Speaking in Riddles

January 18, 2009

Today's reading: Genesis 35-36 and Matthew 13

I don’t know if you’ve ever seen the movie Kung-Pow: Enter the Fist, but I had a chance to check it out for free on Hulu. I’m not certain I can recommend it, as it is one of those movies that is so satirical that it does not know when to stop.

For example, there is a scene where the main character is talking to a lion in the clouds, which is an homage to The Lion King, complete with James Earl Jones tone. The mystical lion tells the Chosen One “from the stars will your enemies come”. When the Chosen One asks what he means, the lion says: “I’m speaking in riddles. So that when the moment comes, you will say: ‘oh, that’s what he meant’”.

Sometimes you have to wonder if God gives us these riddles just because he loves to watch us chase our tails until we finally discover the answer on our own. Of course, what is interesting is how Jesus doesn’t speak in a riddles without giving the answer. This is sort of a change in pace from how this is normally done, but it happens this way because his audience really couldn’t figure out what seems to us obvious imagery.

There isn’t really an explanation on why sometimes God speaks so cryptically, and other times God just speaks up. Part of it may be in one of these riddles that Jesus talks about with the tares mixed in with the wheat. You will note that there is a section where it is considered the best course of action is to rip out those tares right away.

However, Jesus asks them to bear with the tares, and then rip it all out and separate it all then. I’m sure you can think of a lot of tares in your life right now, like trials or tribulations, that you would rather have removed right away. Instead, God seems to just let these things fester, like a great mystery with no answer.

So why doesn’t God just rip out all of those annoying little tares in our life? Maybe it is because something else will be ripped out if such a violent method of removal is applied. Like it or not, our problems tend to make our lives interesting. Yes, they do grow roots and bloom in places where we may not want them, yet this is exactly what they are supposed to do. They will be removed at their given time.

In the meantime, both God and you are waiting for the moment for when you say: “oh, that’s what He meant by that”.