{"id":4746,"date":"2018-07-16T08:00:23","date_gmt":"2018-07-16T00:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=4746"},"modified":"2021-10-18T15:27:48","modified_gmt":"2021-10-18T07:27:48","slug":"203-kingdom-of-god-divine-initiative-and-human-freedom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=4746","title":{"rendered":"204. Kingdom of God: Divine Initiative and Human Freedom"},"content":{"rendered":"

24\u00a0<\/sup>He put before them another parable: \u201cThe kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field;\u00a025\u00a0<\/sup>but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away.\u00a026\u00a0<\/sup>So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well.\u00a027\u00a0<\/sup>And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, \u2018Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?\u2019\u00a028\u00a0<\/sup>He answered, \u2018An enemy has done this.\u2019 The slaves said to him, \u2018Then do you want us to go and gather them?\u2019\u00a029\u00a0<\/sup>But he replied, \u2018No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them.\u00a030\u00a0<\/sup>Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.\u2019\u201d<\/span> <\/strong>[Matthew 13:24-30,<\/span> NRSV<\/em>]<\/p>\n

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Jesus of Nazareth has emerged triumphant from the temptations in the wilderness, convinced that his mission on earth was to preach the message of the kingdom of God and to live that message to the very end. In this kingdom-parable of the weeds among the wheat, he highlights the point that the kingdom of God (Matthew uses the term \u201ckingdom of heaven\u201d) is a combination of divine initiative and human freedom.<\/span><\/p>\n

At an early morning Mass in Singapore, the late Archbishop Gregory Yong once told a story of a man, attracted by the charming posters of fruits at a shop window, went into the shop to buy some fruits that he fancied. Failing to find what he came in for, he went to the counter and asked where he might find some fruits on display in the shop. The shopkeeper smiled and said to him, \u201cYoung man, we don\u2019t sell fruits here; we sell seeds.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

What God gives us are seeds. These are seeds of goodness. They point to the divine initiative in creation, in the Judeo-Christian history, all the way from Abraham down to the paschal passion willingly undertaken by Jesus of Nazareth and affirmed in the resurrection by God Himself. An inexhaustible aspect of that divine initiative is that God is relentless; God never gives up in planting good seeds. God is ever hopeful, even when the evidence says otherwise, of seeing good fruits.<\/span><\/p>\n

Between seeds and fruits, however, an essential component is human understanding and freedom. People are free to accept and embrace God\u2019s kingdom-invitation and embark upon doing good, promoting God\u2019s kingdom-values with their gifts. But they are equally free to resist and even reject God\u2019s kingdom-invitation. God does not force us to produce good fruits in our lives; He inspires, He hopes, He waits.<\/span><\/p>\n

Human tendency, exemplified by the slaves in the parable, is to prematurely draw clear distinctions between good and evil, those who hear the Word, take it to heart and integrate the values into their lives and those who turn a deaf ear and resist the message. This neat division neglects the complexities in human relationship with God. Missing in this distinction is the inevitable struggles in life\u2019s journey. The struggle to hear<\/em> God\u2019s Word in our lives is an internal reality which is more complicated than we give it credit for. From Jesus, we learn that even this \u201chearing\u201d is not the end, for proper hearing must be followed by \u201ckeeping\u201d:<\/span><\/p>\n