should, he allowed himself to be distracted by the wind and took fright. I think there is a message in that for us also: remain focused on Jesus during storms. Do not take your focus off Jesus during storms.

God spoke to Elijah when he was vulnerable and isolated, and sent him back on mission. When Peter allowed himself to be distracted by the wind and began to sink, he called out and Jesus caught him. I think these are examples for us. When we are in difficulty like Elijah or frightened like Peter and sinking, can we create silence in our lives, go to some spiritual Mount Sinai, to seek consolation or an answer from God? The Lord is waiting for us to approach him in our need. It is not just that the Lord is waiting for us to approach him but wants us to approach him in our need. Many times we read words from Jesus encouraging us to bring our needs to him:

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. (Matt 7:7-8)

Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest (Matt 11:28)

In the Old Testament also we read words from God encouraging us to bring our needs before him. In Jeremiah we read,

When you call me, and come and pray to me, I will listen to you. When you look for me, you will find me. Yes, when you seek me with all your heart, I will let you find me. (Jer 29:12-14)

If ever we are vulnerable and isolated like Elijah or have taken our focus off Jesus and are frightened as a result, Jesus is waiting for us to call out to him. Make silence in your life for God, a spiritual Mount Sinai, where you can hear the Lord speak to you in the silence like Elijah. If ever we sink, call out to Jesus to catch us and help us back in the boat. In prayer we will find an answer. God is waiting to answer.

What can truly satisfy our deepest hunger and longing? Wherever Jesus went multitudes of people gathered to meet him - people from every part of society - rich and poor, professionals and labourers, even social outcasts and pagans. What drew them to Jesus? Were they simply curious or looking for a healing? Many were drawn to Jesus because they were hungry for God. Jesus' message of God's kingdom and the signs and wonders he performed stirred fresh hope and expectation that God was acting in a new and powerful way to set people free from sin and oppression and to bring them the blessings of his kingdom.

Jesus never disappointed those who earnestly sought him out. We see a marvellous example of this when Jesus and his twelve disciples got into the boat to seek out a lonely place for some rest along the lake of Galilee, only to discover a crowd of a few thousand people had already gathered in anticipation of their arrival! Did Jesus' disciples resent this intrusion on their plan to rest awhile? Jesus certainly didn't - he welcomed them with open-arms. His compassion showed the depths of God's love and care for his people. Jesus spoke the word of God to strengthen them in faith and he healed many who were sick.

As evening approached the disciples wanted Jesus to send the people away. Jesus, instead, commanded his disciples to feed the whole crowd. Why did Jesus expect his disciples to do what seemed impossible - to feed such a large and hungry crowd when there was no adequate provision in sight? Jesus very likely wanted to test their faith and to give them a sign of God's divine intervention and favour for his people. Jesus took the little they had - five loaves and two fish - and giving thanks to his heavenly Father, distributed to all until they were satisfied of their hunger. Twelve baskets full of fish and loaves that were leftover show the overflowing generosity of God's gifts to us - gifts that bring blessing, healing, strength, and refreshment.

Jesus' feeding of the five thousand is the only miracle recorded in all four Gospel accounts (Luke 9:10-17, Mark 6:34-44, John 6:51-58, Matthew 14:13-21). What is the significance of this miracle? The miraculous feeding of such a great multitude recalled the miraculous provision of manna in the wilderness under Moses' leadership and intercession for his people (Exodus 16). The daily provision of food for the people of Israel during their forty years of journeying in the barren wilderness foreshadowed the true heavenly bread which Jesus would pass on to his disciples at his last supper meal on the eve of his sacrifice on the cross.

Jesus makes a claim which only God can make: He is the true bread of heaven that can satisfy the deepest hunger we experience (John 6:32-35). The miracle of the multiplication of the loaves, when Jesus said the blessing, broke and distributed the loaves through his disciples to feed the multitude, is a sign that prefigures the superabundance of the unique bread of the Eucharist, or Lord's Supper which sustains us on our journey to the kingdom of heaven.

The feeding of the five thousand shows the remarkable generosity of God and his great kindness towards us. When God gives, he gives abundantly. He gives more than we need for ourselves that we may have something to share with others, especially those who lack what they need. God takes the little we have and multiplies it for the good of others. Do you trust in God's provision for you and do you share freely with others, especially those who lack?

