Rev. Michael Piazza in Liberating Word says about Matthew 13, “Following the extraordinary story of God as a reckless farmer, Matthew inserts a long explanation. It is almost as if he is trying to tame the story, even if he can’t tame the God Jesus is revealing. Many scholars believe the explanation came from Matthew or some other teacher, not from Jesus. Jesus next tells the parable of the wheat and tares (weeds). The parable sounds similar to the sower and seeds, because the farmer seems quite unconcerned about the weeds. He tells the servants to just let them all grow and sort it out later. However, when you read the explanation (Matthew 13:36-43) the tone is quite different, ending with the threat of weeping and gnashing of teeth. The parables sound a lot like the Jesus I have come to know and love. The explanations sound much more like the followers of Jesus who find extravagant and uncontrolled grace too much to handle. I know because I have been one of those followers too often. For much of my career I was more drawn to the explanation than to the parable. The explanation tames the parable, taking a spirituality of trust and turning it into a religion of control. Religious people like control. In fact, most people are religious because it gives them a feeling of control. If we think we understand, or can explain how life works and how God thinks, then we feel more in control of the chaos that is life. The parables of Jesus don’t depict a controlling God, so the later recorders of these stories added an explanation that made the stories less radical. Sadly, Christianity has worshipped a god of the explanation, not the God of the parable. Jesus kept trying, though. Next he says the Reign of God is like a treasure hidden in a field that is later found. The person who finds it sells everything to buy the field. Notice the treasure is just “found,” and the finder doesn’t buy the treasure but buys the field that contains the treasure. This religion of Jesus makes us uncomfortable because it isn’t rigid, structured or controlled. It requires too much trust. I mean what if we don’t find the treasure … or could it be that learning to truly trust the grace of God is the treasure?”
Rev. Michael Piazza in Liberating Word says about Matthew 13, “Following the extraordinary story of God as a reckless farmer, Matthew inserts a long explanation. It is almost as if he is trying to tame the story, even if he can’t tame the God Jesus is revealing. Many scholars believe the explanation came from Matthew or some other teacher, not from Jesus.
ReplyDeleteJesus next tells the parable of the wheat and tares (weeds). The parable sounds similar to the sower and seeds, because the farmer seems quite unconcerned about the weeds. He tells the servants to just let them all grow and sort it out later. However, when you read the explanation (Matthew 13:36-43) the tone is quite different, ending with the threat of weeping and gnashing of teeth.
The parables sound a lot like the Jesus I have come to know and love. The explanations sound much more like the followers of Jesus who find extravagant and uncontrolled grace too much to handle. I know because I have been one of those followers too often.
For much of my career I was more drawn to the explanation than to the parable. The explanation tames the parable, taking a spirituality of trust and turning it into a religion of control. Religious people like control. In fact, most people are religious because it gives them a feeling of control. If we think we understand, or can explain how life works and how God thinks, then we feel more in control of the chaos that is life.
The parables of Jesus don’t depict a controlling God, so the later recorders of these stories added an explanation that made the stories less radical. Sadly, Christianity has worshipped a god of the explanation, not the God of the parable. Jesus kept trying, though. Next he says the Reign of God is like a treasure hidden in a field that is later found. The person who finds it sells everything to buy the field. Notice the treasure is just “found,” and the finder doesn’t buy the treasure but buys the field that contains the treasure. This religion of Jesus makes us uncomfortable because it isn’t rigid, structured or controlled. It requires too much trust. I mean what if we don’t find the treasure … or could it be that learning to truly trust the grace of God is the treasure?”