July 26

  [media presentation below]

GospelThink

Sunday, July 26, Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

MATTHEW 13:44-52

The Field, the Pearl and the Net

Prayerthoughts

a. The Kingdom of heaven is God’s Kingdom on earth. What can I do better to show that I am a member of that Kingdom?

b. What are the treasures in my life right now?

c. In this story, the person searching comes upon the treasure unexpectedly. In my life so far, what “treasure” has come into my life unexpectedly?

d. “Sells all that he has” is central to Jesus’s first two stories here. Obviously, it cannot be taken literally because I need things to live. But what things in my life should I give up to show my dedication to the Lord better?

e. The finding of the pearls is done after a diligent search. Do I show in my life that I am truly searching for the Lord’s presence?

f. As I think of the close of Jesus’s story of the Net, how do I look at my death right now and the judgment that the Lord will make on me?

g. With the apostles, I say that I understand these things. Therefore, what bearing does it have on my life right now?

f. My prayerthoughts…

Today, I will read Romans 8:28-30 and write an important thought from it.

Some Thoughts on the Liturgy

[using Matthew 13:44-46]

CHOOSING AN UNDERSTANDING HEART

+ I was part of the Kansas Student Council Workshop last week, something that is always good for me

- it is a leadership workshop for the student leaders of Kansas that is held every year about this time

- there were about 325 people in attendance, both young people and adult counselors

- during the closing session after a highly emotional week, we spent some time in a friendship circle with the individual council that we worked with all week

- about 30 young leaders of the 325 who were there

- one of the young people challenged the rest of us with some pretty strong words

- she said that we may forget each other’s names and faces, but “let’s never forget the feeling, the feeling that there is hope, there is love, there is life worth living no matter what happens”

+ As I have been thinking about that young person’s statement, it occurs to me that that is exactly what you and I should feel as a result of our Church service every time we are here

- the experience of what we celebrate here should make us realize that there really is love and hope in our world and that life really is worth living

- that young person didn’t feel it in her life away from the emotions of the Workshop

- and maybe the reason why she didn’t is explained in the Gospel today

+ Jesus tells us in the Gospel in two simple stories that in order to attain true Christianity, that is, what might be called the feelings of peace and love and that life is worth living, we have to give up some things:

[The person who wants the field and the pearl] sells all that he has.

- that is, in order to attain the reality of being a true follower of Jesus, the person must first make some sacrifices

- we have to give up some things

- and immediately, we have the problem—

- we are attached to things, material and otherwise

+ We don’t like making that personal sacrifice

- we don’t want to give up are our riches or material goods

- and most of all, we don’t want to give up our personal preferences, our own way of thinking, our reasoning, the way we judge things and others and how people act, the way we feel about things, our particular points of view

- to give up these things or to take the time to call ourselves to think differently about them is difficult to do

- the Christian must be able to give up anything that holds him/her back

- that is, give up anything that will keep us away from the feelings of hope and love and that life is worth living

+ And from a positive point of view, what should we choose in order to bring about those things?

- that is, what does it mean to “buy the field or purchase the pearl”

- Solomon gives a pretty good description of it in the first reading: God would have given him anything, but he asked for an “understanding heart”

- that is, he asked for the ability to achieve the virtues of what we have come to call Christianity

- that is what an “understanding heart” is all about

- it means choosing the total Christian message, and not just part of it

+ Our thought today is extremely logical:

- in order to follow him, Jesus says that we have to give up some things and buy into what he taught completely

- what he taught was the thought of an “understanding heart”

- and if we really would do that, we would bring about the hope of that young person at Workshop: our world would have hope and love and the knowledge that life really is worth living.

[or:

+ There is a parable told about six human beings who happened to be together one time in a place that was bitterly cold, so cold that if they did not produce some type of fire, they would freeze to death

- there was a fire, but it was dying out, and desperately in need of some wood

- and each of the six possessed a piece of wood that could easily keep the fire going

- one woman held hers back because she saw that of the six, one of them was black, and she felt that he was less than she was, and why should she give her piece of wood for him

- one man held his back because he discovered that one of the six was not a believer in Jesus, and therefore he couldn’t associate with him

- a third one was poor, and finding out that one of them was rich, he held his wood back and thought: “Why should my log be used to aid the idle rich; let them use their wood; they can afford it.”

- the rich man kept his piece of wood because he didn’t want his money and property to go to people like the poor who in his opinion would just squander it away

- the black man refused to give his wood to the fire because he saw a chance to get back at all the white people that hated him

- and the last person held his piece of wood back because he was convinced that the way people should live in life is to give only to those who gave to others

- they all possessed the means to allow themselves from freezing to death: all possessed a piece of wood

- and no one gave

- the conclusion of the parable is:

“Six logs held tight in death’s still hands

Was proof of human sin.

They didn’t die from the cold without;

They died from the cold within.”

THE COLD WITHIN

Six humans trapped by happenstance

in dark and bitter cold

Each one possessed a stick of wood

or so the story’s told.

Their dying fire in need of logs

one woman held hers back

For on the faces around the fire

she noticed one was black.

The next one looking across the way

saw one not of his church

And couldn’t bring himself to give

the fire his stick of birch.

The third one sat in tattered clothes

and gave his coat a hitch—

“Why should my log be used

to aid the idle rich?”

The rich man just sat back and thought

of the wealth he had in store

And how to keep what he had earned

from the lazy, shiftless poor.

The black man’s face bespoke revenge

as the fire passed from his sight

For all he saw in his stick of wood

was a chance to spite the white.

The last man in this forlorn group

did not except for gain

Giving only to those who gave

was how he played the game.

Six logs held tight in death’s still hands

was proof of human sin

They didn’t die from the cold without

They died from the cold within.

-anonymous