Author: admin

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Gospel: Matthew 13: 47-53

Jesus said to the disciples:
“The Kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea,
which collects fish of every kind.
When it is full they haul it ashore
and sit down to put what is good into buckets.
What is bad they throw away.
Thus it will be at the end of the age.
The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous
and throw them into the fiery furnace,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”

“Do you understand all these things?”
They answered, “Yes.”
And he replied,
“Then every scribe who has been instructed in the Kingdom of heaven
is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom
both the new and the old.”
When Jesus finished these parables, he went away from there.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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There were two different kinds of nets the Apostles used as fishermen. One was a casting net. The other was a drag net.

A casting net was tied to a fisherman’s arm while standing along the shoreline and thrown into the sea. It collected a minimal number of fish with minimal effort.

A drag net was capable of collecting a far greater number of fish, as it was released from the back of a fisherman’s boat. 

Once he started accelerating, the drag net would slowly sink into the water, gathering whatever was in its path. After the net was hauled ashore, the fisherman would separate what was good from what was rotten.

This is the word Jesus uses to describe the Kingdom of God, and by extension, the Church. It’s like a drag net thrown into the sea, “which collects fish of every kind. When it is full, they haul it ashore.”

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Until Christ returns, the Church remains at sea.

It is not our mission to judge or to separate those caught in our drag nets; rather, to continue collecting people of every kind. 

At the end of time, the Lord will haul the Church ashore, allowing his angels to separate those who belong from those who don’t – if any.

Such an image may leave some feeling comforted while leaving others feeling uncomfortable. But this is, perhaps, what is needed most in our age:

Mercy.

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“The kingdom of heaven… collects fish of every kind,” Jesus says.

Until the end of time, may we cast our drag nets far and wide.

And sail onward.

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Image credits: (1) First Mission Church of Clemmons (2) Shutterstock (3) Peter Brueghel the Elder, Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee

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Gospel: Matthew 13: 44-46

Jesus said to his disciples:
“The Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field,
which a person finds and hides again,
and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
Again, the Kingdom of heaven is like a merchant
searching for fine pearls.
When he finds a pearl of great price,
he goes and sells all that he has and buys it.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Part of the brilliance of Jesus’ preaching was that he spoke in ways people could understand. 

Instead of using complex language that made people feel small, or speaking solely in the realm of mystery, he spoke humbly in parables.

“What is the kingdom of God like? To what shall I compare it?” he says. “It is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”

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Like a treasure buried in the earth, there is an inestimable value to the Kingdom of God, but not everyone is aware of it; nor is everyone willing to risk all they have to buy that field and dig. 

But those who do find an irreplaceable joy. 

The focus here is not on the cost or effort it takes to acquire this treasure; rather, on the joy that comes from possessing it.

There’s also an urgency imbedded in these parables. They are not about the life to come; they are about the here-and-now. A person sells, buys, digs, and discovers. 

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Similarly, Christ calls his disciples to discover the joy of the Gospel today, not tomorrow. Tomorrow may never come. As the Psalmist says, “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.”

This was a lesson the disciples learned firsthand.

When Jesus invited them to follow him, they left everything and everyone behind, even their families. There was an urgency to his invitation; it might never return. So, they re-ordered their lives to the point that nothing came before Jesus. 

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These parables leave a few questions for us to ponder today.

Have I discovered the joy of the Gospel, that treasure buried in a field? How much effort did it take to find it? 

And how might I share this treasure with others?

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Image credits: (1) Faith Fire International Church (2) Parable of the Hidden Treasure, Rembrandt (3) Truth for Kids

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Gospel: John 11: 19-27

Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary
to comfort them about their brother [Lazarus, who had died].
When Martha heard that Jesus was coming,
she went to meet him;
but Mary sat at home.
Martha said to Jesus,
“Lord, if you had been here,
my brother would not have died.
But even now I know that whatever you ask of God,
God will give you.”
Jesus said to her,
“Your brother will rise.”
Martha said to him,
“I know he will rise,
in the resurrection on the last day.”
Jesus told her,
“I am the resurrection and the life;
whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live,
and anyone who lives and believes in me will never die.
Do you believe this?”
She said to him, “Yes, Lord.
I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God,
the one who is coming into the world.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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“Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

What makes this Gospel scene so heartbreaking initially is the fact that Jesus knew his friend, Lazarus, was dying. But he waited until Lazarus was dead for four days to visit.

“Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 

A crushing truth spoken by Lazarus’ sister, Martha.

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Is she rebuking Jesus for his delay? Or is she demonstrating her faith in Christ’s power to save?

Probably both. 

In that moment, Martha represents so many of us. She’s wavering between certainty and uncertainty, between fear and faith. She knew that Jesus had the power to save her brother physically prior to his death; Jesus healed many others.

But he chose not to.

Now she’s struggling to understand why.

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It’s only with hindsight that we see Christ’s reasoning.

The raising of Lazarus becomes the final miracle that Jesus performs before the Last Supper, leading to his own death and resurrection. 

Before being laid in the tomb like Lazarus, the Lord wants to firm up his disciples’ faith, that he has power over life and death.

What the resurrection will teach them is that Jesus can not only bring people back to life physically, but also eternally.

In the words of Saint Paul, “O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?”

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When we struggle to understand why things happen in life, or when we stand at the graveside weeping, we’re invited to deeper faith, remembering that Christ has power over all things.

Most importantly, because of him, we shall be raised into life eternal. There, and perhaps only there, will all that’s happened in this life make sense.

Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, pray for us.

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Image credits: (1) LDS Blogs (2) First Baptist Thomson (3) Property of Jesus, Blogspot