Year A
Jeremiah 13:1-11
Deuteronomy 32:18-19.20.21 (R.see 18b)
Matthew 13:31-35
Unveiling the True Nature of Man.
Yesterday, Paul made us aware that those who are predestined are those who conform to the image of Jesus Christ. Thus as the Catechism of the Catholic Church makes us aware:
CCC 381,Man is predestined to reproduce the image of God's Son made man, the "image of the invisible God" (Col 1:15), so that Christ shall be the first-born of a multitude of brothers and sisters (cf. Eph 1:3-6; Rom 8:29).
So it's really about how you live your life in conformity with that of Christ that makes you worthy of God. From the very beginning, God who called everything into being, has called all things to himself through his Word. Thus all humans are called by God through his Son, and all humans have the imprint of the last Man.
1 Corinthians 15:45,So the first man, Adam, as scripture says, became a living soul; and the last Adam has become a life-giving spirit.
The last Adam has imprinted his image on the first Adam because he who is life-giving Spirit created the first Adam making him a living being. In fact, the Last Man who is Jesus Christ, is indeed the first. He is the Alpha and the Omega. So the true human nature is found in the one who is the first and the last, Jesus Christ.
The Parables make it clear, they are to unfold what has been hidden since the foundation of the world. The calling that God called everything through his Word implies that it is through that same Word that we respond to God. The mustard seed sown in a field - which will later become the greatest shrub - shows how the imprint of God in us will be fully revealed if we strive to conform to his will. The same idea is found in that of the yeast and the flour.
Without God we are nothing. This is what the first reading also makes us aware of. We are like a waistcloth; without God we will be of no use. Without God who is he who is, existence himself, we will be in nonexistence. This is why we must be careful about the life we live in conforming to the image of Jesus Christ.
The greatest of the warnings is to those who were saved and turned their back on God. Baptismal water brings us to God. Imagine that the waistcloth were two and one was immersed in water and the other was not. The one which was immersed in water would deteriorate faster than the one which was not.
2 Peter 2:20,and anyone who has escaped the pollution of the world by coming to know our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and who then allows himself to be entangled and mastered by it a second time, ends up by being worse than he was before.
Humans can only be humans, creatures. But being human is conforming to the image of Jesus Christ, conforming to the image of Jesus Christ is being predestined, being predestined is being called, being called is being justified, being justified is being glorified, being glorified is being saved, and being saved is being in the perfect image and likeness of God.
The saved human being is the one who bares the true nature of humankind; strive to conform to the true nature of humankind and you will be saved.
By
Sylvester Amakye-Quayson
Edited by
Michael Owusu Amponsah
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