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| Marc Chagall -- Jacob's Ladder -- Vanderbilt Divinity Library |
Genesis 28:10-19a
Psalm 139: 1-11, 22-23
or
Wisdom of Solomon 12:13, 16-19 or
Isaiah 44:6-8
Psalm 86:11-17
Romans 8:12-25
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
The Old Testament lesson for this Sunday recounts one of the most compelling and significant episodes in the history of Israel’s relationship with God – Jacob’s dream as he sleeps in a remote spot, his head resting on a stone. When he awakens from the dream he declares "Surely the LORD is in this place-- and I did not know it!"
The possibility that we should be standing at “the gate of heaven” and yet be unaware of the fact, is the underlying motif of Jesus’ parable of the sower. The first version which provided the Gospel for Pentecost 4 alerted us to the spiritual dangers of indifference, passing enthusiasm and worldly projects. This week we have the second version, in which the ‘good seed’ of the Gospel confronts not merely human weakness, but the active agency of Satan.
Belief in Satan is not as common now as it was in times past. And yet, in the light of the horrors of the twentieth century, it is hard to deny that there are forces of evil that can take possession of the hearts and minds of otherwise ordinary people, driving them to wickedness beyond mere selfishness or indifference. Moreover, in the worst cases they have been inspired by radically alternative prophetic messages – the Nazis’ Reich, the Communists’ economic paradise, the Hutus’ ethnic purity, and so on.
So the world in which we find ourselves does seems to have Satanic ‘tares’ alongside divinely planted ‘wheat’. An important part of the parable, though, is that these are inextricably intertwined, and will remain so until God brings the harvest in. This warns us of another danger. One of Satan’s favored strategies lies in exploiting our inclination to leap to judgment and to sort out the world ourselves. But, Paul tells the Romans in this week’s Epistle, “we hope for what we do not see” and so “we wait for it with patience”.
So the world in which we find ourselves does seems to have Satanic ‘tares’ alongside divinely planted ‘wheat’. An important part of the parable, though, is that these are inextricably intertwined, and will remain so until God brings the harvest in. This warns us of another danger. One of Satan’s favored strategies lies in exploiting our inclination to leap to judgment and to sort out the world ourselves. But, Paul tells the Romans in this week’s Epistle, “we hope for what we do not see” and so “we wait for it with patience”.
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