17A20.   Solomon said to the Lord: “I am a mere youth, not knowing how to act.” “Give your servant, therefore, an understanding heart to judge your people and to distinguish right from wrong.” ‘The Lord was pleased that Solomon made this request. So God said to him:” “For understanding so that you may know what is right–I do as you requested.”  Solomon was like the scribe of third reading who brings from the store room of being raised as a good Jew what, was best for his new assignment from God, to be king of Israel.

Matthew 13:44-52.   Among the Jews the scribes had the necessary and important task of mining the Law and the Scriptures to make them understandable and digestible to the people so to lead them to holiness.  Jesus in his humanity is like that scribe who brings from the storeroom what the Holy Spirit makes available to him the stories and parables that enable his followers to understand what it is to be a truly holy people.  The first parable explains that to become people of the kingdom of heaven while here on earth is to give over all of one’s self to a life of faith in the Lord.  The second parable asserts that the pearl of great price is to possess a life in heaven by giving over oneself completely over to living a holy life in the Lord here on earth. The third parable, like that of the separating of the wheat from the weeds that grew together, is the separating of the good fish from the bad that lived in the same sea and then throwing the bad into the fiery furnace of hell.  Then Jesus asks his disciples,  ”’Do you understand all these things?’” They answered, ‘Yes.’” Jesus is like David and that scribe who is the head of his household.   However, now he leads his earthly people to his heavenly kingdom.

Romans 8:28-30.

17A   1 Kings 3:5, 7-12.  King Solomon asks for the wisdom to best be able to serve the people of his kingdom.   God grants his request because he wants what God wants of him.  Though Solomon was given the gift of wisdom, later he did not always do the wisest thing.  Knowing how to act and doing it are two different things.

Matthew 13:44-52.  These three parables all start off with: “The kingdom of heaven is like a,” and then they all go out seeking something.  In the first two, when what is sought after is found, then the seeker “goes and sells all that he has and buys” what they are searching for.  Really what is being sought after is “the kingdom of heaven.”  In order to obtain it, we must, so to speak, “sell all we have” to obtain what is most valuable to us, i.e. give all we have and all we are, which is the death on the cross, to acquire what is most valuable to us, the resurrection.  In Matthew 19:21, Jesus said to the rich young man, “If you wish to be perfect, go sell what you have and give to [the] poor, you will have treasure in heaven.  Then come, follow me.” If he had actually done that, today he would probably been one of the greatest saints in heaven, which is to say, one of the richest men who has ever lived in terms not of earth but of heaven.

As an aside thought, Jesus is not saying that to be perfect or holy we must be without possessions, although that is what he, in fact, did call the rich young man to.  In Matthew 5:3, Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”  I believe that to be ‘poor in spirit’ means to live in complete dependence and confidence  in God always willing to submit to God’s Will no matter what we have or do not have in terms of earthly possessions.

In the third of this Sunday’s gospel parables there is “the end of the age” separation of the good from the bad with the bad thrown “into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”  This is followed by the statement that every scribe or student of the Scriptures, “who has been instructed in the kingdom of heaven,” which was the subject of the three parables just spoken of in this gospel, “is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old.”  That is to say, the scribe will draw on the wisdom of the New and Old Testaments what he needs to bring his household into the kingdom of heaven.

Romans 8:28-30.  The terms in this epistle: called according to his purpose, foreknew, predestined to be conformed, called, justified and glorified, were interpreted in John Calvin’s writings as God having predestined us to heaven or hell, and no one has the power to change the destiny assigned to them by God.  In the first sentence of this epistle, Paul writes, “that all things work for good for those who love God, according to his purpose.”  In other words, all things work for the good of those who have freely chosen to love God and who work in union with God to their sanctification which is God’s Will and purpose for all of us.  God, in his capacity as God, already foreknew but did not coerce what decisions we would make.  As any good parent, God had the best of wishes for our future and, in that sense, predestined us “to be conformed to the image of his Son,” which is that we work be a holy people who daily obeyed the Father’s Will for us.  In John 15:16a, Jesus says, “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you.”  In Mark 1:17, Jesus says to Simon and Andrew, “Come after me,” and then in vs.20 he calls James and John to follow him.  I truly believe he calls us all but some say yes sooner or later and others, no.  It is our decision and we must all answer for our decision that we have lived out.  And then he justifies us, i.e., he empowers us to follow our calling to holiness through the work of the Holy Spirit.  This past Sunday’s Epistle (Romans 8:26-27) states that the Spirit “intercedes for the holy ones according to God’s Will,” which is that we be a holy people.  In John 15:16b&c, Jesus says, I “appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.”