Dear Sisters, dear brethren in Christ, last Sunday we heard several of our Lord’s parables on the kingdom of heaven, drawn from examples in nature. The parable of the wheat and the weeds used a problem familiar to those who heard our Lord tell it: what can a farmer do about weeds, which he has not sown, that spring up in a field of wheat which he hopes to harvest? A farmer will know that it is unwise to try and remove the weeds too soon because the delicate shoots of wheat are as likely to be uprooted as the weeds. Although it seems contrary to what you might think, it is actually wiser to allow the weeds to stay there, for the sake of the wheat which will eventually be strong enough to gather without being damaged by the weeds. In this way He wants to explain why it is that good and bad people live alongside each other with no apparent interference from God as we might expect, or at least hope to see. Another image our Lord draws from nature is the mustard seed which begins life as something extremely tiny, but gradually and almost imperceptibly grows into a large bush, capable of giving a home to birds making their nests there. Then He gave another short but familiar image of the woman mixing yeast into flour, gradually transforming the whole mixture into dough ready to be baked into bread. By these images He wanted to show how the kingdom of God on earth works from small beginnings and gradually grows in strength and presence until something great comes to pass.

Today’s parables, which follow on from last Sunday’s, are, I think, slightly differently conceived. Our Lord here chooses examples, not now from the natural world, but from human nature and human activity in order to illustrate for our understanding some point about the kingdom of heaven. The first two are particularly striking. The hidden treasure and the magnificent rare pearl are two things which many men would give their eye teeth to own. Our Lord deliberately focuses on the human desire to own something of great value and even to sacrifice a great deal in order to obtain it to explain the way we should try to grow in our desire for heaven. Think of anything in which you are really interested, then think how much time and effort you are prepared to expend in order to satisfy that desire, and then consider how it would be if you were to apply the same time and effort into getting into heaven! If you would be prepared to plough all your property into acquiring a field with hidden treasure, or a truly magnificent, rare pearl or jewel, or a priceless work of art, then apply that desire, that energy, to doing what it takes to getting into heaven, and that should give us an idea of where our priorities in this life should really lie.

Our Lord shows just how thoroughly He understands the inner workings of human nature. In both these imaginary cases, the man who buys the field and the merchant who buys the pearl have learned something that they do not want anyone else to recognise, lest that somebody else get there first! That is why the treasure must remain covered up and hidden under the field until such time as the man who found it is sure that he legally owns the field and can then safely dig it up openly and bring out the treasure – all now his! And that is why the merchant who is smitten with the pearl of great value cannot wait to sell all his other property just so that he can invest it all in this one pearl. He will presumably be quite happy to sell many, probably valuable things he owns, just in order to own one relatively small thing, yet of enormous value not only in itself, but to him personally. Part of the appeal of the pearl lies in the fact that the merchant has invested a great deal of time and effort into searching for just such a precious object, one that is as rare as it is beautiful. Heaven, says our Lord, is like that. We must devote a great deal of our time and effort into finding out more about the things of heaven, just as the merchant finds out about the science of pearls – where to look for them, and how much to pay for them. So too we must look for the things of heaven and not for the things of earth.

The third parable today is different from these two. But then we should perhaps recall that our Lord did not necessarily tell them all at the same time or in the same order as the Evangelist does. What matters is what they mean. This third parable is about a large fisherman’s net and what it catches. This is the kind of net that Peter and Andrew, and James and John who were fishermen, used on the Sea of Galilee. A large net thrown wide into the sea, was designed to bring in both an indiscriminate range of different fish, and a large number of them for commercial reasons. The net would stay out until such time as the fishermen were satisfied, by reason of the weight of the net, that they had caught enough. Then they would pull the nets behind them and head for shore where they would sort out and count all the fish to sell them to the fishmongers of Bethsaida or Capharnaum or wherever they chose to sell their catch. But they would have no idea exactly what they had in their great net until they had brought it ashore. We can imagine what this was like from several of the Gospel accounts where our Lord interacts with the Galilean fishermen, usually involving miraculous and large catches of fish. They would have to sort the fish out because a fishmonger would hardly be prepared to accept just a load of raw fish without knowing what kind they were. And some of them would be inedible, so that they would be throw away as useless. This is what our Lord uses as the image of the end of times. As with the parable of the wheat and the weeds last week, this parable of the fish in the great net is really about God’s patience. We often wonder, why doesn’t God stop wicked people, now? Immediately! Because we would, if we could, wouldn’t we? But God does not throw away the bad any more than the fisherman throws away the bad until the fisherman, or God, has got to the right place and time to do it. The fisherman cannot do this on the lake, and God will not do it while there is still time for a sinner to repent. And if God seems exasperating for letting wicked people get away with so much for so long, then think that we should also be grateful to God that He doesn’t act quickly against us either! May we use well every day of our life to repent and renew our lives in Him!

