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Morning Devotion for the Season after Pentecost

November 1, 2023

Invitatory

You are no longer strangers and sojourners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. Ephesians 2:19

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

Matthew 13:10-17

Then the disciples came and asked him, ‘Why do you speak to them in parables?’ He answered, ‘To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. The reason I speak to them in parables is that “seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand.” With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah that says:

“You will indeed listen, but never understand,

and you will indeed look, but never perceive.

For this people’s heart has grown dull,

and their ears are hard of hearing,

and they have shut their eyes;

so that they might not look with their eyes,

and listen with their ears,

and understand with their heart and turn—

and I would heal them.”

But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.

Morning Meditation-Rebecca Northington

I have often said to my children that there is a vast chasm between intelligence and wisdom, and while I can admire a young persons’ mental engine, the real “intelligence” comes with understanding and experience. This is certainly not unique to young people. This passage seems to point to that same tension. We can regurgitate facts, and we can follow directions and gain rote knowledge, but that does not equal true comprehension. Jesus is trying to provide enlightenment for those who do not yet “perceive”, or yet “listen”. By this point in his ministry he has shown them who he is through miracles and healings and still they doubt, they see, but do not perceive. So he uses these parables to help illuminate who he is, to enrich what he has already shown to those who have turned their hearts to him, and to challenge those who have not, to do so.

This passage reminds me of Plato’s Allegory of The Cave, in which he describes the human condition as seeing only in part. In the cave we spend our lifetime chained up and see only the silhouettes of people on a blank wall in front of us, by the shadow of the fire behind us. We hear voices and see shadows, and cobble together some understanding but are incapable of seeing the entirety of the human story. In this allegory we have lost the ability to see things as they truly are but are stuck in an imaginary world where we see only the superficial, without a true purpose or an ability to evolve. For Plato, the philosopher is the exception to this norm and is able to transcend these bonds and escape this formula. Ideally that philosopher can break the chains for others and expose them to reality, thereby liberating them.

This allegory reminds me of what Jesus is trying to explain to his disciples, this inability by us to look for, or see, the truth. It also reminds me of our current relationship with the virtual world. More and more we represent ourselves, and view others, through images that make it difficult to truly perceive, or truly hear. I am struck in all three cases by the human impulse to take shortcuts that only reveal half truths. The parables that Jesus tells irritate many because they make us work to understand. Plato’s cave allegory also challenges normal human perception and demands we constantly reevaluate what is truth. The virtual world and/or social media does the opposite. Half truths are at our fingertips and in fact veil who we are in cultivated shadows; erasing blemishes, and obscuring the true nature of humanity, and the necessary challenges and experiences involved in pursuing wisdom. And many of us fall victim to its simple and easy rewards.

In some ways this passage makes me sad. God has been trying for thousands and thousands of years to show us who he is, and his loving, forgiving nature. He wants us to open our hearts and minds to him. We stubbornly try to memorize laws, which we can never keep, and moral codes, which do not really turn us towards God. We are like that student that just wants to get a good grade, rather than truly comprehend, or that person who thinks intelligence reflects a powerful brain, rather than the wisdom that comes with patience and experience. In Matthew Jesus reminds us of Isaiah, “For this people's heart has grown dull”, and we have chosen not to see or to listen. But, if we turn to God, if we choose to riddle out the parables, to really listen and truly see; to resist the dull allure of seeing in shadows and witnessing humanity virtually, then I believe he “would heal” us. It involves some degree of surrender, and leads ultimately to hope and true freedom.

The Lord’s Prayer:

Our Father, who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy Name,

thy kingdom come,

thy will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those

who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,

and the power, and the glory,

for ever and ever. Amen.