Please join us to find a place of prayer and rest in a busy week. From intimacy in prayer God is able to do many things.
Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives May you never give up praying. When you pray, may you keep alert and be thankful. Pray that together we may make the message of the mystery of Christ as clear as possible. Amen (Based on Colossians 3 and 4)
Landscape with Adoration of the Golden Calf Claude Lorrain
The readings today are Exodus 32:1-14, Psalm 106, Philippians 4:1-9, and Matthew 22:1-14.
Now, in approaching these, you’ve got to remember we’re waiting or wanting to know what God has to say to us. I cannot claim to be any great theologian, or great theorist, but I can see what’s written here and hopefully I can give you pause for thought and maybe you will find a way of seeking God for yourself in these words.
Anyway, the story in Exodus is quite interesting in that it has the end part of it, after all the shenanigans with oxes and Moses being away. God says to Moses something very strange. He says go down at once to your people whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, they have acted perversely. God wants to destroy this people and he wants Moses to be the progenitor of a new people but Moses implores God and says, “Oh Lord, why does your wrath burn against your people?”
So, Moses turns it around and he says, “Turn from your fierce wrath. Change your mind and do not bring disaster on your people and then the phrase, that maybe causes some pause,… and the Lord changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people.
As the psalm says, Moses stood in the breach, and it says had not Moses his chosen one stood in the breach before him to turn away his wrath from destroying them they would have been destroyed.
And in the midst of the psalm it says happy are those who observe justice who do righteousness at all times.
These people, they turned from righteousness, they turned from doing justice because Moses was not there to watch over them. And Aaron, Aaron seems to be quite a weak and fickle man in that he followed their directing.
What is this justice and righteousness that God’s calling us to? Well the beautiful passage in Philippians says, “Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.”
So, their anxiety ended up with them making this horrible calf image and worship that instead of God. Now, we can see that there seems to be a bit of a contradiction here.
God’s calling us to be gentle. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. And yet when we read Exodus, we can see that God is anything but gentle in this account.
Coming to the gospel then maybe this is our key because Jesus speaks a parable. He’s spoken to the Pharisees; he’s taught the Pharisees and he’s told them all manner of things like the stone that the builders rejected will become the cornerstone on which they will stumble and the cornerstone will fall on them.
Let’s have a look at this. It’s the parable where the king has a banquet prepared for the wedding feast of his son. Those who are invited are summoned and told that it’s ready, but they didn’t want to come. They didn’t come and they made light of what it was.
And when he sent more people along to say come on it’s all ready, come to the wedding banquet, they decided not only were they going to ignore this king, some of them mistreated and killed some the slaves who had brought the message and the king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers and burnt their city.
Then he said to the slaves, the wedding is ready but those invited were not worthy. They go into the streets and they tell people you’re going to a banquet and the slaves gather in both the good and the bad. And then the wedding hall was filled with guests.
When the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe. And he said to him, “Friend, how did you get into here without a wedding robe?” The king was speechless. The King was enraged and he found his voice and threw the man out to suffer.
And then we have this very enigmatic little phrase of Jesus’s, …for many are called but few are chosen. What are we to think about this? Because this parable portrays a very violent and fickle king, a tyrant who is definitely not loved because people don’t want to go to the marriage feast; he’s capricious having destroyed the cities and murdered the people, he forces the feasters to come. Were they in fear? They must have seen what happened when the other people said they wouldn’t come, they got killed so maybe they said …we’re definitely going to go to this party then because we don’t want to end up being killed as well. They’re not there for a good reason, and then we have this person not wearing wedding robes.
Now I think, and I might be very wrong, that when Jesus says,…may be compared to a king, at the beginning of the parable, I think he’s talking to the Pharisees and he says, This is the god that you are following. You’re following this tyrant. You’re following this tyrant who is forcing people to the feast through violence and destruction and murder. And this is not the way of Jesus.
