Day 5: Parables, miracles, feeding 9,000 with crumbs left over

All right:  does anyone besides me have trouble with this:  At the opening of Matthew 13, Jesus tells his followers that he speaks in parables so that people will not understand him (vss. 10-15).  And at the end of Matthew 13, Jesus tell his disciples that he speaks in parables so that he will "declare what has been hidden since the beginning of the world." (vs. 35.)

So, which is it?  Does a parable reveal what has long been hidden?  Or does it create a greater mystery?  Or, could it be a little of both?

There are the long extended parables of the sower and of the weeds, and loads of short, short parables:  of the mustard seed, the yeast, the treasure hidden in a field, the net full of fish.  I can tell you that each and every one of those parables says way more than you would think, at first.  Take that mustard seed, for example.  It seems clear enough, right?  The tiniest seed will become a mighty tree; that is what the kingdom of heaven is about.  But consider this:  if you were someone who knew what a mustard plant (not tree, exactly) looked like, and you told them that birds of the air would be able to take shelter in the branches of this bush, they would find that to be an extremely funny joke.  Besides this:  the mustard plant was considered a sort of a weed, a plant you did not want taking over your yard.

There is something subversive about a parable.

Then there is the story about Jesus and Peter, walking on water.  Perhaps inexplicably, this is one of my favorite gospel stories.  The set up is that after Jesus learns of John the Baptist's death, he goes away to pray and to grieve, and sends the disciples ahead of him out on the Sea of Galilee.  Then are alone in the boat when a storm comes up, and the wind is against them.  In that eerie dark time of night just before dawn he comes walking toward them on the water.  Peter (who emerges here as one of Jesus' "star" disciples) decides that it would be a good idea for him to walk on water, too.  And he does, too, for who knows how long, perhaps just a moment, before he begins to sink, and cries out, "Lord save me!"

To me, this story is a sort of parable:  it is the shape of the Christian life.   Dying and rising, taking a risk and failing, taking a risk and succeeding, every day saying, "Lord, save me".  That's it for me.  Being a Christian is about getting in over my head. 

What about you?

Then there are the stories about the two feedings.  Did you know that Jesus feeds 5,000, and then later feeds 4,000?  Do you consider that odd?  The first feeding is on one side of the sea of Galilee, among the Jews, and the second feeding is on the other side of the sea, in Gentile territory.  (One of the verses that sticks out for me in the first story:  Jesus telling the disciples, "You give them something to eat."  Like the disciples are supposed to figure out how to get enough food to feed 5,000 people.)

And in between these two feeding stories is Jesus' harsh encounter with a Gentile woman who has to beg for Jesus to heal her daughter.

Jesus calls her a dog.

All she wants is a few crumbs.

The kingdom of heaven is like.... a woman who loves her daughter so much that she is willing to be called a dog to get what she needs, a few crumbs.

The kingdom of heaven is like.....