July 26, 2018
Gospel Reading: MT 13:10-17
As a toddler,  you used your tactile sense to understand what things felt like and tasted like in order to understand the world around you.  You didn’t know that your finger was called a finger, or your toes were called your toes, but I bet you knew how they tasted and what they felt like and eventually you learned that when you bite down on either of them … it was not a pleasant feeling.  If we approach today’s Gospel with the same child-like curiosity it makes sense.
Jesus tells us:
“You shall hear but not understand, you shall indeed look but never see.  Gross is the heart of this people, they will hardly hear with their ears, they have closed their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and be converted and I heal them.
.If we approach this from a child’s point of view it makes a lot of sense.  You can hear the word of God but not understand it’s meaning.  If you don’t use your curiosity to explore the meaning of what is being spoken to you, then you will never understand; thus, you will see and hear but will not understand.  Using the curiosity that God has hardwired into us, we will naturally explore the meaning of his word … and be brought into a deeper relationship with God.   It is through the relationship with Jesus and the Holy Spirit that we are healed and brought into union with God the Father.  The prophets of old had long prophesized about the coming of Jesus, but were not blessed to see the ancient prophesies come to fruition.  The disciple and the rest of creation going forward have been blessed to know Jesus as the fulfillment of those prophecies.  In order for us to have a deep and meaningful relationship with him, we need to allow our curiosity to seek him out.  Your eyes will see, and your ears will hear and your heart will understand … be converted and healed by him.