June 3rd, 2023

This Sunday is the only Sunday of the year that is specifically devoted to a teaching of the Church, more specifically the holy Trinity—three Persons and one God. As was mentioned in last week’s writing, this is somewhat in the middle of the church year, and we are also at somewhat of a midpoint in our walk through the Gospel according to Matthew.

Jesus heads to the cross in all four gospel accounts, but in the Gospel according to Matthew, he heads there as a teacher. And as a teacher, he gives out some significant sermons, and we are approaching the third of his five major sermons, and these sermons may be connected to the first five books of the Old Testament (more on that another time).

Either way, the third or central sermon is a significant one. In much the same way, a trip has a significant middle. Some of the same things Jesus stated earlier will be stated again, but that does not necessarily make them clearer. What makes this third sermon difficult in seeing its level of importance is that it is a series of parables. Parables are not always clear, and that is somewhat the point. Those who were already rejecting Jesus heard the parables and thought he was crazy. And those who received Jesus as a gift from their heavenly Father continued to receive his gifts through the words of these parables.

The following sermon has a unique structure. For one thing, there are a significant number of interruptions. The temptation with such a complicated structure is to impose a predetermined structure on the words. In an effort to avoid that, for this sermon, what is given is the ENTIRE text, including the interruptions, and by reading through it (perhaps a few times), one may see some important signals that will be brought up in more detail in the writing for next week. To be helpful, some of those similarities have been put in bold print.

This is going to make this week’s writing significantly longer than normal, but I hope that it does not bother you too much. So, what follows is a somewhat-literal translation of what is the third of Jesus’ five sermons and the vast majority of chapter thirteen in the Gospel according to Matthew—almost to the end [verses 1-52]:

In the day, that, going out, the Jesus, of the house, he sat beside the sea; and they were assembled to him, crowds, many, so as, him, into a boat, embarking, to sit, and all the crowd on the shore stood.

And he was speaking to them many things in parables, saying, “Behold, he went out, the one sowing, to sow, and in the sowing of him, some, on the one hand, fell beside the path, and, coming, the birds devoured them. Now others fell on the rocky places where not it had earth, much, and immediately it sprang up, on account of not to have depth of earth; now the sun, having risen, it was scorched, and on account of not to have root, it was dried up. Now others fell on the thorns, and they came up, the thorns, and they choked them. Now others fell on the earth, the good, and they gave fruit, the one, a hundred, and the other, sixty, and the other, thirty. The one having ears, let him hear.”

And, approaching, the disciples said to him, “Why in parables do you speak to them?”
Now he, answering, said, “Because to you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens, now to those, not it has been given. For who has, it will be given to him, and he will have abundance; now who, not he has, even what he has will be taken from him. On account of this, in parables to them, I am speaking; because, seeing, not they see, and hearing, not they hear, neither do they understand.’ And it is fully fulfilled to them the prophecy of Isaiah, the one saying: ‘In hearing, you will hear, and certainly not understand, and seeing, you will see, and certainly not perceive. For waxed gross, the heart of the people, this, and with the ears, heavily, they heard, and the eyes of them, they closed; lest they see with the eyes and with the ears, they hear, and with the heart, they understand, and they turn back, and I will heal them.’”

“Now, of you, blessed the eyes, because they see, and the ears of you, because they hear. For, amen, I am saying to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see which you see, and not they did see, and to hear the things which you hear, and not they did hear.”

“Therefore, you, yourselves, hear the parable of the sowing one. All hearing the word of the kingdom and not understanding, he comes, the evil one, and he seizes the thing having been sown in the heart of him; this is by the path, sown. Now the thing on the rocky places sown, this is the one, the word hearing, and immediately with joy, receiving it; now not he has root in himself, but on the contrary, short-lived it is, now occurring tribulation or persecution on account of the word, immediately, he is scandalized. Now the thing in the thorns sown, this is the one, the word hearing, and the anxiety of the age and the deceit of the riches chokes the word, and unfruitful it becomes. Now the thing on the good earth sown, this is the one, the word hearing and understanding, who indeed bears fruit and makes one, on the one hand, a hundred, on the other hand, sixty, on the other hand, thirty.”

Another parable he set before them, saying, “It was likened, the kingdom of the heavens, to a man sowing good seed in the field of him. Now in the sleeping, the men, he came, of him, the enemy, and over-sowed tares in between the wheat, and he went away. Now when it sprouted, the grass, and fruit it made, then it appeared, also, the tares. Now approaching, the servants of the housemaster said to him, ‘Lord, we, good seed sowed in your field, did we not? Therefore, from where has it tares?’ Now he said to them, ‘An enemy man, this, he did.’ Now the servants say to him, ‘Therefore, do you want, going away, we may collect them?’ Now he says, ‘No, lest, collecting the tares, you root up together with them the wheat. Leave, to grow together, both, until the harvest; and in appointed time of the harvest, I will say to the reapers, “Collect first the tares and bind them into bundles, to burn them, now the wheat, gather into the barn of me.”’”

Another parable he set before them, saying, “Like is the kingdom of the heavens to a grain of mustard, which, taking, a man sowed in the field of him; which less, on the one hand, it is of all the seeds, on the other hand, when it grows, greater of the herbs it is, and it becomes a tree, so as to come, the birds of the heaven, and they dwell in the branches of it.”

Another parable he was speaking to them, “Like is the kingdom of the heavens to leaven, which, taking, a woman hid in, of meal, measures three, until it was leavened, the whole.”

These things, all, he was speaking, the Jesus, in parables to the crowds, and without a parable, nothing, he was speaking to them, so that, it was fulfilled, the thing spoken through the prophet, saying, “I will open, in parables, the mouth of me; I will utter things having been hidden from a foundation of a world.”

Then, dismissing the crowds, he came into the house. And they approached him, the disciples of him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.” Now he, answering, said, “The one sowing the good seed is the Son of the Man. And the field is the world. Now the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom. Now the tares are the sons of the evil. Now the enemy, the one sowing them is the devil, and the harvest, completion of the age, it is, now the reapers, angels they are. Therefore, as they are collected, the tares, and with fire they are consumed, thus it will be in the completion of the age. He will send out, the Son of the Man, the angels of him, and they will collect out of the kingdom of him, all the scandals and the ones doing the lawlessness, and they will throw them into the furnace of the fire; there it will be, the wailing and the gnashing of the teeth. Then the righteous with shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of the Father of them. The one having ears, let him hear.”

“Like it is, the kingdom of the heavens, to treasure, having been hidden in the field, which, finding, a man hid, and from the joy of him, he goes and sells all things he has, and he buys the field, that.”

“Again, like it is, the kingdom of the heavens, to a man, a merchant seeking good pearls. Now finding one, valuable pearl, going away, he sells all things what he had, and he buys it.”

“Again, like it is, the kingdom of the heavens, to a net thrown into the sea, and from every kind, gathering, which, when it was filled, bringing up upon the shore and, sitting, collected the good into vessels, now the bad out, they threw. Thus, it will be in the completion of the age; they will go out, the angels, and they will separate the evil men from the midst of the righteous, and they will throw them into the furnace of the fire; there it will be, the wailing and the gnashing of the teeth.”

“Do you understand these things, all?” They say to him, “Yes.”
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Now he said to them, “On account of this, every scribe, discipled in the kingdom of the heavens, like it is to a man, a housemaster, who throws out of the treasure of him new and old things.”