Bible Parables S3E4: The Parable Of The Householder

This is a live session recording where we delve into the timeless wisdom of The Parable of The Householder from Matthew 13:52 (NKJV) and its practical application in our daily lives. This session is part of an ongoing series where we explore how biblical teachings can guide us in living fulfilling lives.

In this session, we will explore the deeper meaning behind the parable and offer practical insights for bringing more compassion and connection into our daily lives.

This session includes a guided reflective meditation which will gently lead you through a journey of inner reflection and healing.

Come prepared to reflect on your own journey, engage with thought-provoking ideas, and leave inspired to create a life filled with purpose and abundance. This session is welcoming to all, regardless of religious background or familiarity with the Bible.

Transcript

The Parable of the Householder And the parable goes,

Then he said to them,

Therefore,

Every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.

It's a very short parable.

And just reading the parable by itself,

It's a little difficult,

It's a little tricky to understand what it means or what is the meaning in it.

So we need to look at the context of this parable.

At what point was this parable said?

So this parable is from Matthew 13.

The book of Matthew chapter 13,

Very specifically,

It's packed with the most famous parables that Jesus has told about the kingdom of heaven.

And it's a certain flow of parables that happens.

A quick recap.

There's the parable of the sower,

Then the parable of the wheat and the tares,

The parable of the mustard seed,

Then the leaven,

The hidden treasure,

The pearl of great price and the dragnet.

And each of these parables has a certain message.

In the parable of the sower,

The message is essentially that the soul receives the divine truth in many states,

Distracted,

Fearful,

Shallow,

Or deeply open.

And our growth does not depend on how much light is offered.

Our growth depends on how much stillness,

How much depth we create to receive it.

It depends on what soil are we planting the seed in.

So that's the message of the parable of the sower.

The next parable that follows is the parable of the wheat and the tares.

The message of that parable is that light and shadow,

They grow together in the field of consciousness.

Judgment before ripeness destroys understanding.

So let things mature inwardly.

Wisdom knows when to discern and when to simply allow.

Then it moves into the parable of the mustard seed.

And the message there is that even the smallest idea,

When it's held with conviction,

It can become a vast living truth.

It can become a reality in your life.

Faith does not need to start strong.

Faith only needs to be planted and to be protected.

Then he moves on to the parable of the leaven.

And the message there is that a single awakened thought subtly transforms our entire life.

Our consciousness expands quietly and a real transformation,

It begins from inside and it begins invisibly,

It can't be seen from the outside,

It starts from the inside.

Then there's the parable of the hidden treasure,

Where when the soul stumbles upon a sacred knowing,

A glimpse of truth that is so precious,

It reorders everything.

When we realize what we truly are,

No worldly attachment can feel worth clinging to.

Then there's the parable of the pearl of great price.

And the message there is that spiritual clarity is not accidental.

Spiritual clarity is the result of our devotion,

Our surrender.

And we are the merchant and what we've been looking for has been calling us all along.

And then there's the parable of the dragnet.

And the message there is that our consciousness collects every kind of thought and experience.

But not all of these are meant to stay.

The inner work that we need to do is to sift the soul,

To keep what aligns and to release what does not align.

So we have all these parables coming up in sequence.

And after all these parables,

The next thing he says to them is,

Have you understood all these things?

And they reply with a yes.

And then he goes on to recite this parable,

The parable of the householder.

Therefore,

Every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.

And that is the context of the two lines of this parable,

How it comes into the flow of all the parables.

It's kind of summing everything up and bringing everything together.

So we'll now move into this parable and we'll try to extract whatever wisdom we can from this parable.

And the parable starts with,

Then he said to them.

And these few words,

They kind of signal presence.

The teacher speaks,

Not just then,

But now.

Our life is constantly offering us teachings.

Are we listening?

In those moments when we keep still,

Can we hear,

Are we able to hear the quiet voice beneath all the noise?

So we can start each day by asking ourselves,

What is life trying to teach me today?

Start to cultivate that practice of listening,

That practice of sacred listening.

And the parable continues.

Therefore,

Every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven.

And the scribe can be understood as the inner student.

The one that is within us who longs for understanding,

Who longs to understand.

Being instructed means our soul is in a learning process.

Our soul is always learning and it's trying to unfold toward a higher truth.

The kingdom of heaven is not just a place.

The kingdom of heaven can be thought of as a state of consciousness.

A way of seeing,

A way of living with awareness,

With love,

With presence.

That can be the kingdom of heaven.

So in this sentence,

We are called to embrace our inner learner.

