9am Family Service for The Seventh Sunday After Trinity
“Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. .”
Summary
Today’s gospel, Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43, continues the series of Jesus’ parables about seeds, growth and harvest. As with last week’s parable (when the farmer scattered seed willy nilly over good soil and bad) the farmer’s methods are pretty unorthodox: he allows the crops and the soil to grow together. Tearing out the weeds, he rationalises, may uproot the grain too. Yet again we catch a glimpse of the generosity of God who encourages all things to flourish; and again we reflect upon our own tendencies: to view the world in dualist terms of good and bad, constructive and destructive. Life is more complicated. What is clear is that we are not the ones to judge which is a weed and which is a crop, this is God’s job. Given that, in other parables, a starring role is given to mustard seeds and leaven (both viewed as highly undesirable and in need of rooting out), God’s view of what and who is fruitful may well differ from ours. Our job then is to stop judging, stop dividing and start loving, weeds and all.
READING
Matthew 13.24-30, 36-43
Jesus said: “The kingdom of heaven is like someone who sowed good seed in his field;
but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat.
So when the grain plants grew up, the weeds appeared as well.
The slaves of the farmer said to him, ‘Master, didn’t you sow good seed? Where did these weeds come from?’
He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’
The slaves said to him, ‘Shall we go and pull up the weeds?’
He replied, ‘No, because when you pull up the weeds you will uproot the wheat along with them.
Let both of them grow together until the harvest;
and at harvest time I will tell the reapers,
Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’”
The asked Jesus to explain the story of the weeds of the field.
He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one,
the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.
Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age.
The angels will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and they will throw them into the fire.
Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.
