Faith Daily |27 July 2021

PRAYER of the DAY - PENTECOST APBA p565

O God, the protector of all that trust in you,

without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy:

increase and multiply upon us your mercy,

that, with you as our ruler and guide,

we may so pass through things temporal

that we finally lose not the things eternal.

Grant this, O heavenly Father,

for the sake of Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Amen.

GOSPEL for the Day: Matthew 13: 36-43

36 Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, ‘Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.’ 37He answered, ‘The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; 38the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, 39and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 41The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, 42and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!

GOSPEL Reflection: Contributed by: Maggie Woolley

Jesus uses the image of the field to explain the presence of both good and evil in the world and to show how these forces will ultimately be revealed at the end of The Age - His coming.

Weeds and wheat all grow together and only at the harvest are they separated. And so it is with us; our strengths and weaknesses grow together as does our goodness as well as our faults and these will come into the light at the end of The Age.

As the crop is growing, the wheat and the weeds are often intertwined and only at harvest time is it obvious that the wheat has produced the rich grain and the weed is useless. And so it is in our world - a world that seems to have lost a moral compass, where wars and unrest are rampant, corruption accepted as a norm and dishonesty disguised as a right, there is often a blurred line between good and evil.

Jesus acknowledges the presence of evil and is very clear about what will happen; the angels will collect all the causes of sin and rid the world of anything ungodly. How reassuring it is to know that God will ultimately sort everything out. He will send His angels to burn all that is evil and goodness will triumph. Until His coming, Jesus urges us to be patient.

FINAL PRAYER: Maggie Woolley

Lord, take possession of my 'field', my heart and my life so that the "evil one" will not have power over me or the world around me. Until Christ's return, give me patience and let my light shine clearly amongst the wheat and the weeds. Amen.