Dear Sisters, dear brethren in Christ, in that Gospel passage which we have just heard, St Matthew tells us how twelve disciples (of whom he was one) became twelve apostles. What is the difference? It is not immediately obvious why these two words were used right back from the beginning, but today’s passage goes a long way to helping us understand the meaning of this change of name.

In the first place, disciple is a Latin word translating a Greek word ‘mathetes’ meaning a ‘pupil’, one who learns from a teacher. No one is described simply as a disciple in the abstract. You might be a student in the abstract, such as a student of history or of theology, which you can do on your own as an academic, but that is not the same as being a disciple or pupil, because being a disciple definitely requires someone to whom the pupil looks for teaching and guidance. In this case, the disciples mentioned in all the Gospels are followers of our Lord’s teaching. They claim allegiance to Him personally. He is the teacher, or ‘magister’, a Latin word that gives us the English words ‘master’ and ‘magistrate’.

For His disciples, our Lord was certainly their teacher, their master, their magistrate or lawgiver. For Jesus clearly taught them that He is their only teacher and master; ‘call no one on earth your teacher – for you have only one teacher, the Christ’. So the disciples are all those who accept our Lord’s unique role as teacher. To them He was indeed not just any teacher, but, as so many others also recognised, ‘one who taught with authority, not like the scribes’, who were the trained interpreters of the religious law of the Jewish people. Jesus, on the other hand, was not ‘trained’ in any school for rabbis, but nonetheless was able to teach with authority because He showed His authority over demons, over sickness and over death. One who could heal the sick, raise the dead and cast out demons undoubtedly had authority to teach, ‘for no one could do these deeds that [He] did unless God were with Him’, as Nicodemus says in St John’s Gospel.

St Matthew, at the beginning of today’s passage, mentions the ‘twelve disciples’ whom Jesus called to His side. These were not the only disciples. Since the word means a pupil, one who trusts Jesus as a teacher, we know there were many of them. St Luke talks about seventy disciples on another occasion. St John mentions that Nicodemus was ‘a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews’. So anyone who accepted Jesus’s authority as ‘a teacher come from God’ is a disciple. And as our Lord said later in the same chapter of the Gospel that we have just heard: ‘it is enough for a disciple to be like his teacher, and a servant like his master.’

So in this sentence we learn what our Lord Himself looks for in anyone who claims to be a disciple of His. First of all, we must carefully and thoroughly learn what He teaches. Secondly, we must put it into effect. It is not enough simply to know what He says we must do and then not do it. That would be utterly wrong and reprehensible. So therefore, we owe obedience to Him in all that He teaches us about God, about ourselves and about our neighbours.

Then we come to the word ‘apostle’. This is the actual Greek word itself, adopted into Latin and thence into English, meaning one ‘ who is sent out with a mission’. Our Lord sent many people out on various missions, like the seventy disciples I mentioned a moment ago. But these do not get named Apostles. The ones who are named Apostles in the Gospels are twelve in number, no more and no less. This number was specifically chosen by our Lord in order that they could represent the twelve tribes of the people of Israel, meaning the entire assembly of the nation. The Twelve apostles are ‘sent out’ and we hear today just how our Lord does that, with explicit directions to whom and with what intention. We note especially that, unlike the seventy disciples sent out on a mission, Jesus sends out the twelve with something far greater: He sends them out with power; as well as instructing them to go only to those whom He calls ‘the lost sheep of the house of Israel’, He instructs them to proclaim ‘the Kingdom of heaven is close at hand’, and to ‘heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers and cast out demons.’

