Our Jewish ancestors were so in tune with that truth they wouldn't even say God's name. To this day, they still won't even touch the Torah with their hands God is so holy, so other. And they're right. God is totally unfamiliar to us. And our uncreated Creator is unknowable to us creatures-at least not in the way that I can know my car.
We cannot "know" God because God is God. But we can encounter God. These are two different actions. Use your imagination and try to think of it this way. Picture in your imagination a huge circle - pretend I'm holding this HUGE circle in this hand and this tiny, little tiny circle over here in this one. Okay? This HUGE circle cannot fit inside this tiny little circle. It's impossible. In the same way, we, the tiny little circle, cannot know God, the HUGE circle. But the small circle can be put inside the big one. This is what I mean by we can encounter God. In that encounter, we still will not be able to take the big circle and put it into the little one, but the little one can experience the big one.
This is what a parable does for us and our understanding of God's reign. It allows us to enter into the experience of that reign. This is why Jesus tells parables so we can encounter God. You see, in a parable Jesus links the familiar with the unfamiliar, links them in order to create a space, an opportunity for us to encounter God in a new horizon. By the linkage that takes place in a parable, that which is invisible becomes visible; that which is hidden becomes seen; that which is beyond our comprehension, God's reign becomes something we can encounter and participate in.
So we hear today that the reign of God is like a person who finds a buried treasure and joyfully sells everything to buy the field in which the treasure lies. The hidden reality of God's reign is revealed in those who possess a joy at finding Jesus, and then truly living for him. The hidden reality of God's reign is revealed in those who in this joy are led to supreme acts of self-sacrifice and are galvanized into living a life of love. Does this parable speak to you? Does it speak of you?
We hear that the reign of God is revealed in a merchant that finds a pearl of great price and sells everything they have to possess it. The hidden reality of God's reign is revealed in those who risk everything - their present and their future - to live in relationship with the Christ they diligently sought. Does this parable speak to you? Of you?
We hear that the reign of God is revealed in a net cast into the sea. The hidden reality of God's reign is revealed in those who understand that God chose them, not vice-versa, and then brought them, hauled them into the light. Does this parable speak of you?
Parables are stories and illustrations that Jesus tells that allow us to enter and encounter with God. But what if a parable can be more than just words. If a parable is the bringing together of the familiar and the unfamiliar - the visible and the invisible - then Jesus himself is a parable in that in Jesus humanity - the familiar, the visible - and God - the unfamiliar, the invisible - are brought together. In the parable that is Jesus, we encounter God in a way that invites us into a relationship to which we can immerse ourselves into the reality that is God.
But here's the really amazing thing. We who are followers of Jesus are called to be parables ourselves. By our life choices and through our relationships, we are called by Jesus to become a space at which others can encounter God - through our listening, our forgiving, our challenging, our kindness, our service, our worship, our lives. In the end, because God chooses to partner with us, all of creation is pregnant with God's kingdom. But God needs us, like Mary the Mother of Jesus, to birth it forth.
Jesus loves to use parables. Will you be one?
