A Son’s
Greatest Wish
When I was in high school, there was a body shop across
from my grandfather’s farm that had used cars for sale. One summer, there was a beautiful freshly
painted yellow ’70 Plymouth Barracuda sitting front and center. In case you aren’t familiar, the Barracuda
was a powerful sports car, created to compete with the Ford Mustang. And each day that dad and I would go to help
grandpa farm that summer, I would gaze at that car and daydream about it day
and night.
“Dad, can I PLEASE get that car,” I would beg. He would give excuses as to why it wasn’t
wise for a Junior/Senior in high school to have that kind of car; the cost of
insurance would be astronomical, who’d pay for gas, it was too expensive to
maintain, it wasn’t practical. At night
I’d dream about driving that car through the country watching the number of
friends (boys and girls) skyrocket.
I can’t remember dad just coming out and saying ‘NO’ to
that car. Maybe I blocked it from my
memory. So if he didn’t answer with the
word NO, I pestered and negotiated with tiny specs of hope. In 1986, I had no idea how unwise it would be
for me to have such a car. I was seeking
my own pleasure and dad was using wisdom.
Solomon was a son of King David, anointed by the Prophet
Nathan to replace David after his death.
Shortly after being made king, Solomon went to Gibeon to offer a
sacrifice to the Lord. That night in a
dream, God appeared to the king and asked, “What should I give you?”
Can you imagine if God came to you and asked, “What
should I give you?” The Creator of all
things, God of the universe, comes and asks what should I give you. What would you say? During the summer of ‘86, I would have asked
for that Barracuda. But what would you
ask for if God came to you tonight with that question?
The young king responded with humility and thankfulness
before saying, “Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern
your people, able to discern between good and evil, for who can govern this
your great people.” And the text goes on
to say that the Lord was pleased with Solomon’s answer and because he didn’t
ask for a long life, or riches, or for the death of enemies, God would provide
him with a wise and discerning mind; like nobody before or after him.
What requests do you make to God? A trusted friend of mine who has been in
ministry for years once said that he modeled prayer in the following order;
thanks to God for his outpouring of blessings known and unknown, confession of
sins, asking for forgiveness and the ability to forgive others, lifting up
those who are sick/poor/lost/or in need, and asking God for wisdom in seeking
his will.
Wisdom is treated like gold in the Bible. As a matter of fact, several books in
Scripture are categorized as Wisdom Literature, such as Psalms, Proverbs, and
Ecclesiastes. “Give instruction to a
wise man, and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will
increase in learning (Proverbs 9:9)” whereas in Proverbs 28:26 we read,
“Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool,” opposite of wise.
Reading the Gospel lesson today will require prayers for
understanding and wisdom to glean meaning.
Listen to the many and various ways that Jesus compares the Kingdom of
heaven. It is like a mustard seed, the
smallest of seeds yet it grows into large trees that create shelter for the
birds. The kingdom of heaven is like
yeast that leavens bread. It is like a
treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid, then sells all that he
has to buy the land where found. The
kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, and in finding
one, sold all that he had to own it. And
lastly, the kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea that caught
fish of every kind.
There are so many comparisons to the kingdom of
heaven. Is there a common theme or are
each of these parables describing another aspect of divine mystery? Today I notice a couple of themes on the
surface. Our understanding is as small
as a mustard seed in regards to all knowledge, yet it is useful for helping
others. A drop of yeast quickly leavens
the whole loaf of bread just as faith of one person can affect many. The treasure and merchant parables are
similar to other parables where Jesus asks the rich to sell all they have and
follow Christ (the real treasure/pearl).
And each of us are different like the various fish, but are still caught
in the net of Christ’s salvation.
Those are the thoughts that came for today, but each
parable has a lot of depth and meaning beyond my understanding. And as we seek God’s wisdom and will, he will
continue speaking to those who are listening.
Remember Jesus’ promise, “Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you
will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you
(Matthew 7:7).” Amen.