The Kingdom of Heaven occupies a large part of our Lord's teachings. He instructs us to seek the Kingdom above everything else, even to sell all we have to attain it. We are to pursue it with all our being, leaving behind all the concerns of this earth in the process. The Holy Scriptures teach us that the Kingdom is our true home. We are only pilgrims in this world. For our earthly pilgrimage to be successful, it must be marked directly with the concern to seek for those things "which are from above." Today's parable points to two truths about the Kingdom of Heaven upon which I would like to focus.

First of all, the Kingdom of Heaven "is within." Our Lord, Himself, has told us so. St. John the Evangelist describes Heaven in the book of Revelation. His description is an attempt to describe the indescribable. What he saw in his vision is beyond metaphor, impossible to wrap in human language. Still, he tried to convey what he saw in the most appropriate verbal images possible. St. John saw Heaven as the most beautiful and precious of treasures, and describes it as paved with gold and surrounded by walls and gates of precious gems. He does what all true theologians do: he ascends to the language of poetry and art to describe the indescribable truth.

Literalism demeans the Scriptures and is far from the intent of the Evangelists. We must avoid the tendencies of the fundamentalists, who bind the Word of God in leather and to the dictates of human language. If we do not reject their error, then we will never understand the truth. The truth is that the Bible is not so much the word of God as it is about the WORD of GOD, for the Word of God is a person -- Jesus Christ -- and not a language!

"The Kingdom of Heaven is within you." These words would have rung in the ears of St. John. He had heard them from the master, Himself, and had witnessed them lived out in the flesh. So, instead of looking for the Kingdom of Heaven far out in space, beyond the limits of the finite universe, instead of thinking of the Kingdom of Heaven as some future world or realm, we are instructed to look within ourselves.

Heaven and all its riches are buried deep in the human heart. There lies the pearl of great price. There lays the treasure buried in the field. Today's parable points this out again. By the words of the Master we learn that the boundary of the Kingdom is not geographic. The boundary of the Kingdom is mercy.

This is the second point I would like to make: not only must we learn where the Kingdom of God is located, but we must also discover what kind of kingdom it is. The first servant in the parable, who owed his master ten thousand talents, entered the kingdom by means of the mercy of his master. The king was within his rights to condemn him, but he does not. When the servant begs for more time to pay his debt the king does not turn a deaf ear. NO. The king does even more than he is asked to do. The king does not give him more time -- he completely forgives the debt! There is certainly no justice here! There is only extreme mercy. This is how the servant enters the kingdom. He asks for patience and receives mercy.

The true nature of this servant, however, is revealed when he fails to show the same mercy to a fellow servant. This fellow owes the servant a paltry sum of one hundred denarii. By his actions, the wicked servant reveals what actually lies in his heart. He shows that he has no place in the kingdom, not because the king has judged him unworthy, but because he chooses a way unknown to the Kingdom. He chooses the way of greed, of self-interest, of judgment and impenitence. Even though he has experienced the benefit of the king's mercy, he expels himself from this mercy by his act of mercilessness.

The author and theologian C. S. Lewis writes that in the end there will be only two types of people: those who will say to God, "Thy Will be done!" and those to whom God will say, "thy will be done!"

The message is this: our actions reveal whether or not the Kingdom dwells inside us, or whether we dwell outside of the Kingdom. "By their fruits ye shall know them." Do we show the extreme mercy of God toward others? If so, then we demonstrate a life lived in the Kingdom. If, on the other hand, our tendency is to judge others, as the wicked servant does, then we show ourselves to be strangers to the Kingdom. In the end, God will say to us: "I never knew you!" He says this not because He does not have knowledge of us, but because we have sought to make ourselves strangers to God and to His Kingdom.

By searching for the Kingdom within, the Kingdom of love, compassion, and mercy, then we actively work to expel all that remains in us which does not belong in the Kingdom. Our pursuit of God will transform what we do, say, and think. Our hearts will be a fit dwelling place for God. Our whole lives will become windows into the mystery of Heaven, through which all who pass by may look and see God. We can become, like the saints of God, Icons of the indescribable. With such a beautiful and boundless vista existing within each of our hearts, should we not always be asking ourselves: "Is my life like a window into Heaven?" v