by Fr. Ed Liptak, SDB
There is an afterlife for us humans. God has his own ongoing existence, In fact, He IS Existence. That is his Name, I Am, I Was, I Will Be forever. He is Eternal. His Kingdom is called Heaven. He is the source of all else that exists. We humans have words for that. We call Him Almighty and Creator. We are among His creatures, created to be like Him, living beings, intelligent, with free will. God loves us, His creation. He has implanted in us a thirst, a hunger, that our lives like His will never end. He made us to share in His Immortal Life in the Eternal Kingdom, the Kingdom of Heaven.
The sin of the first humans spoiled God’s plan for all human beings. As they by their disobedience rebelled against God, so all creation rebelled against them. Humanity began to live in chaotic darkness caused by sin. No one could enter the Kingdom of Heaven. God, because he loves his creatures, sent his Son to repair human nature and reopen heaven. As the relationship with God was ruined by the disobedience of the first humans, so Jesus, Son of God, came in obedience to rebuild the broken bridge to heaven. This, and past Sundays have portrayed the Son’s attempt by parables to convince us and allow his Father to get us back on the road to heaven.
Jesus, in our long Chapter 13 of St. Matthew has been preparing the Apostles to enter with him in his fight for souls. As Jesus went through four different parables, largely based on sowing and reaping a crop for God’s harvest, our Teacher paused twice to give those who would join him in teaching, clear explanations of the meaning which he wanted the people to get. God expects us to listen, to repent, and to grow worthy of harvest into heaven.
Briefly added parables speak of the Kingdom as a treasure or pearl too valuable to lose, and then His preaching and that of the disciples is compared to casting a net and catching the good and the bad. The wicked will be separated from the righteous and be thrown into a fiery furnace. And Jesus had one last word for his disciples as he sent them to preach. They were now ‘scribes instructed in the Kingdom of Heaven.’ As he taught, so must they, whether from the Old Testament or New. The good will be saved, the bad will be cast into eternal fire.