Paul writes in Romans 8:16-17, “The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.”   1 John 3:2 says, “Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed.  We do know that when it has been revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”  Paul writes in Philippians 3:20-21, “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.  He will change our lowly body to conform with his glorified body by the power that enables him also to bring all things into subjection to himself.”  God will share his glory with those who truly love him and his Will.

16A20.    Wisdom 12:13, 16-19.    “There is no god besides you who have the care of all.”  “Your mastery over all things makes you lenient to all.”   This wonderful reading is a prayer of worship because it repeats that God is awesomely powerful, the “master of might,” recognizing God for who he truly is.  However, he uses his power not to crush but to build up.  He expresses his mighty power through his intense, boundless love for us, by caring for us, by treating us with leniency and clemency.

Matthew 13:24-43.   We must grow in holiness despite the fact that there is so much evil around us, by struggling to be wheat in a field of weeds.  As with the tiny mustard seed or baking flour, the Spirit waters us and leavens us to grow in the Lord.  By the life we lead, we will determine whether we are a child of God or the devil.  If we live a life as a child of the devil, we will inherit “the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”  On the other hand, if we live as a child of God the Father, we “will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.”  Then Jesus says, “Whoever has ears ought to hear.”  If we live as a child of the devil, the parable will seem to be just nonsense.  If we live as a child of God, we will cultivate a heart and mind that allows us to understand the message of this parable.  Love was not sweet and easy for our Savior who hung on the cross.  As in marriage, there will the good times and the difficult times on the way to heaven.

Romans 8:26-27.  “Brothers and sisters: The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness,”  “because he intercedes for the holy ones according to God’s will.”   On our own without the Spirit, it is hopeless for us to grow in holiness.  With our calm, peace-filled and faithful heart, the Holy Spirit enables us to be loyal sons and daughters of the Father.  Never doubt or quench the Spirit.

16A   Wisdom 12:13, 16-19.  For me two points stand out in this reading.  First, our God is the one and only almighty God. Words or phrases that indicate this that are used in this reading are:  ‘your might,’ ‘your power,’ ‘master of might,’ ‘your mastery over all things’.  Secondly, our God is just and caring: ‘you who have the care of all,’ ‘source of justice,’ ‘lenient to all,’ ‘judge with clemency,’ ‘with much lenience you govern us,’ ‘permit repentance for their sins’. Because God is almighty he can afford to be lenient and caring without losing control over all people and things.  The gods of other peoples could care less about anyone else and have only certain areas of competence.  We are spectacularly blessed by the infinite power of our God who uses his power with loving care for us.  Praise be to our wondrous God!

Matthew 13:24-43.  The wheat of the first parable are the children of God’s kingdom; the weeds, the children of the devil.  They grow together which makes the world a difficult place to grow up in because we are, at the very least, uncomfortable, if not antagonistic, to one another, which is probably why Christianity has had so many martyrs for the faith.  The harvest is the judgment and the harvesters, the angels.  “They will throw” the weeds, i.e. the children of the evil, “into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.  The righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.”  Of course, by the way we choose to live our lives we are weeds or wheat and so we will be punished or rewarded accordingly.  Jesus gives to those who have ears to hear the stark truth or reality.  However the weeds are those who have chosen not to have ears to hear.  Putting our faith, putting our lives in the hands of someone we do not see or cannot physically hear requires taking a risk.  Jesus spoke in parables to shield “what has lain hidden from the foundation of the world” from those who were unwilling to take risk of believing or trusting what is beyond the physical or visible, beyond what the eyes and ears of flesh see and hear.  Faith requires that we come to the God who comes to us, putting our lives in the hands of someone who is beyond the grasp of this world.  The journey to heaven through this world is a struggle, a carrying of the cross, always going forward but never seeing the way clearly because we must trust in a God who sees us through.

