The WORD in other words by Fr Guillermo Villegas SVD – Divine Word Seminary, Tagaytay City
Thursday 16th Week in Ordinary Time
This section of the Parabolic Discourse (Mt 13) presents one of the thorniest problems in the Bible: the constant unbelief of the Chosen People. Another formulation of this problem is “Israel’s hardening of heart” (German: die Verstockung Israels).
The theme of today’s Gospel is first played out in Israel’s journey through the desert, which is a story of constant doubt and infidelity. The quotation from Isaiah is connected with God’s call (Is 6,9-10), warning the prophet of his people’s obstinacy of heart. (Mt 13, 14-15)
Israel’s hardness of heart and unbelief is repeated in the parabolic section of the Gospels. And at the end of the Acts of the Apostles, St. Paul expresses his frustration with the unbelieving Jews of Rome, quoting the words of Isaiah (Acts 28,26-27). The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews presents the theme in his own terms: “Oh, that today you would hear his voice: ‘Harden not your hearts’” (Heb 4,7).
We are before the mystery of unbelief.
Each of the writers above presents his own explanation of Israel’s unbelief. But all agree to this: Because of Israel’s unbelief, the Gentiles are benefited, and come to believe.
Also, a remnant of Israel believed. Not all perished in the desert; some of those who left Egypt were able to enter the Promised Land. A large portion of Isaiah’s contemporaries believed in the message he proclaimed. Jesus’s disciples heard his parables, understood them and put them into practice.
For Paul, the Jewish unbelief is a temporary phenomenon, allowed only by God for the sake of the Gentiles (Rm 9-11):
“I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers, so that you will not become wise in your own estimation: a hardening has come upon Israel in part, until the full number of Gentiles comes in, and thus all Israel will be saved”
Acts 11, 25-26
And Paul exclaims (Ro 11,33) :
“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways!”
From death comes life, from unbelief belief. This is an echo of the universal reality presented in the Paschal Mystery.
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