(Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Patrick Comerford
Next Sunday, 26 July 2020, is the Seventh Sunday after Trinity (Trinity VII).
The readings in the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL), as adapted for use in the Church of Ireland, are in two pairs, the Continuous Readings and the Paired Readings:
The Continuous Readings:
Genesis 29: 15-28; Psalm 105: 1-11, 45b or Psalm 128; Romans 8: 26-39; Matthew 13: 31-33, 44-52. There is a link to the continuous readings HERE.
The Paired Readings:
I Kings 3: 5-12; Psalm 119: 129-136; Romans 8: 26-39; Matthew 13: 31-33, 44-52.
Introducing the Readings:
Lessons in good parenting teach parents never to compare their sons or daughters with other children. It is a sure way of giving children the impression that they never match the expectations of their parents.
We know that comparisons are never adequate. Shakespeare asks in the opening line of Sonnet 18: ‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?’ And immediately answers himself: ‘Thou art more lovely and more temperate.’
When we are tempted to compare ourselves, favourably or unfavourably, with others, it is good to be reminded of the old adage not to judge anyone until we have walked a mile in their shoes.
Comparisons never match the beauty of any person or place. And yet, in language, we need metaphors, similes and allegories.
It is worth noticing the different comparisons, parallels, metaphors, similes and allegories in Sunday’s reading.
In the first reading (Genesis 29: 15-28), Jacob is outwitted by Laban is deceived into thinking that Leah is Rachel.
As children of Jacob, the Psalmist invites us in Psalm 105 to see God in his works.
In the alternative Psalm in the continuous readings (Psalm 128), the happiness of those who are blessed by God is compared to a man whose wife is like a ‘fruitful vine’ and whose children are like ‘olive shoots round about your table.’
In the New Testament reading, the Apostle Paul tells us that those who love God are ‘the image of his Son.’ The word used here, εἰκών (eikon, image), is also used regularly by Saint Paul to say that Christ is the ‘image’ of God: we are not mere comparisons with God, or like God, but through Christ we have become images of God.
Then, in the Gospel reading, Christ offers a number of images of what the Kingdom of God is like: a mustard seed, yeast, hidden treasure, a pearl, a net. Do we understand? Do we fully understand? Of course we don’t, even should we answer yes.
We can only imagine what another person or family is like. We can only glimpse what another place is like. We can only listen to what the Kingdom of God is like, until we actually live it and incorporate it into our own lives. But we need to actively engage with it, live it out, to know what the kingdom is truly like.
Genesis 29: 15-28:
After meeting God in a vision at Bethel, Jacob has travelled on to Haran in search of a wife from his own clan. He meets Rachel, and her father Laban, who is related to Jacob, takes him into his household and gives him a living.
After Jacob has been staying with Laban’s family for a month, Laban asks Jacob what wages he expects. Laban has two daughters, Leah and Rachel: Leah has lovely eyes, while Rachel is ‘graceful and beautiful,’ and Jacob is besotted with Rachel.
Jacob offers to work freely for seven years for Laban in return for a promise that he can then marry Rachel. The former Chief Rabbi, Lord (Jonathan) Sacks, points out that ‘the number seven is always significant and always indicates holiness, as in the seventh day, Shabbat; the seventh month, Tishri with its Days of Awe; the seventh year, “the year of release”; and the fiftieth year, the Jubilee, which follows seven cycles of seven years.’ He says that the number seven became ‘the symbol of the holy,’ a symbol that ‘God exists beyond time and space.’
Because of his hope and because of his love for Rachel, the seven years pass quickly for Jacob and seem ‘but a few days.’
But we should recall how Jacob once deceived his father Isaac and his brother Esau. Now Laban deceives Jacob – a deceit that was possible because a bride wore a veil at her wedding.
Isaac was deceived into honouring ‘the younger before the firstborn’ when it came to the struggle between Esau and Jacob. Now Laban deceives Jacob into honouring the firstborn before the younger, and successfully contrives to marry his elder daughter Leah to Jacob.
Jacob, who once appeared to shirk work when compared with Esau, is now forced to work longer than expected: another seven days added on to the seven years.
We are prepared for something more holy that is about to unfold, and the stories of the Patriarchs leads to the stories of the children of Israel.
Psalm 105: 1-11, 45b:
Psalm 105 was probably written for a major festival, and verses 1-15 are largely reproduced in I Chronicles 16: 8-22.
