Jesus struggled for words. How could He explain to them about the kingdom of heaven?
How could He give them a sense of its magnificence, the vastness of its embrace, the fullness of the Love it offers - but not make it seem like something so grand that it was beyond their reach?
How could He show them that the kingdom was not a new and difficult concept that they would have to study? That it was not some far away place, requiring a long and complicated journey that only the smartest and strongest could complete?
He longed for them to understand that, in the kingdom, they could live in Him and know the Father as He knew Him. He yearned to share with them the joy that came from the Father loving the Son and the Son loving the Father; to share the comfort there was in the Spirit pouring forth from and between them in endless, self-emptying Love.
If only they could see that they were created for this Way of Love, that participating in it was their birthright! If only they could see this, then surely they would abandon their way of false self to join Him - to allow Him to be their Way...
He understood the allures of false self. He had been shown them all from the beginning. As hard, as impossible as it had seemed in those initial long, dark, hungry days, He had only had to say "yes" to the Father - a simple, humble act of obedience - and the fullness of Love which was the Way opened up within Him.
Perhaps if they could see that they too could start with just a little, tiny "yes"... if they planted that smallest of seeds in the soil of their hearts...surely then they would see would see the kingdom growing within them. And having glimpsed that, how could they ever want anything else again?
So He told them a story...
(click on the image below to enlarge it.)
