Have you
understood? The disciples are quite
confident, in their understanding. Yet,
oddly the parables Jesus tells here are in part about the inability to fully comprehend
and grasp the Kingdom of God. By
contrast, Solomon as he is about to take the throne of the Kingdom of Israel,
sees he lacks understanding and is in need of God’s wisdom. Solomon, doesn’t simply seek conventional
wisdom but an understanding that comes from God. The parables Jesus tells speak of the wisdom
of the Kingdom of God as like those things we can’t see and may not
predict. The kingdom of God is this
great risk this gamble to obtain what is hidden but invaluable.
Part of the
argument for the baptism of infants and those who have yet to gain the ability
to assent to the faith as outlined in the Creed and to the story of the life of
Jesus of Nazareth, is that God’s wisdom and the kingdom of God our beyond
everyone’s comprehension and ability to grasp.
Our passage
in Romans is a difficult passage to comprehend.
On one hand it almost seems to say that nothing bad will happen to
believers, or that apparently bad things aren’t really bad in the grand scheme
of things. But if this is what Paul is
saying then what of this encouragement that whatever befalls us it can’t mean
that we are beyond the care and the protection of God, beyond God’s love.
There is a
mystery here, the Spirit intercedes
along with Christ on our behalf yet this doesn’t prevent calamity, or health
problems, or being mistreated etc. Yet,
we can be assured that it will all work together for good and God’s
purposes.
What is
going on here is perspective. The perspective we are called to is to see from
the hidden works of God in our midst. We
are to see God’s real at work in our world like the yeast, like the hidden treasure, a treasure and store
house that has both what is old and new at the same time.
Paul is
speaking form the point of view of the crucified and risen Christ who is Jesus
of Nazareth and the Son the Word of God.
What is
being worked out is the slow and hidden transformation of the world, what is
according To God’s purposes and what is
good for us is this unknown, incomprehensible work of God in the world. God’s action in the world works like yeast
and seeds and plants, and is like a treasure hidden whose value is unknown
until one attains it and finds it is beyond price and value. It is the hidden love of God, not our life circumstances
from which we are to see the world.
It is different
wisdom than conventional wisdom, we must
be schooled in this wisdom, and so schooled when we become masters and Ph.D’s, so to speak, in this hidden wisdom of God, we become like someone who has a
treasury of what is both old and new. We
are to see things for their true value, not based on circumstance whether it is
old or new.
The world
tells us that our circumstances are the most important thing, that our wealth,
our prestige, our health tell us who we are.
Paul and Christ says that true value, even the true value of God’s work
in the world, the Kingdom of heaven remains hidden, unbidden often unnoticed
and unappreciated, yet it is what makes the world livable. We are to see ourselves from this hidden
perspective that isn't dictated by circumstance of false values. So that we can say with confidence that we
are Christ’s and held in the palm of God’s hand. God works silently, under the surface free of
the tyranny of circumstance and daily cares.
The point of
all this is not to leave the world as it is, but to transform it like yeast
transforms dough, like a seed planted that becomes a tree exponentially larger
than it’s seed. It’s not that what
happens to us doesn’t matter, but that what can be found underneath the surface
is so much more astounding and beyond imagination that there is no comparison,
and God isn't thwarted by circumstance, the Resurrection of Christ shows that,
the incarnation shows that. God has you,
God loves you, God is at work in you and the world, nothing not the worst
calamity not the hugest success will change this reality. We are called to rest and live in that
matrix, the mystery of the unknown hidden beyond value workings of God in the
world. We are called to enter into this
astounding risk, to risk it all to get what lies hidden beneath the surface.
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