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Week 6: July 19: The Kingdom of God and Healing
The healing miracles Jesus performed cover everything from fevers to blindness to demonic possession. But what do they say about the Kingdom of God?
Reading: Mark 1:8-12
Attached⬇️: discussion notes from Week 5, Parables Part II., also the Buddhist parable discussed Week 5.)
If you were not there, we missed you and prayed for you. And then we dived into parables part II, but by way of a Buddhist parable (attached): does it show (by its absence) what is keynote in Jesus’ parables of the Kingdom of Heaven?
There is no judgement in a Buddhist parable (as there is no judgement and no judge in Buddhism itself). Aren’t we avoiding the strong flavor of judgement in these parables?
We wandered in the weeds of choice: do the wedding guests choose not to accept the invitation to the feast? Yes, and with the lamest of excuses, I mean—I have to take care of my OX? But the parable of the net coming into the water and swooping out with the fish and throwing away the bad: there is judgement about what is a good fish and what is a bad fish, and there is a judge making judgements and the fish did not get a choice in the matter at all.
Judgement is made. Somebody decides on entry into the Kingdom of God.
We squirmed.
Many of us want universal salvation - EVERYBODY gets into the Kingdom of God. Some denominations preach this. But you don’t escape judgement or punishment.
The Kingdom of God has a gate.
A lot of these parables are directed at believers. — and in fact, the gatekeepers of their belief, Jewish leaders especially. For the wedding banquet, these people believe it’s going to be just them, that they have the exclusive rights of invitation, of entry. The parable says no, it’s going to be the people they least expect.
The reasons the people in the parable give to get out of the wedding banquet are all worldly. That relates to our worldly excuses to get out of going to the Kingdom of God. We’re too busy to go to church, to know our neighbor, the things we are supposed to do. What we spend our time on is what matters.
How often do we read this parable and think we’re part of the latter group, the righteous who will get into the Kingdom—not the ones with the lame excuses? We like to read this parable and think: I’m not like THEM.
But if we’re not thinking of ourselves as the righteous ones invited to the feast, we’re left with being the poor, the drunks, the prostitutes who are picked up and brought in to the feast next. A conundrum.
We don’t want to talk about the judgement in the parables of the Kingdom of God because (as initial judge), we know we’re not going to cut it.
Jesus is saying these parables before his death, and mostly to the people of Israel—who have good reasons for thinking they will be chosen. But after His death and resurrection, everybody in the world will be judged be God. Period. Those who attach themselves to Christ in baptism attach themselves to His judgement.
Like the Fast Pass at Disneyland?
The people He is talking to are the religious leaders of Jesus’ time, who are going to convict and crucify Him. They were invited, they didn’t get it, they aren’t going to get in. If Jesus was telling these parables now, who would he be telling them to?
To you. The everyday person. Everybody is invited to the banquet. If you turn around and say: I don’t believe in God—you’ve rejected the invitation.
Everybody gets picked, but only a few get chosen.
We squirmed some more.
In the second parable it says, The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous, so there is an entity and that entity is sorting and selecting. These things happen/will happen; we have to be prepared.
Maybe the separation is between who have chosen to have a relationship with God, and accepted the invitation to the Kingdom/feast; and those who made the conscious choice to the worldly excuses: I like these, I can see these, I’m doing my thing, I’m saying no. Without judgement/separation, there can’t be a Kingdom of God in a final judgement. But on this earth, we are choosing to participate in the Kingdom of God. It’s a choice in whether or not we choose to participate in a relationship with God.
In the fish parable, attention was drawn to Matthew 13:52: “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.”. Matthew composed this gospel to show fulfillment of the old (Hebrew scripture) with the new (Jesus). Jesus is saying not to give up everything the Jewish leaders ever knew but use discernment to recognize the truth in the new truth in their midst. Training for the Kingdom requires the old and the new treasures.
Hard to see these parables written for people 2,000 years ago and making understanding of them in today’s world. We have to understand the old and the new, and bringing them into today. That’s why we do these discussions.
//Buddhist Parable//
The Parable of the Burning House from the Lotus Sutra
One day, a fire broke out in the house of a wealthy man who had many children. The wealthy man shouted at his children inside the burning house to flee. But, the children were absorbed in their games and did not heed his warning, though the house was being consumed by flames.
Then, the wealthy man devised a practical way to lure the children from the burning house. Knowing that the children were fond of interesting playthings, he called out to them, "Listen! Outside the gate are the carts that you have always wanted: carts pulled by goats, carts pulled by deer, and carts pulled by oxen. Why don't you come out and play with them?" The wealthy man knew that these things would be irresistible to his children.
The children, eager to play with these new toys rushed out of the house but, instead of the carts that he had promised, the father gave them a cart much better than any he has described - a cart draped with precious stones and pulled by white bullocks. The important thing being that the children were saved from the dangers of the house on fire.
In this parable the father, of course, is the Buddha and sentient beings are the children trapped in the burning house. The Burning House represents the world burning with the fires of old age, sickness and death. The teachings of the Buddha are like the father getting the boys to leave their pleasures for a greater pleasure, Nirvana.
In this parable the father, of course, is the Buddha and sentient beings are the children trapped in the burning house. The Burning House represents the world burning with the fires of old age, sickness and death. The teachings of the Buddha are like the father getting the boys to leave their pleasures for a greater pleasure, Nirvana.
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