Jesus leaves the house (church) where the converted are gathered, and goes to sea. He is looking for fish, and they arrive in large numbers. So, Jesus, who likes to fish for people, begins to teach from a boat.
Jesus teaches many things using Parables, which are a soup mix of conventional knowledge and spiritual wisdom. He draws on what is already familiar, what people know best. But Parables are not just stories. They make demands on those who listen to them. They might draw on farming, legal situations, family conflicts and weather etc, but there is always something about them which is a little strange. Today’s Gospel Reading is a great example of this strangeness. It’s a farming Parable, but it’s not about a careful farmer. This one is wild and reckless and yet, the yield abundant. This is a clue that the listener is being invited to go deeper. The invitation, ‘Let anyone with ears listen!’ means the Parable is over and the struggle to understand it has begun.
For many reasons, some people get the Parables and some don’t. The spiritual teacher helps the disciple to move towards a deeper understanding and a new awareness. But not everyone wants to be helped. Some harden their hearts against the deeper meanings in the Parable for fear that a new and higher consciousness might demand a change in lifestyle. Against such as these, even the Divine Teacher is powerless.
It has been said that there are basically two kinds of teachers; those who love teaching and those who love their students. Those who love teaching are never short of words, details and explanations. They make objections with one breath and answer them in the next. They can often be funny and charming individuals who really like the sound of their own voice. They will take questions but only because it gives them a chance to talk more!
Those who love the students talk less and listen more. They are too busy feeling for the student’s level of understanding, for blocks to their advancement, for paths that may be taken and paths that may be avoided. They are experts is knowing the person who sits beside them. They see what is needed but they do not say it out loud. What they say is said only to support the student to discover the next step. The teacher who loves the student provides the right conditions for an inner revelation. If they can follow the clues, they will come to know for themselves and not be overly dependent on the insights of others. Good Parents are especially good at this.
When Jesus tells Parables, He is clearly a spiritual teacher who loves His disciples. The Parables do not give up their secrets too easily. They invite a wrestling match. They are not just information. They require engagement. But for Saint Matthew there is a third Person in the ring. The Holy Spirit is working from the inside out to ‘reveal these things to us?’ And the reason we know that Jesus is the kind of Teacher who loves his disciples is that He powerfully introduces them to the presence of God in the depth of their own being.