Look at every encounter as part of the curriculum of the soul.

And you can ask yourself,

What part of the kingdom of heaven am I discovering through this?

So it's kind of giving us an opportunity for a reframe.

Don't look at experiences as good or bad because life will always keep us throwing these experiences.

Don't label them as good or bad.

See them as experiences and try to learn from those experiences.

Try to grow from those experiences.

Because in every experience,

Whether it's a good experience or whether it's a bad experience,

There is a lesson to be learned.

There is a part of the kingdom within which you can discover by learning the lessons of that experience.

And he goes further to say,

It's like a householder.

You are the householder.

We are all the householders.

We are the keepers of our inner world.

No one else is responsible for our inner world.

No one else is responsible for what happens within our mind.

Only we are responsible for that.

Our minds,

Our emotions,

Our memories,

Our spirit.

These are the different rooms of the house.

And we get to decide because we are the householder of our house.

We get to decide what we bring out.

We get to decide what we hold back.

We get to decide what to heal.

We get to decide what to share.

So regularly,

As a householder,

Would keep checking on that house,

Would keep cleaning that house,

Would keep tidying that house.

Regularly do an inner house check.

Is my mind in good order?

Am I able to regulate my emotions?

Am I getting lost in memories of the past that have no bearing on the present moment?

Or am I wasting my time trying to imagine future scenarios that may not happen?

What is the condition of my spirit?

So do a daily inner house check.

Which emotional or spiritual or mental room needs cleaning?

Which room needs attention?

Which room needs to be celebrated?

And the parable goes on.

Who brings out his treasure?

And we all have treasures within us.

We all have our wisdom.

We all have the love that we can give.

We all have the memories that we can share,

That we can learn from,

That we can relish.

We all have the gift of resilience.

We all have this gift of insight.

Our life experience,

Our pain,

Our joy,

Our growth.

All this is part of our treasure chest.

We are all much richer than we know.

So whenever you feel uncertain,

Whenever you feel empty,

You can pause.

You can try to remember something that you've learned,

Something that you've healed,

Something that you've survived.

And let that be your treasure.

Let that be your inner gold.

And the parable ends with things new and old.

And we are essentially a bridge between the past and the present.

Our past is the wisdom we have gathered,

The learning we have gathered,

Our past experiences.

Our new is our current awareness,

Our intuition,

Our creativity.

And we need both.

We need the past and we need the new.

Many times we have people who have gone through pasts which have not really been good for them.

Traumatic pasts.

And they always talk about wanting to forget the past.

But the suggestion is that use your past.

Use your past not to think about it and live in regret.

But use those experiences from your past as lessons.

Look what was the lesson in that experience.

Look what you have learned from that experience.

Look what needs to change based on that experience.

Maybe you need to do something or maybe you need to set a boundary.

So,

The past and the future.

Wisdom is never about choosing one.

Wisdom is about integrating both.

So,

At any time you are faced with a decision or at any time you are in an emotional moment,

You can ask yourself,

What is an old truth that I already know here?

Another way to say that is,

Have I experienced this before?

How have I dealt with that experience?

Can I use that same action in this experience?

So,

What old truth do I already know here?

And what new insight is emerging from this experience?

What am I learning from this experience?

And blend both of that.

Blend the old with the new and then act.

Take action from that wholeness.

So,

This parable is simply a reminder that we are not empty.

We are not broken.

Each one of us is a house filled with treasures.

Some of us know it,

Some of us have not yet realized it and that's fine.

But all of us are the house filled with treasures.

And we are meant to walk through this world as someone who holds a sacred past in one hand and the creative now in the other.

And our job is not to chase more but to recognize,

To retrieve and to release the wisdom that is already within us.

To share the wisdom that is already within us.

Because essentially that is the job of a scribe.

So,

We will now go into a guided meditation.

The title I have given to this meditation is The House of the Soul A Journey into the Inner Kingdom So,

Get comfortable wherever you are.

If you are sitting,

Sink into your chair or whatever surface you are sitting on.

If you are sleeping,

Let the surface that you are resting on,

Let it support you.

Feel it supporting you.

The earth is your cradle.

And let silence become your companion.

If it is safe to do so and if you are comfortable doing so,

You can close your eyes.

If you do not wish to close your eyes,

You can simply lower your gaze.

And you can let your hands rest softly as if it is holding something delicate.

Possibly something like this,

As if it is holding something fragile.

And take a deep breath in and release.

Take another deep breath in and as you continue to breathe,

Allow your awareness to turn inward.

