Friday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Year A

Jeremiah 3:14-17

Jeremiah 31:10.11-12abcd. 13/

Matthew 13:18-23

The Word and the Kingdom 

It seems that the only reason for humans existence is to conceive a goodness that will mend the suffering world. The general consensus is that something is wrong with this world, it is not meant to be like this, and so on. This knowledge stems from the fact that there is a reason or an explanation for our existence. Our existence is either by Chance or by a Creator. But knowledge goes with understanding, and understanding is possible because of truth.  

This is why a distorted truth is a lie, and lies bring doubts. If the world is by chance, the greatest of the doubts is where from intelligence.  If is from a Creator who is good and loving, the doubt is why is there evil. While it will be difficult to clear the doubt about the stance of chance, it isn't for the stance of a Creator.

This is because the Creator is not just loving, Love is his nature, Love is who he is. 

1 John 4:8  

Whoever fails to love does not know God, because God is love.

According to St. Augustine, Love is made up of three things, the lover, the loved and love itself. In his work 

On the Trinity (Book IX), he says 

Well then, when I, who make this inquiry, love anything, there are three things concerned — myself, and that which I love, and love itself. For I do not love love, except I love a lover; for there is no love where nothing is loved. Therefore there are three things — he who loves, and that which is loved, and love.

That is why God is Triune. The Father is the lover, the Son is the loved and the Holy Spirit is love between the lover and his beloved, hence why we say the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.  So where the lover is the loved and love is. 

Love operates in freedom, and so the lover, the loved and love is free. It is through the Son, who is the Word of God that the world was created.  Remember that yesterday I said the Son as the only mediator between humans and God, binds humanity to divinity in his person, that is why he is both fully God and fully man.

So if God created the world through his Word, God becomes the lover and the world the loved.

John 3:16

For this is how God loved the world: he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. 

 If Love is free, then Love has given freedom to what  he created also.  Thus they can turn to any direction they want, even turning away from their lover who is the Creator. But turning away from God is turning away from love which is eternal, and hence seeking death or evil. This is sin. When the loved turn away from the lover, the loved loses love and hence escaping life we meet death. Escaping God who is existence, we meet nonexistence. 

Vera Nazarian also says,

Love is made up of three unconditional properties in equal measure:

1. Acceptance

2. Understanding

3. Appreciation

If one of these is removed, it becomes unstable.  Because the world is failing to accept, understand and appreciate his lover, it seems love is not felt in the world. Only evil, disorder, destruction, injustice, corruption, sickness, death, just to mention a few.We made sin and death our Masters.

Today, God calls us in the first reading to return to him, he is our only Master. Jerusalem means "city of peace," and Zion which is used synonymously for Jerusalem also means  "parched place or dry place." Zion is the dwelling place of God.

Psalm 9:11

Sing praises  to the LORD, who dwells in Zion.  Declare his deeds among the people. 

The city of peace is a dry place maybe for two reasons;

1. We rejecting our lover's love have left an empty or dry place which we must return to and

 

2. As a dry place there is nothing that will distract us or draw us away from our lover who can provide us more than we need.

 

Concedering the Parable's explanation today that the evil one, our desires  and riches of the world distracts us and are the obstacles to the Word of God which has been sown in our hearts, the Kingdom of God is where these are conquered by the Word of God. The Word of God, Truth himself have been given to us to clear our doubts. 

If Truth have been given to us, the Kingdom of God have also been given to us. The Kingdom of God is with us.  Where God reigns, there his Kingdom is.  If we allow God to reign in our hearts, his Kingdom is established in our hearts.  And like the good soil we will enjoy all the blessings installed for us. 

Today he does not just call us to be feed with  knowledge and understanding by returning to him our Shepherd, our lover, he teaches us how we can return to him. For us not to be destructed by the evil one or our desires or riches of this world we must enter the place or state of dryness where our all is given to God.  Thus surrendering to God and living every moment of our lifes dependent on him, we find peace. 

Humanity knows that there is something wrong with the world and it is a fact, but if the world is to be fixed, we must return to our lover, so that love will heal the world. When Divinity marries humanity wonders happens, dust is animated and life (becoming a living being)conquers death (returning to dust).   

Let us endeavors to live our life as always in the presence of God, whatever work you may be doing, may it help in healing the world, making it a better place. Humanity has seen worst but there is good in humans because God is and wants to continue dwelling in our hearts. The Christian life is a warfare. We have dabbled in the dark for a long time and we are at the edge, let's step away  from  the edge, and escape from the dominion of death.

"Being human is not about cutting out the darkness, but fighting every day to find the Light" (The Last Ship, Season 4 Episode 10).

 We cannot cut the darkness, but humans are given the capacity to fight through the Word of God given to us, so that we can overcome the evil that we allow the freedom given to us to turn us towards. In troubles and problems, with faith and hope in God our lover who is eternal, fight on with the capacity your lover has given you through his beloved Son, and live the rest for his love to conquer. 

The Word which is the seed, is our food; our nourishment for life. It is our medicine; healing us from our sins. God Loves you 

By

Sylvester Amakye-Quayson