Bertrand Russell, the philosopher, in an illustration of inductive knowledge, told the story of a chicken which everyday comes running out of it’s coop when it hears the farmer approaching with his feed bucket rattling. This continues for many months until one day the farmer, feeding bucket rattling, approaches and wrings the chicken’s neck.

The world has a tendency to surprise us all.

Christians are challenged to react to all situations in a way which honours God.

Today’s readings deal with the issue of understanding, and the relationship between faith and understanding.

Given our limitations, how are we to understand God’s will?

How are we to live and act in the face of a sometimes bewildering world?

The answer lies in placing our trust in a spiritual relationship with God.

St Paul, tells us, though we may be unsure and inarticulate, nothing can separate us from the love of God.

Though the world may present us with situations in which we feel at a loss - may surprise us, as did the chicken in Bertrand Russell’s example - we must retain our trust in God’s love.

God’s love for us shown through the gift of Jesus Christ.

There are those who believe that the Christian faith is rather like the chicken’s faith in the farmer, just as there are those who lose faith if God does not deliver the daily food, even if they don’t actually get their necks wrung.

In the parable of the mustard seed, Jesus lays out what is almost a blueprint for faith and understanding.

Firstly, the parable invokes the idea of the seed (The fundamental love of God)

Secondly, it invokes the idea of growth.

We see that understanding is a process, something to be worked at.

But our love, nourished by the scriptures and the gift of Jesus Christ, is what must form the basis of our reactions to the world.

Under these circumstances, our faith and understanding will grow as greatly as did the tree from the mustard seed.

In the parables of the treasure in the field and the pearl of great value, we see people making a decision and taking risks and liquidating assets to obtain what they want.

Those who risk their whole fortune know the value of their investment and searching for God’s kingdom is no different. Drastic risks have to be taken. No sacrifice is too great, no price too high to pay for the timeless treasure and precious pearl of the kingdom of heaven.

To be a disciple of Christ is a way of living in great joy at the treasure we hold in our hands. We are not quite sure what it is that we have got, but we know it is beyond price.

As long as we put our trust in the fundamental reciprocal love between God and us, then we have the basis upon which to live our lives and this must be how we at least try to understand the world.

These parables of our Lord are practical invitations to put aside all the distractions that can take the place of God in our hearts - power, possessions, prestige or the comforts of an easy life. While important to daily living, if we overvalue them we devalue God.

Don’t let our faith lie buried in a field or lie at the bottom of the seabed. Open our eyes, observe the growth of the mustard seed, become aware of the treasure each of us has received

We are being called to come back to God and put Christ and his teaching first in our lives.