In Jewish tradition, this Psalm is recited on the first day of Passover, verses 8-10 are part of the prayers recited in the naming of a boy at his brit milah or circumcision, and verses 8-42 are repeated in the Amidah or principal prayer on New Year’s Day, Rosh Hashanah.
Psalm 105 recalls the events in Israel’s history, from Abraham to the entry into the Promised Land, that show God’s fidelity to his covenant, culminating in the giving of the Law.
Verses 1-6 invite the people to worship and to recognise God’s deeds with joy and gratitude. God is to be praised for his judgments and for his wonderful works.
God’s judgments are for all people. He first promised the land to Abraham, confirmed it to Isaac and to Jacob, and made it part of an everlasting covenant.
Originally the psalm began as it ends, with the words ‘Alleluia!’ or ‘Praise the Lord.’
Psalm 128:
Psalm 128 is one of 15 psalms that begin with the words ‘A song of ascents’ (Shir Hama’alot). This palm may date from the post-exilic period, after the year 539 BCE. It was probably a pilgrimage song, sung as people walked to Jerusalem for a major festival.
This is a short psalm only six verses, and discusses the blessed state of those who follow God.
Those who hold God in awe will be joyful; they are those who follow God’s ways. If we do so, we will be prosperous, enjoying the results of our hard work and living in harmony with God.
The promises of large families and the guarantee of heirs was a blessing in an age of high infant mortality. Verses 5-6 form a blessing, perhaps pronounced by a priest. The prosperity of Jerusalem was fundamental to the happiness of the people, who prayed that God would bless the people in the community from Zion, his dwelling place in the Temple.
These concluding verses also include a well-known blessing at traditional weddings in rural Ireland: ‘May you live to see your children’s children’ – which brings us back to the story in our first reading of Jacob’s weddings, and forward to the future stories of his children.
Romans 8: 26-39:
Saint Paul has written of the new way of being we attain in baptism: we are freed of compounding sin leading to the finality of death and begin living in and with the Spirit, thanks to God’s gift of love. In this new life, we will live in complete accord with God, but now we still fail to live up to his, and our, expectations. We need help – help which the Spirit provides. In our present condition we have hope of attaining perfect union with God.
Now Saint Paul gives an example of how the Spirit helps us. We have human limitations in how we pray. But the Spirit intercedes for us in ways that are inexpressible in human language. The Father, who knows us to the core, knows the mind of the Spirit, for it is part of God’s plan that he intercedes for the saints, the members of the Church. We know that, for those who love God and who are called by God as part of his plan, are being led towards ultimate goodness.
God formulated his plan, knowing in advance that there would be people who would love him. They would want to become images (icons) of, or share in, the life of the Risen Christ, and so are part of his final glory.
These people are called and chosen, and in responding to God’s call they are found worthy or justified. So certain is Saint Paul that God is completing these plans, he writes the word glorified in the past tense – God’s plans are completed in Christ.
Saint Paul then looks at how certain we can be that God completes this plan of salvation, and he asks questions that mirror the language of a law court.
God is so for us that he gave us his very Son, so he will surely follow through with the rest of his plan. God justifies us, has found in our favour, so who now can accuse us of anything? Christ both pleads for us and is our judge. No hardships can separate true Christians from Christ’s love for us, and we become at one with him in his paschal sacrifice.
Despite our sufferings, we have a victory that makes us more than conquerors. Whether we are dead or alive on the Last Day, no power, high or low, past or present, good or evil, can separate us from God’s love or defeat God’s purpose for us.
Matthew 13: 31-33, 44-52:
In this reading, Christ continues to speak in parables as he teaches the crowds and the disciples about the Kingdom of God.
The five parables in this reading are really similes that must have seemed incredible on the day because of Christ’s use of exaggeration and hyperbole.
1, A mustard seed is very small, but it grows into a large shrub, rather than a tree. Birds do not nest in it (verses 31-32).
2, Bread made with three measures of flour would feed 100 people, so once again we have hyperbole. The Kingdom of God Kingdom will grow from small beginnings to something beyond our measure or imagination (verse 33).
3, When someone accidentally comes across hidden treasure, he sells everything he has so he can buy the whole field and take possession of this one item in one small part of the large field. This is the price we should put on becoming part of the Kingdom (verse 44).
4, The merchant values the one great pearl above everything else (verses 45-46).
5, On the Sea of Galilee, a net gathered all fish, but only some were edible, and the others were thrown back into the water. At the end of the age, God will come to judge people, declaring the good to be his and discarding the others (verses 47-50).
