Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Then the disciples came and asked him, ‘Why do you speak to them in parables?’ He answered, ‘To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.’”
NL Daily Devotion for Friday, January 26, 2024
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
I’ve never gotten this, if I’m honest. It seems kind of mean and capricious. I hear Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men shouting, “The truth? You can’t handle the truth!” Did Jesus think so little of the crowds who were coming to him for held and guidance that he would tell them things in a code they couldn’t possible decipher? As a kid, I was always taught that Jesus used parables to make his teachings about the reign of God more relatable and understandable, not less. So why make the claim that the parables are to prevent them from understanding the secrets of God’s reign? The part of me that thinks Jesus had an extreme sassy and sarcastic streak wants to believe that Jesus just said this to his disciples because they were the ones who were too obtuse to understand the obvious meaning of the parables and that’s why they required his direct explanations. The fact remains that in our modern era, while there are a few parables we don’t get simply because we don’t get the cultural references of the time, we find the majority of parables fairly clear in what they’re trying to convey about God’s reign.
Even so, do we truly understand “the secrets of the kingdom of heaven?” No. God and God’s workings remain a mystery to us finite humans. We can get inklings, hints, and ideas. We can dig and discuss and discern. We are invited by God over and over again into sacred conversation. And we can find great joy in the not-quite-understanding, knowing that this is just an opportunity to stay in a covenant dialog with our God one day at a time.
Which Bible passages do I find the most confusing? How do I find meaning in them?