Romans 8:26-27.   We journey on our way to heaven with the necessary aid of the Holy Spirit.  He intercedes for those who struggle to be holy according to God’s will.  The Holy Spirit prays for us with inexpressible groanings so that we achieve the holiness that the Father desires for us.  The disciples “said, ‘Who then can be saved?’  Jesus looked at them and said, ‘For human beings this is impossible, but for God all things are possible.’” (Matthew 19:25b -26)

15A20.     Isaiah 55:10-11.  “My word shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.”  Just before this last line, the Lord says that the rain and snow that he sends make the earth fertile and fruitful.  God sends down his grace or word, like a seed, to do the work for which he sends it, as he says, to “do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.”

Matthew 23:1-23.  Jesus speaks in parables so they who are like the rich soil that produces fruit may produce even more fruit but the others who have not prepared themselves to be fruitful like the rich soil will hear words but not understand them.  In school, students are taught at the level for which they are prepared, first grade lessons are taught to first graders.  They are not given second grade lessons because those lessons are not suited to their level of learning.  The parables likewise are given to those who have prepared themselves to understand by living their life in Lord’s hands.  Those who have failed to live their past life by living their life in their own hands and not in the Lord’s hands have not prepared themselves to understand the parables.  It is as though they played hooky for those lessons.  Growing in the Lord is a day by day process of learning more and more from him daily throughout our life time.  That is the difference between living as a creature of God and living as a creature of this earth without God.  Living daily in God and with God and for God is an absolute requirement for entering heaven.  Jesus said in Matthew 7:13a, “Enter through the narrow gate,” and in Matthew 7:14, “How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few.”

Romans 8:18-23.  “For creation was subject to futility, not of its own accord but because of the one who subjected it, in hope that creation itself would be set free from slavery to corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God.”  This earth and its material things must all one day rot and pass away.  This earth on its own is incapable of changing its destiny.  God can and wants to free us from the slavery to corruption which is that we will just disintegrate in the grave so that, instead, we can “share in the glorious freedom of the children of God.” That share is that we will one day partake in, with the One who loves us infinitely, an eternity of happiness in heaven.

15A.  Isaiah 55:10-11.   Nature prepares the earth with rain and snow to make the soil fertile so that it will be fruitful.  Nature desires life in abundance.  The Holy Spirit prepares souls so that the word of grace that issues from God’s mouth will do his Will, making souls holy, preparing them to be with The Father in his heavenly household, as his sons and daughters. God’s Will is to share Himself, his love, his life infinitely.  His end, intent is that those who choose life shall have life forever and that those who choose death shall have their choice granted them.  “Whoever rejects me and does not accept my words has something to judge him: the word I spoke, it will condemn him on the last day, because I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say and speak.  And I know that his commandment is eternal life.  So what I say, I say as the Father told me.” (John 12:48-50)

Matthew 13:1-23.  “The disciples of Jesus approached him and said, ’Why do you speak to them in parables?’”  Unlike the soil on which the sun and the rain and the snow fall, we humans can choose not to be nourished and be made fertile by the word and the grace of God and to make ourselves like the hardened path, the rocky ground, the ground with thorns so that we are not like the rich soil that could produce abundantly.  “Do not give what is holy to dogs, or throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them underfoot, and turn and tear you to pieces.” (Mt. 7:6)  Parables were meant to protect what is holy from those who did not choose to grow holy in the Spirit.  “This is why I speak to them in parables, because they look but do not see and hear but do not listen and understand.” “Gross is the heart of this people, they will hardly hear with their ears, they have closed their eyes, lest they see with their eyes.”  ‘Gross’, that is to say dull, thick or hardheaded, with a stoneheart, they have chosen to shut out anything that might invade and possibly destroy a false vision or mental construct of a world they have embraced and given themselves over to. To his disciples who entrusted their hearts and minds to Jesus and grew daily in him, Jesus explains the parables.  “But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear.”  Without an ongoing growing commitment to God, what is holy, spiritual, sacred makes little or no sense.  Outsiders who have other values and commitments in life cannot make any sense out of submission to an Almighty who is the one and only truth that exists.  “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many.  How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few.” (Mt. 7:13-14)

