16th Week in Ord. Time, Thursday – 23rd July 2020 — Gospel: Mt 13,10-17
Revealing the mystery of the Church
Jesus’ explanation of this parable, raises this question: “What did the prophets and righteous men not see nor hear that the disciples were able to hear and to see soon? The time line of the OT draws out two ages: the present age and an age to come. The age to come was the kingdom where the Messiah would rule. What is going on in between becomes the question. We know that Jesus was the fulfillment of the OT promises. When Jesus came everything promised in the OT was not fulfilled, because Jesus said that He would be back again. Therefore, the age the prophets witnessed is the present age and prepared for the advent of the Messiah, which they did not see. This is the inter-advent age. They did not see him coming to die the first time, and his second coming will be later to judge (Is 61:1-2). What Jesus is doing is revealing truth about the inter-advent age – the Church age – a mystery form of the kingdom. St.Paul’s that this mystery is the Church, “that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people.” (Col 1:26). Mt 13:12 says, “what they have shall be taken away…” What is it that they don’t have? Spiritual insight. What will be taken away? Their responsibility. Because they rejected Jesus, their responsibility to teach and bless the world would be taken from them and given to others – the Church.
