A Parable of Christ's Kingdom for Today

The Kingdom of God is like getting a pair of glasses for the first time.

Something feels "off" in your life, but you think, "That's just the way everybody is." Gradually, though, you begin to realize that some people are seeing things differently than you are. They talk about things you can’t see. They understand details that you don’t. They know things just beyond your sight. You go to the optician’s office and the doctor checks the health of your eyes. She informs you that you aren’t seeing as well as you could because you need glasses. Then, you get your new glasses and try them on. Suddenly all the world is changed and made new. You marvel because you can see clearly. You see what others were talking about. And you can walk confidently in this new world not because you are led by others, but because you can see for yourself. You would never again want to go back to seeing the world without your glasses.

"Inside" the parable:
A life of sin blinds us to the Kingdom of God in our midst. We follow our own ways not out of personal perversity, but because we don’t see the world rightly. Through the preaching and the witness of others we begin to believe that there is something more to life. Some of us come to desire that "something more."

The optician’s office is the faith community. The doctor and staff are your teachers and the one who baptizes you into the Body of Christ. Your new glasses are the Holy Spirit, who never leaves you. It is the Holy Spirit who gives you eyes of faith and who enables you to see that the Kingdom of God is present all around you. As you begin to see with the eyes of faith, you never want to go back to living blind in sin.

That is why the Kingdom of God can be likened to getting glasses for the first time.

Submitted by Sr. Maria Louise Edwards, CSSF, CBS second year student