Dorothy L. Sayers, in a 1954 lecture on the limitations of language, gives a brilliant summary of all the different metaphors and parables Jesus uses to explain the Kingdom of Heaven.

 ¢â‚¬Å“The Kingdom of Heaven, ¢â‚¬  said the Lord Christ,  ¢â‚¬Å“is among you. ¢â‚¬  But what, precisely, is the Kingdom of Heaven?

You cannot point to existing specimens, saying,  ¢â‚¬Å“Lo, here! ¢â‚¬  or  ¢â‚¬Å“Lo, there! ¢â‚¬  You can only experience it.

But what is it like, so that when we experience it we may recognize it?

• Well, it is a change, like being born again and re-learning everything from the start.

• It is secret, living power ¢â‚¬”like yeast. It is something that grows, like seed.

• It is precious like buried treasure, like a rich pearl, and you have to pay for it.

• It is a sharp cleavage through the rich jumble of things which life presents: like fish and rubbish in a draw-net, like wheat and tares; like wisdom and folly; and it carries with it a kind of menacing finality;

• It is new, yet in a sense it was always there ¢â‚¬”like turning out a cupboard and finding there your own childhood as well as your present self;

• It makes demands,

• It is like an invitation to a royal banquet ¢â‚¬”gratifying, but not to be disregarded, and you have to live up to it;

• Where it is equal, it seems unjust, where it is just it is clearly not equal ¢â‚¬”as with the single pound, the diverse talents, the laborers in the vineyard, you have what you bargained for;

• It knows no compromise between an uncalculating mercy and a terrible justice ¢â‚¬”like the unmerciful servant, you get what you give;

• It is helpless in your hands like the King ¢â‚¬â„¢s Son, but if you slay it, it will judge you;

• It was from the foundations of the world;

• It is to come; it is here and now; it is within you.

It is recorded that the multitude sometimes failed to understand.