Christ asks whether they understand. They say ‘Yes’ – but do they truly understand? (verses 51-52).
Reflections on the Gospel Reading:
Have you ever found yourself lost for words when it comes to describing a beautiful place you have visited?
If you have ever been to the Bay of Naples or Sorrento, how would you describe what you have seen to someone who has never travelled outside a 30 km radius from your parish?
You might try comparing the first glimpse of Vesuvius with looking at Carrigtwohill, Croagh Patrick or the Great Sugarloaf … but that hardly describes the experience of climbing the rocky path, looking into the caldera, or the experience of the sulphuric smell.
You might want to compare the Bay of Naples with the vista in Dingle Bay or Clew Bay … but does that reflect the majestic scope of any one of these views?
You might want to compare the church domes of Venice or the Greek islands with the great copper dome in Rathmines … but that goes nowhere near describing the intricate artwork on those Italian domes or the impact on the Greek skyline.
You might compare the inside of the duomo in Florence with the inside of your favourite parish church … but you know you are getting nowhere near what you want to say.
And as for Capri … even if the ballad ‘There is an Isle’ is about the King’s Island in Limerick, it hardly conveys the romantic allure of Capri.
Comparisons never match the beauty of any of the places that offer us a snatch or glimpse of heaven.
And yet, we know that the photographs on our phones, no matter how good they seem to be when we are taking them, never do justice to the places we have been when we get home.
We risk becoming bores either by trying to use inadequate words or inadequate images to describe experiences that we can never truly share with people unless they go there, unless they have been there too.
I suppose that helps to a degree to understand why Jesus keeps on trying to grasp at images that might help the Disciples and help us to understand what the Kingdom of God is like.
He tries to offer us a taste of the kingdom with a number of parables in Sunday’s Gospel reading:
● The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed … (verse 31).
● The kingdom of heaven is like yeast … (verse 33).
● The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field … (verse 44).
● The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls … (verse 45).
● The kingdom of heaven is like a net in the sea … (verse 47).
‘Do they understand?’ They answer, ‘Yes.’ But how can they really understand, fully understand?
We have a romantic imagination that confuses gardens with Paradise, and Paradise with the Kingdom of Heaven. But perhaps that is a good starting point, because I have a number of places where I find myself saying constantly: ‘This is a little snatch of heaven.’ They include:
● The road from Cappoquin out to my grandmother’s farm in West Waterford.
● The train journey from outside Ferns to Wexford, along the banks of the River Slaney.
● The view from the east end of Stowe Pool across to Lichfield Cathedral at sunset on a Spring evening.
● The Backs in Cambridge.
● Sunset at the Fortezza in Rethymnon on the Greek island of Crete.
● The sights and sounds on some of the many beaches I like to walk on … Ballinskellings, Ballybunion, Beale Strand, Bettystown, Skerries, Achill, Crete … I could go on.
The Kingdom of Heaven must be so like so many of these places where I find myself constantly praising God and thanking God for creation.
But … but it’s not just that. And I start thinking that Christ does more than just paint a scene when he describes the kingdom of heaven. Looking at the Gospel reading again, I realise he is doing more than offering holiday snapshots or painting the scenery.
He tries to describe the Kingdom of Heaven in terms of doing, and not just in terms of being:
● Sowing a seed (verse 31)
● Giving a nest to the birds of the air (verse 32)
● Mixing yeast (verse 33)
● Turning small amounts of flour into generous portions of bread (verse 34)
● Finding hidden treasure (verse 44)
● Rushing out in joy (verse 44)
● Selling all that I have because something I have found is worth more – much, much more, again and again (verse 44, 46)
● Searching for pearls (verse 45)
● Finding just one pearl (verse 46)
● Casting a net into the sea (verse 47)
● Catching an abundance of fish (verse 47)
● Drawing the abundance of fish ashore, and realising there is too much there for personal needs (verse 48)
● Writing about it so that others can enjoy the benefit and rewards of treasures new and old (verse 52)
So there are, perhaps, four or five times as many active images of the kingdom than there are passive images.
The kingdom is more about doing than being.
One of my favourite T-shirts is one I bought in the Plaka in Athens three years ago and that says: ‘To do is to be, Socrates. To be is to do, Plato. Do-be-do-be-do, Sinatra.’
The kingdom is more about doing than being.
At a recent USPG conference, I heard about a number of activities that, for me, help my imagination to think about what the kingdom is like:
1, Bishop David Hamid of the Diocese of Europe spoke about the work of Saint Paul’s Church, the Anglican Church in Athens, in partnership with USPG, working with refugees and asylum seekers who continue to arrive in desperate and heart-breaking circumstances on the Greek islands.
