For the longest time I used to think there was only one answer to a Koan. You all know about Koans, right? The Eastern tradition? Go meditate on the sound of one hand clapping is a famous one. I honestly thought all the Buddhist monks had to come up with the same answer. As if once they reached enlightenment, they all thought the same. But then I learned an interesting fact. Buddhism has 650 years on Christianity for different theologies to from splinter groups. If you think the number of denominations in Christianity is overwhelming…
Honestly though, I’d now guess that every person comes up with their own enlightened answer to these Koans. Sure a lot of them come up with similar answers based on the baggage they carry, but I’m convinced that enlightenment is NOT a one size fits all kind of thing.
And so with parables. I think Matthew does us a disservice by explaining not one but two of the parables in this chapter. Or two and a half, really. As tonight’s Gospel repeats an interpretation of Angels throwing Evil into the fire. And even that interpretation is interpreted in translation. One translation from last week’s Gospel has the Angels burning the causes of Evil while others translate it as the ones who cause Evil.
And if any translation of that scenario troubles you, I’ll remind you that it’s going to happen at the end of all time, not when you die.
I’d take Matthew’s interpretations with a grain of salt, or maybe even three measures of salt. Because honestly I think the Kingdom of god is ineffable. What would this world look like if it were ruled by the unnamable, indescribable one Jesus calls Father? You’d think the way some people talk it already is. Everything is part of God’s plan. Everything happens for a reason. I don’t think for a nano-second that what we have now is the Kingdom of God already manifest.
And then we have pre-destination. One of the most god-awful ideas any human has conceived of. Apologies to Paul, who says many great things in tonight’s excerpt from Romans, but predestination is a fucked-up way to think. And I honestly can’t imagine why people who believe in predestination do anything. Heaven or Hell, it’s already been decided before you were born; nothing you do makes any difference. What a bleak existence. And that mindset gives no motivation to meditate on a parable. If you’re predestined to enlightenment, it’s just going to happen, right?
Seeking is hard. Call what you’re seeking enlightenment, to know the mind of Jesus, the beatific vision, or whatever else fits for you; it’s a long road with a lot of contemplative practice. A lot of people seem to think of mediation as relaxation, but it’s a lot of damn hard work. If you think hearing cats is hard, try taming the monkey mind. In our over rationalized culture, we don’t pay too much attention to the ways the mind and thinking betray us. I don’t think parables are to be figured out. They are decidedly not rational. Once you have some kind of historical cultural context for these parables, you realize how irrational they are. Three measures of flower is a shocking amount – a bushel one footnote said. Also comparing the Kingdom to yeast, when yeast is forbidden during Passover, might cause a ruffle or two.
So I want to make plain that contemplating on a parable isn’t about reasoning it out. It’s something to hold in your mind as you take quiet time with God. There have been times when I’ve sat with something in my quiet time, not even thinking about it exactly just having it as an intention, and then sometime in the coming days or weeks, something completely unrelated will spark a thought and make what I was holding clearer to me. The still quiet voice has been for me overhearing a snippet of conversation. Some lyrics in a song on the radio. A leaf catching the sunlight as it falls to a busy city avenue. All these things have resolved issues I was wrestling with or made decisions crystal clear. And all the same issues and decisions were not helped by a lot of rational thinking. Rational thinking just spun me in circles.
So might I suggest you pick a parable from this weeks reading and sit with it, not expecting an answer to come as you sit with it. See what happens. Believe me even if not flash of enlightenment comes, it will be time well spent.