We can see from Paul, it says, “The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
I think as a metaphor, Jesus is sneaking something in that is a bit strange to our ears. I think the person not wearing the wedding robe is the person who’s actually standing up to the tyranny of the king and we know from modern days, tyrants do not like people criticizing them. They, if they don’t get the prize they want, they make sure that everybody else is going to be removed from the earth, as they would put it. They react in a way that is violent. They react in a way that is disproportionate.
In fact, wiping out a city because it didn’t comply, because they didn’t come to your wedding banquet, is not a good thing. And we know this in our heart. When we hear this parable, if we’re with the Pharisees, then we hear a violent god and we agree with it. I’m not sure that’s what Jesus meant, he doesn’t want us to hear that. He wants us to hear , …friend, and not, …how did you get in here without a wedding robe?
And I think this is where Christianity stands. We stand against the tyrant. He called us in, good and bad. How can he criticize? He can criticize because everybody should have been in fear of him and should have been in a wedding robe.
I’m sure you’ve heard this read in different ways and the story in Luke is very different, but I think it’s a warning from Jesus that the Pharisees are out to get the followers of Jesus. And the followers of Jesus must hear it as well. Here we are. We’re standing here. We’re not in their party. We’re standing against what the Pharisees are standing for. And Jesus warns them, you will be thrown out into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
The irony is, is that we feel that’s our position before God if we have this view of God as being violent and capricious and a tyrant,
The kingdom of heaven is not like this. I think it is compared to this king’s rule. That word there, may be compared to, I’m no expert but it’s not …like but ..likened to, it’s a passive verb I am told.
But, be warned tyrants are capricious, they’re big babies and they’re easy to offend and resistance to a tyrant is dangerous, and yet truly Jesus is the cornerstone that they have rejected and on which they will stumble.
When it says, …for many are called but few are chosen, it seems it’s a contradiction; It tells us there’s something wrong with our interpretation of this story because the many are called are in the party. Well, who was the chosen one? Was it the guy who was thrown out or was it the many who remained within the party.
Jesus is putting a contradiction in there to alert us to this – this is not the way God is. This might be the way the history of Israel has gone. This might be the way the Pharisees view the history of Israel. But actually the few is the guy who was chucked out. The many are the ones who remained within the party. So I wonder if that’s pause for thought.
Enjoy Sunday, be blessed and rest in Jesus, knowing that, …happy are those who observe justice, who do righteousness at all times. Finally, brothers and sisters, Paul says, “Whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
The Psalmist sings, “Oh, give thanks to the Lord. Call on his name. Make known his deeds among the people.”
Rachel cried out, and she was given a son, Joseph, in her old age. She was given another son, Benjamin, and died in childbirth. Jacob loved Joseph more than his other 11 sons and made him a fine colourful coat.
The coat became his downfall as he followed his brother’s flocks for his father traveling 100 miles. He was betrayed as they saw his coat from afar and plotted his death. Jacob’s eldest son by Leah Reuben was the main plotter. who saved Joseph’s life, firstly plotting to kill him then plotting to save him and finally with his brothers selling him into slavery to the Ishmaelites and they took him to Egypt.
The bloodstained coat was presented to Jacob as evidence of Joseph’s demise.
A sorry tale. Jacob’s son Reuben who is previously recorded as having raped Bilhah, his father’s handmaid given to Rachel, the mother of his brothers. This deepens the cultural distance we have from this tale. Envy runs deep and male power knows no bounds in this Bible story as it seems to know no bounds today.
Seek the Lord and his strength. Seek his presence continually, says the psalm.
This is our hope. The teaching of Deuteronomy 30 is interpreted by Paul through Christ. The word is near you in your mouth and in your heart.
There is no excuse. There was no excuse and there never will be an excuse for what happened.
Paul quotes Joel 2. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. The same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. This is our hope.
This is the good news we proclaim. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
And Isaiah 52:7, how beautiful are the feet of those that bring good news.
In the gospel, Matthew continues to show us the response of Jesus to the death of John the Baptist. Here we see Jesus in prayer all night and then walking on stormy water before dawn to the boat where the disciples have been battling all night against the winds to reach the shore and failed.