2, Bishop Margaret Vertue, from the Diocese of False Bay in the Western Cape, spoke of how the Bible relates to the work of the Anglican Church in South Africa with victims of gender-based violence and people trafficking.
3, Rachel Parry of USPG spoke of Bishop Carlo Morales of Ozamis in the Philippines, who was arrested at gunpoint and was languishing in jail because of his commitment to working with the peace process in his own country.
4, Jo Musker-Sherwood, Director of Hope for the Future, shared how her experience in mission with USPG led her to work at lobbying politicians and empowering churches in the area of climate change.
5,The Revd Carlton Turner, who moved from the Bahamas to work as a vicar in Bloxwich in the Diocese of Lichfield, talked about how God creates out of chaos, how God’s pattern for growing the Church is about entering chaos and bringing about something creative, something new.
On Sunday next, you might challenge people, as they go home, to think of three places, three gifts in God’s creation, that offer glimpses of the Kingdom of Heaven, and to think of three actions that symbolise Christ’s invitation into the Kingdom of Heaven.
Give thanks for these pearls beyond price, and share them with someone you love and cherish.
Matthew 13: 31-33, 44-52 (NRSVA):
31 He [Jesus] put before them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; 32 it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.’
33 He told them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.’
44 ‘The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
45 ‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; 46 on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.
47 ‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; 48 when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. 49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous 50 and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
51 ‘Have you understood all this?’ They answered, ‘Yes.’ 52 And he said to them, ‘Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.’
Liturgical Resources:
Liturgical Colour: Green (Year A, Ordinary Time)
The Collect of the Day:
Lord of all power and might,
the author and giver of all good things:
Graft in our hearts the love of your name,
increase in us true religion,
nourish us with all goodness,
and of your great mercy keep us in the same;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The Collect of the Word:
O God, the fount of wisdom,
you have revealed to us in Christ
the hidden treasure and the pearl of great price:
grant us your Spirit’s gift of discernment,
that, in the midst of the things of this world,
we may learn to value the priceless worth of your kingdom,
and be ready to renounce all else
for the sake of the precious gift you offer.
We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Post-Communion Prayer:
Lord God,
whose Son is the true vine and the source of life,
ever giving himself that the world may live:
May we so receive within ourselves
the power of his death and passion
that, in his saving cup,
we may share his glory and be made perfect in his love;
for he is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
now and for ever.
Suggested Hymns:
Genesis 29: 15-28:
544, O perfect love, all human thought transcending
Psalm 105: 1-11, 45b:
321, Holy, holy, holy! Lord God almighty
597, Take my life and let it be
323, The God of Abraham praise
Psalm 128:
649, Happy are they, they that love God
539, Rejoice, O land, in God thy might
712, Tell out, my soul, the greatness of the Lord
I Kings 3: 5-12:
643, Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart
533, God of grace and God of glory
Psalm 119: 129-136:
382, Help us, O Lord, to learn
195, Lord, the light of your love is shining
384, Lord, thy word abideth
108, Praise to the Holiest in the height
Romans 8: 26-39:
10, All my hope on God is founded
218, And can it be that I should gain
328, Come on and celebrate
693, Glory in the highest to the God of heaven
3, God is Love let heaven adore him
13, God moves in a mysterious way
266, Hail the day that sees him rise
226, It is a thing most wonderful
272, Jesus lives: thy terrors now
671, Jesus, thy blood and righteousness
358, King of glory, King of peace
619, Lord, teach us how to pray aright
392, Now is eternal life
638, O for a heart to praise my God
106, O Jesus, King most wonderful
363, O Lord of heaven and earth and sea
105, O the deep, deep love of Jesus
487, Soldiers of Christ, arise
288, Thine be the glory, risen, conquering Son
373, To God be the glory! Great things he has done
Matthew 13: 31-33, 44-52:
665, Ag Críost an síol (The seed is Christ’s)
643, Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart
37, Come, ye thankful people, come
95, Jesu, priceless treasure
16, Like a mighty river flowing
384, Lord, thy word abideth
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
The hymns suggestions are provided in Sing to the Word (2000), edited by Bishop Edward Darling. The hymn numbers refer to the Church of Ireland’s Church Hymnal (5th edition, Oxford: OUP, 2000)
Material from the Book of Common Prayer is copyright © 2004, Representative Body of the Church of Ireland.
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