thinking Thursday
"Jacob's Ladder," a favorite old time Sunday school Bible story, is in the works for the upcoming Sunday, but I'm inclined to think about Sunday's gospel reading first, maybe getting back to Jacob's Ladder tomorrow or Saturday. Or even early Sunday morning? Or maybe not at all, who can tell? Only Time. *
Not blogging as much these days, thinking is elsewhere, including life that is more involved in dealing with the annoyances of extreme old aging. Just wait till you're ninety, you'll see. As I've noted, it's everything I looked forward to and worse!
This morning, a telephone call from the clinic to schedule another surgery visit with the dermatologist; a haircut beforehand because this is more cuts involving my head.
Also working on losing a few pounds before my upcoming annual appointment with primary care physician. If I keep it about the same from year to year, maybe he won't admit me to the hospital or whatever, nomesane?
Might as well keep it fun & good, though, so I have more pickled herring coming from Russ & Daughters delicatessen in NYC. Herring's nutrition factor is unbeatable, even above sardines. My initial jar of R&D's herring was far above and beyond grocery store fare, and I can't wait for this shipment to arrive.
For my birthday, I may order a rhubarb pie from a bakery in Colorado. Not strawberry and rhubarb pie, but plain rhubarb pie with its tartness and rhubarb's look of red celery. I may have it with vanilla ice cream, eh?
But the aging. Trying to work out ways to ward off the obnoxious, apparently CHF-related, syncope that kicks in several Times a Day. Dealing with it has included Linda rullng that my driving days are over, I'll yield to her better judgment.
But the gospel reading:
Matthew 13:24-30,36-43
Jesus put before the crowd another parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?’ He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he replied, ‘No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. 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.’”
Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!”
+++++++
Mark says Jesus came to proclaim the kingdom of God: After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” And he uses parables to illustrate what the kingdom is like. Matthew unfortunately calls it "heaven," which gives the idea that it's something in the blue sky beyond the clouds that we ascend to after we die. It's not, the kingdom of God is the here and now that we step into when we commit to and commence living our baptismal covenant. (G.Thomas 113) His disciples said to him, "When will the kingdom come?" <Jesus said,> "It will not come by waiting for it. It will not be a matter of saying 'here it is' or 'there it is.' Rather, the kingdom of the father is spread out upon the earth, and men do not see it."
Whoever waits for it misses it.
What about me, am I in the kingdom of God/heaven right now? IDK; working that out is part of the discerning process of seeking the truth, come whence it may, cost what it will.
++++++
The part of the above gospel passage in which Jesus threatens hell fire punishment is totally foreign to the Jesus I know; in fact, some scholars (look it up yourself in the works of The Jesus Seminar) conclude and agree that such was not from the lips of Jesus but of Matthew the gospel writer, or of later editors in the early church for agenda reasons of their own. Make of that what you will; for me, such contemplation and discussion is a comfortable part of the thinking that is Seeking, always welcome in my Sunday school classes and midweek Bible study sessions, no subject off the table.
Anyway, RSF&PTL
T90
* "Only Time" is a soothing, contemplative 2000 ballad by Irish artist Enya from her album A Day Without Rain. With its repeating refrain—"Who can say where the road goes / ...And who can say if your love grows / As your heart chose / Only time"—the song reflects on the healing, revealing nature of time in love and life. (AI)
.