Christ Church Mandurah Resources

MATT 13:24-43      CCM 19/7/20 Today’s Gospel sees Jesus still in farming mode: last week we had the parable of the sower and today we have gone from the sower to the seeds, or more importantly, the weeds.   This is real life for those who heard it.   They know about sowing seeds and they know all about weeds which can infiltrate the crop.   Jesus seems to be implying that it is sometimes difficult to tell what are weeds and what is wheat, and it is not until they are grown and ripe for harvest that the differences can be seen. Since the foundation of the church, people have been trying to discern who amongst them will produce a good harvest and who will fail, who is wheat and who are the weeds. And there has also been a desire by some parts of the church to purge what they saw as the weeds from their community.   We know that Jesus was criticized for associated with people who might be the weeds of society:    societ...

MATT 13:1-9 The Sower I am certain that today’s readings will be familiar to you, and you will have heard many sermons on what is known as the parable of the sower, as well as the stories of Jacob and Esau.  As a preacher, it really is quite difficult at times to preach on scripture which we all know so well.  But in looking at all the readings and the psalm set for today, it seems to me that there is a common theme: treasure your treasure. In the Hebrew Scriptures, Esau gave away his inheritance, which was given him by his father, for the immediate pleasure of food.  His birthright was a special honour given to the first-born son. He was to receive a double portion of the family inheritance along with the honour of becoming the family’s leader. But he forgot all of that when he satisfied his immediate desires for food, without considering the long-term consequences of his action.  He was more interested in immediate gratification. Our inheritance as people...

LYNFORD  MATT 13:24-43 The Catholic theologian Richard Rohr, who I am sure is familiar to many of you, wrote an essay entitled “To be Biblical.”   He wrote: “To be biblical is not simply to quote the Bible.   We need to tell that to the fundamentalists.   To be Biblical is not to quote Moses: it is to do what Moses did.   To be Biblical is to do what Abraham did; it’s not to quote the Abraham story.   It is not simply to quote Jesus; it is to do what Jesus did.   Christians are in touch with the same God Jesus was in touch with, the same traditions Jesus drew insight from.   We are to be building that same unity and creating the same life that Jesus was creating and building.   That is what it means to be Biblical. “ What can we draw from today’s Gospel which will help us to understand how to live our lives drawing on this wonderful heritage we have.    Jesus is still talking about everyday life in Israel, the land...