Jesus calms them and Peter calls out to Jesus asking that he might walk out on the water to Jesus only to doubt and sink, again calling on Jesus to save him. This is done and the storms subside as Jesus helps Peter into the boat and those in the boat worship Jesus as the son of God- Messiah. They had encountered God in Jesus and praised God’s special messenger.
What are we to take from this miracle? Jesus saves.
I believe Peter stepped out bravely but his faith was not sufficient to sustain him. Jesus walking on water challenges our understanding of reality. A manifestation of the kingdom of God. A transfiguration of Jesus that proclaims Jesus treading down and ruling over the abyss. This is no party trick. This was God hovering over the waters, the Creator.
And he called Peter to join him. Peter saw the waves, felt the wind, and became fearful. He sank. He did walk for a time. Peter walked on water.
Without a holistic view of creation, as spirit and matter and mind, this makes no sense.
As myth carrying deep meaning it challenges us. God is for each of us, lovingly present. He is reality. He makes himself present to us in breaking bread and wine and here in walking on water. Worship him. Call on him.
The psalm says, Remember the wonderful works he has done, his miracles and his judgments he has uttered.
Believe and life will never be the same. You may fail, but you have walked on water. and Jesus is with you. Did Jesus smile as he pulled Peter up or was he genuinely surprised? I don’t think he was angry. The child learning to walk stumbles.
(Angry) You of little faith, why did you doubt?
(Laughing) You of little faith, why did you doubt?
(Surprised) You have little faith, why did you doubt?
The only evidence we have of the work God does is the work that God does in us. He can give us transformed lives, people who live lives that attest to the truth. Believe in your heart and confess with your mouth, Paul exhorts us.
None of what we say is true if our life isn’t transformed. And a transformed life is one of peace and not envy and not contention; one of integrity, not of self-aggrandisement.
Jesus goes before us and is there for us to see us transformed.
Grace and peace.
Attribution: Runge, Philipp Otto, 1777-1810. Christ Walking on the Water, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt University Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://act.library.vanderbilt.edu/artworks/59351 [retrieved August 15, 2026]. Original source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Philipp_Otto_Runge_-_Petrus_auf_dem_Meer_%28ca._1806%29.jpg.
That’s an interesting lot of scriptures. Notice that the liturgical order the Scripture reading, psalm, gospel (accounts of Jesus life and the life of the early church), then epistle (Letters written by the early church). The epistle for me is key to my interpretation of the gospel. The scripture and psalm prepare us for the gospel. Let’s start at the beginning.
We’ve come into a part of scripture where I believe we must culturally distance ourselves from the story because it’s a story fraught with problems for any reader who is a follower of Jesus. The only thing that seems to redeem it is the love and seeming chastity of Jacob waiting seven years for the one beautiful Rachel who he loved on being offered her as a wife. The way Rachel behaved afterwards, I am not sure love came into it for her, as she was chattel. Jacob’s listening to his parents is commendable also.
These may be good things, but I don’t think we can allegorize the story as the early Church Fathers did saying that Leah and Rachel stood for the Gentiles and the Jews and Jacob as Christ uniting them or, some of them, who talk about Leah being the synagogue and Rachel being the church. Leah has bad eyesight, though they’re supposed to both be beautiful which fits the picture according to the Church Fathers. But we need to pause here as Leah commits adultery as Jacob is actually married to Rachel and they are not free agents in terms of their culture but they as Paul are free to treat scripture in this way. I can’t accept that this story encourages us in the understanding of Christ, but the Fathers were conditioned to allegorise as part of their belief about the purpose of the Scriptures. If like me you think this story is awful, and read the next chapter, chapter 32, I must culturally distance myself from the mandrakes and from the shaking of sticks to affect genetics, but there you go. It probably makes a good Sunday School story, or inform us a bit about the working of the spiritual world, but I don’t think it is to be encouraged as a way to live our lives.
