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Morning Devotion for the Season after Pentecost
August 7, 2023
Feast of John Mason Neale
Invitatory
Lord, open our lips.
And our mouth shall proclaim your praise.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.
Reading: Matthew 13:44-46
Jesus said to his disciples, “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.”
Meditation – Peter Vanderveen
I don’t think about heaven very often. Almost not at all. It’s not something I aspire to. Most of the time when heaven is spoken about it is in reference not to ourselves but to others. And I certainly don’t believe that it’s my calling to cajole others to worry about it. After many years listening to others talk about heaven – where it is and what it’s like and who will be there (it’s an occupational hazard) – I couldn’t be less interested in adding to the conversation. About heaven I choose to be carefully agnostic. It’s God’s business, not mine.
Some imagine heaven – or the kingdom of God – as something we should try to instantiate or build here and now, transforming society into something more just and fair and good and equitable. All of this is worthy and our deep responsibility as human beings. But I cannot equate any of these efforts with bringing heaven to bear on earth. History shows all too clearly, and sometimes horrifically, that our best intentions and our most honorable endeavors remain partial, transient, and often tainted. Two thousand years of Christianity have not brought heaven any closer. We’ve never established even a foothold for it.
So what can we make of these parables? For they seem to suggest that in some way attaining heaven should be the primary work of our lives.
Notably, Jesus never said who the “someone” or who the “merchant” was. He never even alluded to who he may have had in mind. Nor did he later privately whisper to his disciples that his words were directed to them (so they had better get busy). Both these parables are left hanging, unattached to anyone specifically. And thus, we are left, too, to ask if there is even one who has actually acted in accord with the parables.
And in response, there is one who can be singled out above all others. Jesus is that “someone.” He is the “merchant.” The testimony of the Gospels is that Jesus is the one, the one alone, who gave up all that he had in order to procure something unimaginably redemptive and enduring, something worthy of the term “heaven.” The parables refer to him, not us. They disclose what he has done, and not what we have to do. They were not meant to provoke us into some action on our own behalf. They were meant to show us the heart of God: the extent to which God is for us.
I don’t know what to say about heaven. Maybe that’s the best we can do. Maybe we shouldn’t try to say too much. During Jesus’ trial and crucifixion he didn’t say that he was going to a better place; he didn’t talk about streets of gold or all that he was soon going to enjoy. Fun forever. He said only that he was in his Father’s hands. And maybe that’s all that needs be said. We are all in God’s hands; this is what Jesus accomplished and what God, in him, revealed. And there is no other heaven.
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,
forever and ever. Amen.
22, 2022 Issue
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