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 ”
Overview
How do we discern a person’s heart? How do we know good from evil? For the last two weeks we have heard parables that remind us that we are often not the best judge.
In the parable of the sower, the sower does not distinguish between the stony ground and good soil; in the parable of the wheat and weeds, the farmer allows both to grow together. This week, in Matthew 13: 31-33, 44-52, we have a similar parable about the nets of fish: all are gathered in, the good and the bad together.
The other parables this week give us an insight into why we are not to judge, our view and God’s view are not often the same. In them the kingdom of God is compared first to a mustard seed and then to leaven (yeast). Both of these substances were considered highly dangerous and were subject to strict rules. It was forbidden to sow mustard seed, perhaps because the mustard seed runs amok, taking over everything, growing without boundaries, just as leaven cannot be stopped from causing fermentation and change.
In comparing the kingdom of God to these forbidden things Jesus alerts us to the presence of God working in unexpected ways, people and places.
This is why, when offered any gift he chooses in 1 Kings 3:5-12, Solomon asks God for the gift of discernment between good and evil. He desires “an understanding mind” the literal translation of the Hebrew term is “a listening heart”. Again and again, we are instructed not to judge but instead, with compassion and mercy, to seek 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 toward 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 great people of yours?”
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
Jesus put before the crowd another parable:
The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and reburied; 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 become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.
