What is the kingdom of heaven like? Or what can we compare it to?
It is like gifts given to orphans who’ve never received a single gift in their entire lives.
The first orphan refuses to open the gift, for it is wrapped beautifully and with great care. If that isn’t love, what is? So they set the gift carefully on a shelf in their room, ignoring the lightness of the box and the gnawing fear that it might just be a joke. There might be nothing inside. Fearing the pain they try in vain to convince themselves that the gesture alone is enough for them. They don’t need to open the gift to know they are loved, they can just look at it from time to time, and be comforted that someone gave them such a beautiful thing.
The second orphan tears into the wrapping without hesitation. They couldn’t even tell you afterwards what was printed on the paper, colorful figures holding hands, large and small, like families. They are just too eager to see the gift itself, what could be inside this box that weighs almost nothing at all? Disappointment sets in as they see it’s not a flashy toy, or even a gift card, or good old cash. It’s just a few sheets of paper. Legal documents. Boring. And yet, upon closer inspection they turn out to be adoption papers.
Both are truly loved, but only the second truly knows it. For a gift can never be received until the packaging that conceals it is destroyed.
Again, what is the kingdom of God like? And to what can we compare it?
It is like the child who truly knows they are loved.