So we learn here that although the twelve are certainly among the entire group of those who follow our Lord and accept Him as teacher, the disciples, they are far more than just a small group within the disciples as a whole; they are specially empowered. Moreover, they will be given even greater authority and power at the Last Supper when our Lord will add to today’s list of powers that of changing bread and wine into His Body and Blood and offering these in sacrifice to the Father on behalf of all the body of disciples whom we call the Church.

This is why we call the Church; ‘one, holy, Catholic and apostolic’, because she lives in the world by the exercise of Christ’s own authority which He did not give to all His disciples, but only to the Twelve. They in turn shared the same power and authority with those whom they chose, as St Paul (chosen personally by Christ at Damascus) himself chose St Timothy and St Titus, appointing them as sharers in his apostolic authority by the laying on of hands, as we heard in the readings at Mass just over a week ago. Only the Apostles and their successors, the Bishops, have the authority to do those things we read about in the Gospel. And the bishops in turn hand on their full share in the authority of Christ to other bishops by ordination, and also with priests, who have a partial share in the same authority to celebrate Mass, to forgive sins, to heal the sick and to teach the faithful what they themselves have learned from the one Master, the one Rabbi, Christ Himself. That is how Christ made provision for the Church to continue throughout all ages and throughout the world.

What do you treasure the most and how do you keep it from being lost or stolen? In a peasant community the best safe was often the earth. The man in the parable (Matthew 13:44) "went in his joy" to sell everything. Why? Because he found a treasure worth possessing above all else he had. He did not, however, have enough to buy the treasure. Fortunately, he only needed enough to buy the field. In a similar fashion, God offers his kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy (Romans 14:17) as incomparable treasure at a price we can afford! We can't pay the full price for the life which God gives us; but when we exchange our life for the life which God offers, we receive a treasure beyond compare.

The pearl of great price also tells us a similar lesson. Pearls in the ancient world came to represent the supremely valuable. Jesus remarked that one should not cast pearls before swine (Matthew 7:6). Why would a merchant sell everything for a peerless pearl? No doubt because he was attracted to what he thought was the greatest treasure he could possess. Discovering God's kingdom is like stumbling across hidden treasure or finding the one pearl of great price.

When we discover the kingdom of God we receive the greatest possible treasure - the Lord himself. Selling all that we have to obtain this incomparable treasure could mean many things - our friends, job, our "style of life", what we do with our free time. Treasure has a special connection to the heart, the place of desire and longing, the place of will and focus. The thing we most set our heart on is our highest treasure. In this parable what does the treasure of the kingdom refer to? It certainly refers to the kingdom of God in all its aspects. But in a special way, the Lord himself is the treasure we seek for. If the Almighty is your gold and your precious silver, then you will delight yourself in the Almighty (Job 22:22- 23). Is the Lord the treasure and delight of your heart?

What can a story of a dragnet and a great catch of fish tell us about God's kingdom? The two most common ways of fishing in Jesus' time was with a casting-net (or hand-net) which was thrown from the shore and the drag-net or trawl which was let down or cast into the waters from a boat. As the boat moved through the waters the drag-net was drawn into the shape of a great cone which indiscriminately took in all kinds of fish and flotsam and jetsam swept in its path. It usually took several men to haul such a net to shore.

What is Jesus' point here? Just as a drag-net catches every kind of fish in the sea, so the church acts as God's instrument for gathering in all who will come. Just as the drag-net does not or cannot discriminate, so the church does not discriminate between the good and the bad, the useless and the useful. God's kingdom is open to all who will accept and believe. But there will come a time of separation, at the close of the age, when the angels will send the good and the bad to their respective destinations. Our task is to gather in all who will come. God, in the end, will give the good (those who accept and follow Christ) and the bad (those who refuse Christ) the reward they deserve. God offers the treasure of his kingdom to all who believe in Christ. Do you hunger for God and for his kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy?

When Jesus had finished speaking about his parables, he turned to his disciples and asked them, "Have you understood all this?" (Matthew 13:52). Jesus asks us the same question. If we want to understand the meaning and significance of the parables for our daily lives, then we must reflect and think through what the Lord is saying to us through his instruction. The Holy Spirit is our guide and teacher who helps us to grow in understanding of God's word in the Scriptures.