Romans 8:18-23.  “Brothers and sisters: I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us.”  Paul’s faith in Christ leads him to endure suffering for a glorious reward in heaven.  “We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even now; and not only that, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, we also groan within ourselves as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.”  What God has created, a world order, is groaning to “be set free from slavery to corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God,” desiring to be no longer a world where the devil roams tempting the children of God but to be a world, along with our physical bodies,  adopted and redeemed with our bodies.  “For that which is corruptible must clothe itself with incorruptibility, and that which is mortal must clothe itself with immortality.” (1 Cor15:53)

 

14A20.     Zechariah 9:9-10.   “Rejoice heartily, O daughter Zion, shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem!”  There is great joy because the Hebrew captives have been set free from slavery in Babylonia. Their king comes but not as a military victor, but as a meek and humble savior.  His rule encompasses everything and everyplace but not by the power of armed force.

Matthew 11:25-30.  In the verses before this, Jesus rebukes those who have not accepted him despite the mighty deeds and miracles he had performed.  They thought they were so wise that there was nothing they could learn from Jesus.  “All things have been handed over to me by my Father.”  Jesus was made the fount of divine wisdom given to him by God the Father.  The greatest of all knowledge is to know God, the divine Person. That knowledge is the closeness of one person to another that makes us dear to one another.  It is the meeting of hearts, minds and wills.  Jesus was given the power to reveal or to make known the Father to us so that we would be able to develop a close relationship with the Father as he himself had.

“Come to me, you who labor and are burdened, and I will you rest.”  As the God who is love, he embraces us to relieve us from a life that can weigh us down and can even oppress us.  He never seeks to overwhelm us but to love us into a deep, intimate relationship with him.  He is “meek and humble of heart.”  He is the caring shepherd who tends his flock.  “For my yoke is easy and my burden light.”  We are the flock who obediently follow our Savior through this world to heaven.

Romans 8:9, 11-13.  “Brother and Sisters: You are not in the flesh; on the contrary, you are in the spirit, if only the Spirit of God dwells in you.”  Biology lists us as an animal of this earth; physically we have all the bodily functions that all the animals of the earth have.  Spiritual life that the Holy Spirit instills in us raises us to be a heavenly people, even while we live on this earth.  What Paul ends up saying is stark.  “For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”   Prayer enables us to live by the Holy Spirit as we endlessly during the day talk to him, petition him, plead with him, cajole him, and laugh with him.  The truth is that we were created to enjoy our loving God for all eternity and not a casket in the ground with the worms.

14A.   Zechariah  9:9-10.  “See, your king shall come to you; a just savior is he, meek, and riding on a colt the foal of an ass.”  How humble and meek is this king, not coming in on a horse or chariot with a warrior’s bow at his side.  And yet he is all-powerful.  “His dominion shall be from sea to sea.”

Matthew 11:25-30.  True wisdom comes not from earthly learning but from God himself to those who humble themselves before him like little children.  It is the knowledge to know the person of God who is God over me and not the knowledge about the person of God and divine things so that I can maintain my independence from God without submitting to his authority over me.  It is not knowing about God but rather knowing God himself.  When I submit myself to the yoke of his Will over me, the Son reveals the divine person who is God the Father to me because I respect him for who he infinitely is.  God is God and I am not.  In prayer he makes the warmth of his love known to me, his child, his sheep.  His Will, his yoke is on my shoulders but it is easy and light because he loves those who love him humbly as their God.

Romans 8:9, 11-13.  Paul gives us a little lesson on the dynamics of spiritual warfare here.  As human beings, we are creatures of the earth with the potential to be saints in heaven.  If we live according to what is natural or of the flesh, we will terminate with what is natural or of the flesh, i.e., earthly corruption or rot in the soil.  If we live according to what is supernatural or of the spirit, we live eternally in heaven in the love of God our Father.  The Holy Spirit will give to those who belong to him, not only God’s spiritual life to our souls but also to our bodies so that our whole person will be redeemed.  “But now that you have been freed from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit that you have leads to sanctification, and its end is eternal life.  For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom. 6:22-23)

13A20.    2 Kings 4:8-11, 14-16a.   The woman who extends hospitality to Elisha, says, “I know that he is a holy man of God.”  In extending hospitality to Elisha, she is honoring  God at the same time.  Anyone whom God sends to do God’s work, spirituality has the presence of God in him.  Elisha, in turn, recognizes the presence of God in her, as she is honoring the presence of God in him, and so grants her a son.

