We need parables.

We need parables.  That is my topic for today.  We need parables Jesus used them frequently in his public ministry.  His parents taught him the following parable from Chapter 5 of the Book of Isaiah.

The prophet said, “My friend had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.  He plowed the soil and cleared it of stones. Then he planted the very finest grapevines.  He built a watchtower so a guard could protect them from scavengers.  He dug a pit for treading the grapes at harvest time.  Then he waited patiently for the grapes to ripen.  But at harvest time every grape was sour and the farmer was very disappointed.

Then Isaiah said to his audience, “That story is about you.  You people are the sour grapes in the vineyard.  God is the farmer and God did so many good things for you and then you disappointed him.  God wanted you to care for the widows and the orphans and the strangers.  Instead, you turned your back on them and treated them with great cruelty.  You committed crimes against the innocent and then you gave bribes to the judges and you were set free. 

Your victims are crying out for justice.  You prevent the innocent from getting justice.  My people you are doomed because you will not stop sinning.  I will take away the vineyard and it will be overgrown with weeds.  You call evil good and you call good evil.  You are doomed, my people, you are doomed.” says the Lord.

I share that Old Testament parable with you because Jesus was raised on parables.  Parables are short stories and they are timeless. They are great teaching tools.  They reveal to us what God is like and they tell us what people should be doing in their everyday lives. 

When we look at the scriptures, we see that Jesus was a master at creating parables.  When He saw a mustard seed, Jesus said, “Behold it is the smallest of all seeds.  But when it grows up it will produce a large bush.  The seed is small in itself; but God provides the growth.”

That’s the way it is with faith.  Never say that your faith is too small.  Even if your faith is small, like a mustard seed, God will provide the growth and your faith will become strong and mature.  Don’t panic.  Don’t complain that your faith is too small because God isn’t done with it yet……God will help it to grow!   

Jesus told many parables and they were always grounded in the realities of everyday life.  One day Jesus wanted to talk about the practice of judging others.  So he told the parable of the weeds and the wheat growing side by side. 

The field workers said to the farmer, “Do you want us to go into the field and pull up the weeds?”  And the farmer said “No.  Let the weeds and the wheat grow side by side and I will separate them at harvest time.” 

In this parable the farmer represents God and we learn that God will separate the good and the bad at the end of time.  God is the one who does the judging of the sinners and the saints.  It is not for us to judge others.  That is God’s job and we should let God take care of that task.

The Parable in today’s Gospel is about stewardship and Jesus is praising a faithful and prudent steward.  In a rich person’s household, the steward is the manager of the household when the master is away.  The steward hands on to the employees their food and allowance.  The steward does not own the food or the money.  The faithful and prudent servant merely hands on the food and money to those who have earned it.

I know that you have frequently heard homilies about stewardship in terms of time, talent and treasure.  But you won’t hear that today because I am going in a different direction.

We know that stewards hand on to others what has been handed to them.  God has given us the gift of faith; so, let’s hand on the gift of faith.  We have received the gift of faith and God expects us to hand it on to others.

In church circles, that is called faith sharing.  We do faith sharing in prayer groups and in Bible Study groups. But we also do it in everyday conversations; especially when we are talking to children.  I remember my parents saying, “There is more joy in giving than in receiving.”  And my grandparents would say “When rich people die they can’t take their riches with them.”  Only later in life did I learn that my parents and grandparents were quoting the Bible. They were faithful and prudent stewards who were handing on the faith.

Getting back to the topic of parables….Many people, including the disciples, said that they are hard to understand.  So who understands them?  Those prayerful people who stay in touch with the spirit world and the language of mystery.  “The parables are not the problem.  Rather, it’s a case of people not being in touch with the spirit world.”

So the lesson for us is clear.  We need to work hard every day to stay in touch with the world of the spirit.  If we do that, we will understand parables and other spiritual metaphors.

We will hear God speaking to us in parables about mustard seeds and weeds and wheat and faithful stewards.  We will hear God speaking to us in all the words of Jesus. Let us resolve that we will persevere in our efforts to learn the mystical language of the world of the spirit.

You might ask, “How can we do that when we are on vacation.  We don’t have a Bible in our camper.  We don’t have a Bible in our cabin. “

The answer is in your cell phone.  The Bible is in there… All of it.  And I suggest that you go to the Gospel of Luke because it is filled with parables; including the parable for today’s Mass.

If you tell yourself that the Gospels are Love Letters from Jesus, you will slowly but surely grasp their meaning.  Give them prayerful consideration and they will speak to you.  They are Love Letters from Jesus and they contain parables based on everyday experiences.  They come to us from the first century; but they are timeless.  When you read the parables of Jesus they will speak to your heart.