What is the point of Jesus' parable about a "scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 13:52)? Scribes were specially devoted to the study and practice of God's word entrusted to Moses (the first five books of the Bible) and in instructing others in how to live according to it. In the Old Testament Ezra was called "the ready scribe of the law of the God of heaven" (Book of Ezra 7:6,21). He received this title because he "had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments" (Ezra 7:10). Ezra's heart was set on the kingdom of heaven because he revered God's word and he taught others through example and instruction to love and obey God's word.

Why does Jesus compare a "trained scribe" with a "householder who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old" (Matthew 13:52)? Some people love to store up old prized possessions along with their newly acquired prizes. Others are eager to get rid of the old to make room for the new. So why does Jesus seem to emphasize keeping the old along with the new? Why not replace the old, especially if the new seems to be better or more useful? Wouldn't a person want to throw away an old pair of shoes and replace them with a new pair - especially if the old pair became well-worn or torn beyond repair? But, who in his right mind would throw away an old precious jewel or some old gold coins simply because they were ancient and maybe tarnished a bit? Precious gems and gold do not lose their value with age!

Like choice vintage wine they increase in value. Jesus' parable of the "old" and the "new" certainly points to the "older covenants" which God made with his covenanted people of the Old Testament, beginning with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and with Moses on Mount Sinai, and with King David the precursor of the Messiah (Psalm 89:3 and Psalm 110:1). Jesus' parable also points to the "new covenant" which he came to establish through the shedding of his blood on the cross and the anointing of his Holy Spirit who seals the new covenant on the day of Pentecost. Jesus did not come to abolish the Old Covenant but to fulfil it. The Lord calls us to treasure all of his word - all of his commandments, promises, precepts, and teaching (Psalm 119:14,72,127,162). Do you promise to keep all of God's commands? The Lord gives strength, blessing, and joy to those who treasure all of his word.

We would be impoverished today if we only possessed the treasures of the word of God in the "Old Testament" Scriptures or if we only knew the treasures of the "New Testament" Scriptures. Both the Old and New Testament Scriptures are given by the same eternal Father, inspired by the same eternal Holy Spirit, and fulfilled by the same eternal Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, who was with the Father from the beginning and who was sent from heaven to take on human flesh for our salvation (John 1:1-3,14).

There is a profound unity between the Old and New Testaments. Both are divinely inspired by one and the same Spirit (2 Timothy 3:16). The Old Testament prepares for the New and the New Testament fulfils the Old - the two shed light on each other. The Old Testament prepared the way for the coming of Jesus Christ as the redeemer of all who would be saved through his sacrifice on the cross. The New Testament lies hidden in the Old and the Old Testament is unveiled in the New. That is why Jesus interpreted the Old Testament Scriptures for his disciples and explained how he came to fulfil what was promised and foreshadowed in the Old (Luke 24:27). That is why we read the Old Testament in the light of Christ's saving death and resurrection. Do you revere the word of God in the Scriptures - both old and new - and see their fulfilment in the Lord Jesus Christ?

What can malicious weed-sowing tell us about the kingdom of God (Matthew 13:25)? The image Jesus uses in this parable is a common everyday example of planting, harvesting, and sorting the good fruit from the bad. Weeds can spoil and even kill a good harvest if they are not separated and destroyed at the proper time. Uprooting them too early, though, can destroy the good plants in the process.

Just as nature teaches us patience, so God's patience also teaches us to guard the seed of his word which he has planted in our hearts and to beware of the destructive force of sin and evil that can destroy it. God's word brings life, but Satan seeks to destroy the good seed which has been planted in the hearts of those who have heard God's word. God's judgment is not hasty, but it does come. And in the end, God will reward each according to what they have sown and reaped in this life. In that day God will separate the evil from the good. Do you allow God's word to take deep root in your heart?

What can mustard seeds and leaven teach us about the kingdom of God? The tiny mustard seed literally grew to be a tree which attracted numerous birds because they loved the little black mustard seed it produced. God's kingdom works in a similar fashion. It starts from the smallest beginnings in the hearts of men and women who are receptive to God's word. And it works unseen and causes a transformation from within.

