Eighth Sunday after Trinity
“So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous”
Summary
How do we know good from evil? It is not an easy task. In 1 Kings 3:5-12, Solomon asks God for the gift of discernment between good and evil. The parables Jesus tells, in Matthew 13: 31-33, 44-52, explore this task: Last week the parable of the wheat and the weeds warned us that we are not always best ones at judging. This week we have a similar parable about the nets of fish: all are gathered in, the good and the bad together. The other parables compare the kingdom of God to mustard seeds and leaven (yeast); whilst both tiny things that produce remarkable transformations they are also both considered dangerous and were heavily regulated under Jewish law. It was forbidden to sow mustard seed in a crop field, perhaps because the mustard seed runs amok, taking over everything, growing without boundaries, just as leaven cannot be stopped from causing fermentation and change. Why is the kingdom of God compared to these forbidden things? Perhaps to alert us to the presence of God working in very unexpected people and places. When Solomon asks for “an understanding mind” the literal translation of the Hebrew term is “a listening heart”. Again and again, we are instructed not to judge but rather to grow to understand the world as God does, with a listening heart.
FIRST READING
1 Kings 3:5-12
At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, ‘Ask what I should give you.’ And Solomon said, ‘You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant my father David, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart towards you; and you have kept for him this great and steadfast love, and have given him a son to sit on his throne today. And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David, although I am only a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. And your servant is in the midst of the people whom you have chosen, a great people, so numerous they cannot be numbered or counted. Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?’
It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. God said to him, ‘Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches, or for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, I now do according to your word. Indeed I give you a wise and discerning mind; no one like you has been before you and no one like you shall arise after you.
GOSPEL
Matthew 13.31-33, 44-52
‘He put before them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.’
He told them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.’
‘The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.
‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
‘Have you understood all this?’ They answered, ‘Yes.’ And he said to them, ‘Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.’