Matthew 10:37-42.   Jesus said to his apostles: “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.”  Not only did God create us but also he created within us the capacity to love and be loved.  God is love.  He is one and only source of love.  The first of the two great commandments says, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Matthew 22:37)    The God who is the source of all the good we have should be the one who is entitled to receive all that same goodness from us.  One way we express our love for God is to love all those whom he loves, our fellow human beings.  Jesus is saying we are only worthy or deserving of him when we put him first, the root from which all our love flows.  In John15:5a, Jesus said, ‘Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing.” Also in John 13:20, Jesus said, “Amen, amen I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me,” God the Father. That same God is present in anyone who serves him and his will.

Romans 5:12-15.  Paul writes, “Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.  That newness is our life in Christ.   Each day we live “through him, and with him, and in him.”  The old self was a person, whose life was one’s body, keeping it well, pleasing it, and guarding it.  It was all about one’s physical, material life.  Now the newness of life is a body that is about its spiritual self because Christ now is the source of one’s life.  Now we “must think of ourselves as dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus.”

13A.  2 Kings 4:8-11, 14-16a.  A woman of Shunem, who was a person of influence, was accustomed to offering hospitality to Elisha, the prophet, keeping open a small furnished room so that he would have a place to stay overnight whenever he passed through.  Elisha, asking his servant if anything could be done for her in turn, was told that she had no son.  Elisha calls her to say to her, “This time next year you will be fondling a baby son.”  Our Gospel this Sunday says, “Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward.”  The Church has given us an example of this from the Old Testament.

Matthew 10: 37-42.  From this world’s perspective and the perspective of each living being, one’s survival on this earth is of absolute, prime importance.  Expanding from that and from one’s innate, natural bent, it is consummately natural to want to experience the maximum amount of good feelings and pleasure and the minimal amount of pain or bad feelings.   In a totally different vein, this Gospel begins with Jesus saying to his apostles: “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.”  He goes on to say, “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (also Mt. 17: 24-25)  Luke’s version (14:26) uses even stronger language: “If anyone comes after me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.”  Jesus is saying that we must commit ourselves totally to God and to nothing else other than what comes out of our commitment to God and his Will and not to our own natural desires and will.  In Mt. 22:37, Jesus says, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind.”  Jesus goes on changing the Second of the Two Great Commandments, saying, “I give you a new commandment: love one another.  As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.” (Jn. 13:34).  God is the measure of all things.  In Mt. 5:48, Jesus says, “So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect,” in other words, to the capacity that God has given you, be holy as God is holy.  We are to be people whose guiding principle is of the heavenly spirit and not to be people of the worldly flesh.

In this Gospel Jesus says, “Whoever receives you receives me and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”  The principle stated here, I believe, is that as God the Father works in union with the Son and so the Son works in union with each one of us who belong to him.  He is Emmanuel, God with us.  Jesus in John 15:4a said, “Remain in me, as I remain in you.”  Also Jesus said in John 14:23b, “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.”  Receiving one who has the presence of God within him, a prophet, a righteous man, a disciple receives the God who is within him and a reward that is equal to God’s work within each.  Jesus says in John 13:20, “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”

Romans 6:3-4, 8-11.  Paul writes, “If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.”  The life within us is far more than the bodily life that earthly animals have but Christ himself sharing his divine life with us.  As a true follower of Jesus it is never I alone every once in a while appealing to the lord as I see fit, but the Christ, who is my Lord and Master, always living within me.  Paul continues, “As to his death, Jesus died to sin once and for all; as to his life, he lives for God.  Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as dead to sin and living for God in Jesus Christ.”  We are a new person with him and in him in us.