As if you are stepping slowly,

Stepping slowly down a winding path that is leading into the garden of your soul.

You are leaving the noise of the world.

You are entering a sanctuary where truth waits in stillness.

And bring your focus to your mind's eye.

Your mind's eye is simply that space between your eyebrows.

Bring your focus to your mind's eye.

And as you do that,

You begin to see it.

A beautiful house nestled in a timeless landscape.

The house looks familiar because it is yours.

This is the house of your soul.

This is your consciousness made visible.

The air around it shimmers with quiet power.

You walk slowly toward it.

The door is open.

You step inside and at once you are surrounded by a soft golden light.

Each room carries a feeling,

A memory,

A part of your deeper self.

You sense love here.

Peace.

You sense wisdom that feels ancient,

That is alive.

You are not a guest here.

You are the householder.

And from one of the inner rooms a figure approaches.

Calm,

Radiant,

Familiar.

The scribe.

This is the aspect of you that remembers.

This is the one who knows spiritual truth.

Not because it was taught,

But because it was always there.

The scribe smiles and gently places a hand over your heart and says,

You have been instructed in the kingdom of heaven.

You are ready to bring forth the treasures within.

The scribe leads you down a hallway.

You enter a beautiful room filled with warm light and the scent of cedar and jasmine.

In the center is an ornate chest.

You kneel before it.

And when you open it,

You find treasures from your life's sacred memory.

Moments of awakening.

Times when you felt truly guided.

The words of a teacher or the presence of grace in a silent moment.

You hold one in your hands.

Maybe it's a memory.

Maybe it's a lesson.

Or maybe it's a knowing that changed you.

You hold it in your hands.

It glows with quiet power.

Breathe it in.

Feel it in your body.

Whisper to yourself,

I honor what I have known.

I carry wisdom from all I have lived.

You now rise and walk to another room.

This one is filled with moving light like reflections on water.

There is another chest here.

It's lighter in color.

It's humming gently.

When you open it,

You see visions.

Things not yet born but alive in the imagination of your soul.

Here are your dreams,

Your callings,

Your intuitive knowings.

Here are desires the divine has placed in your heart for a reason.

One of them calls to you.

You reach out and hold it.

You may not know how it will unfold but you feel its truth.

Say softly,

I welcome the new.

I trust what is becoming.

I open to divine imagination.

And let the image grow clearer.

Let your body feel what it would be like to live from this vision now.

The scribe places a hand on your shoulder.

You are the householder,

They say.

You are the keeper of the soul's treasury.

Bring forth what is needed.

The eternal truths,

The fresh insights.

The world needs both and you hold both.

You bow your head,

Not in submission but in reverence.

You are ready.

The house remains within you always,

Not just in stillness but in action,

In word,

In love.

You begin to the turn now,

Slowly,

Gently,

Ready.

Feel the rise and the fall of your breath.

Begin to feel your hands,

Your body resting.

Become aware of the world around you.

And when you are ready,

If your eyes are closed,

You can open your eyes and stay in the stillness for a bit longer.

And if you choose,

You can repeat these affirmations after me.

I am the householder of the kingdom within.

I bring forth wisdom,

Both timeless and new.

What I need is already within me.

What I seek is already mine.

So what action can we take in our life based on this parable?

How can we live the message of this parable?

A good reminder is that we are not a passive guest of our souls.

We are not the passive guests of our souls.

We are the householder.

We are the keeper of the inner treasure.

So this week,

Take some time to reflect on a truth.

Reflect on a practice or reflect on an insight from your past that still holds value.

This is an old treasure.

Then name or visualize a desire,

An idea,

A quality that is emerging in you now,

In you today.

The new treasure.

And sit with both.

Honor both.

Let the blend of both guide your next choice,

Your next action or your next offering to the world.

So if journaling is part of your daily practice,

The journaling prompt that you can use is,

What ancient truth still lives in me?

What ancient truth still lives in me and what new truth is awakening?

If meditation is part of your daily practice,

Then in your meditation,

You can meditate with the image of your inner house.

And you can ask or the intention that you can set for that meditation is,

What treasure do I need today?

What treasure do I need today?

And a good affirmation that you can recite this week,

That you can integrate this week,

If you regularly follow affirmations is the affirmation,

I bring forth from within me both the remembered and the newly revealed.

And this is essentially the practice of inner mastery,

The art of living awake.

Thank you everyone for being here today.

Blend those treasures,

The old treasures,

The new treasures,

Blend them and see what comes up.

Sit with it,

See what comes up.

Love,

Light,

Blessings,

Namaste.