Leaven is another powerful agent of change. A lump of dough left to itself remains just what it is, a lump of dough. But when the leaven is added to it a transformation takes place which produces rich and wholesome bread when heated - the staple of life for humans. The kingdom of God produces a transformation in those who receive the new life which Jesus Christ offers. When we yield to Jesus Christ, our lives are transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. Paul the Apostle says, "we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us" (2 Corinthians 4:7). Do you believe in the transforming power of the Holy Spirit?

Good and evil are sown in our hearts like tiny seeds which germinate, and in due time yield a harvest of good or bad fruit. Charles Read said: "Sow an act and you reap a habit. Sow a habit and you reap a character. Sow a character and you reap a destiny." In the day of judgment each will reap what he or she has sown in this life. Those who sow good will shine in the kingdom of their Father. They will radiate with the beauty, joy, and fullness of God's love. Do you allow the love of Christ to rule in your heart and in your actions?

What is the best and easiest way to help people understand God's kingdom? Like the rabbis of his time, Jesus very frequently used parables - short stories and images taken from everyday life - to convey hidden truths about the kingdom of God. Like a skillful artist, Jesus sketched memorable pictures with short and simple words. A good image can speak more loudly and clearly than many words. Jesus used the ordinary everyday illustrations of life and nature to point to another order of reality - hidden, yet visible to those who had "eyes to see" and "ears to hear". Jesus communicated with vivid illustrations which captured the imaginations of his audience more powerfully than any abstract presentation could. His parables are like buried treasure waiting to be discovered (Matthew 13:44).

What can the parable about seeds and roots teach us about the kingdom of God? Any farmer will attest to the importance of good soil for supplying nutrients for growth. And how does a plant get the necessary food and water it needs except by its roots? The Scriptures frequently use the image of fruit-bearing plants or trees to convey the principle of spiritual life and death. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit (Jeremiah 17:7-8; see also Psalm 1:3)

Jesus' parable of the sower is aimed at the hearers of his word. There are different ways of accepting God's word and they produce different kinds of fruit accordingly. There is the prejudiced hearer who has a shut mind. Such a person is unteachable and blind to what he or she doesn't want to hear. Then there is the shallow hearer. He or she fails to think things out or think them through; they lack depth. They may initially respond with an emotional reaction; but when it wears off their mind wanders to something else.

Another type of hearer is the person who has many interests or cares, but who lacks the ability to hear or comprehend what is truly important. Such a person is too busy to pray or too preoccupied to study and meditate on God's word. Then there is the one whose mind is open. Such a person is at all times willing to listen and to learn. He or she is never too proud or too busy to learn. They listen in order to understand. God gives grace to those who hunger for his word that they may understand his will and have the strength to live according to it. Do you hunger for God's word?

Jesus told his disciples that not everyone would understand his parables. Did Jesus mean to say that he was deliberately confusing or hiding the meaning of his stories from his listeners? Very likely not. Jesus was speaking from experience. He was aware that some who heard his parables refused to understand them. It was not that they could not intellectually understand them, but rather, their hearts were closed to what Jesus was saying. They had already made up their minds to not believe. God can only reveal the secrets of his kingdom - that which is hidden to the spiritually blind - to those who hunger for God and humbly submit to his truth.

What can makes us ineffective or unresponsive to God's word? Preoccupation with other things can distract us from what is truly important and worthwhile. And letting our hearts and minds be consumed with material things can easily weigh us down and draw us away from the heavenly treasure that lasts for eternity. God's word can only take root in a receptive heart which is docile and ready to hear what God has to say.

The parables of Jesus will enlighten us if we approach them with an open mind and heart, ready to let them challenge us. If we approach them with the conviction that we already know the answer, then we, too, may look but not see, listen but not understand. God's word can only take root in a receptive heart that is ready to believe and willing to submit. Do you submit to God's word with trust and obedience?

One lesson from this parable is clear: the harvest is sure to come. While some seed will fall by the wayside and some fall on shallow ground and never come to maturity, and some be choked to death by the thorns; nonetheless a harvest will come. The seed that falls on good soil, on the heart that is receptive, will reap abundant fruit. God is always ready to speak to each of us and to give us understanding of his word. Are you hungry for his word? And do you allow anything to keep you from submitting to God's word with joy and trusting obedience?