What’s the way we should approach these stories? They’re informative in terms of the history of the promise of Abraham; how it worked out despite the sin of men. The intervention of God in terms of the judgment between Rachel and Leah happens in this chapter, but not in these readings. Leah is fruitful and Rachel remains barren. This hardly seems fair on Rachel who has done nothing wrong. I think we could say that God accommodates the cultural idolatry, works with the society and intervenes as necessary. I make this judgement because of the life of Jesus. The story of the maidservants being forced to bear children continues into this generation and the children of promise, Joseph and Benjamine are late additions as God intervenes and hears Rachel’s cry. In my opinion God does not look good in this but the narrative of the older serving the younger continues.
Recently I was reading and preparing a piece on loving the Lord God with all your strength, … with all your might. You find that scripture in Leviticus 19 a chapter which begins: You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. Within that section we have the mitigation for the rape of slave girls. Surely, we can distance ourselves from that and realise that Leviticus is a constraining text for the most part on the evil behaviour of powerful unregenerate men. That is not very positive for women and wholesome and requires parental guidance if a child is to read it. People will pick and choose bits of Leviticus and say that as a result, their opinions are biblical. I think in studying the Bible you need to look a bit closer at the Bible and realize the cultural distance between us and these scriptures is immense because of the light of Christ in the life and words of Jesus. We cannot pick and choose according to our taboos or preformed bias but need to listen to the spirit and judge. Jesus teaches this in our gospel today (verse 52): …every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old…
The story is paired with what follows in an enlightening way and that’s good. But you know we can culturally distance ourselves from the bigotry of the early Church Fathers as we do from some of the practices in the early church written in the epistles. We can culturally distance ourselves from the way things were in these times and must, especially as the treating of women as chattel, second class citizens whose role is to submit to men, and the excusing of male sexual violence as boys will be boys, still happens in our world. Some cultures would not see that anything that’s in these chapters is wrong. But I think we can in the light of Christ and, in the light that these scriptures reveal Christ in us importantly, make the judgment of Christ with the authority of Christ and say, no, this is wrong and search the treasure for the good. I judge this is wrong in any time, in any place, and was wrong when it happened. Just because it’s in the Bible and Jacob is a hero of the faith, doesn’t make it right.
Thank God for the Psalm! It brings us back to what this is all about, the covenant of Abraham. As a church we are encouraged to sing and as individuals to seek God’s presence continually. Amen!
Now to Romans a beautiful exclamation of Paul who pours out his heart to the divided Roman Church where some trusted in their salvation because they were Jews and others found themselves on another culturally challenging course with respect to the Jews. They had been separated from the Jews because of the persecution and banishment of the Jews Under Claudius (c. 49 AD). When the Jews return to Rome, they find the church changed.
Paul begins with prayer pictured as a groan of the spirit as God searches our hearts and intercedes for us. Our place is to trust that we are in God’s will, and he is working everything for the good, so we don’t need to sort it out and worry that we get the right formula of practice or words. In fact, it says later that Christ intercedes for us in the grimmest of times through his love made real in us.
Now I firmly believe that the election is in Christ. This is the promise of Abraham fulfilled. The inclusion of the Gentiles was foreknown and predestined in the promise of Abraham and its fulfilment is in Christ. It is sad to me when a scripture that is meant to be inclusive has ended up being about the nuts and bolts of election. And so the baying wolves are released, and Christians forget to disagree agreeably even to the point of violence. The elect are as the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore according to the promise and they certainly shouldn’t be going at each other’s throats. Shame on you church.
When Paul writes of his certainty that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, he meant it. His outburst confirms that our election is sure both for both Jew and Gentile, church and synagogue, in Christ.
The epistle links forward to the Gospel in my understanding, and I hope you will allow me some latitude in what they mean for me. This teaching comes after the parable of the Sower taught to the people and is a section of parable’s taught to his close followers which includes the parable of the wheat and the tares. It’s a teaching for those who have heard as Jesus says.
The mustard seed indicates that the disciples must expect this message to go to the nations represented by the birds of the air, those same birds who picked at the message in the parable of the Sower. The pearl of great price speaks to them of the hiddenness of the treasure, which is buried once found. It can be seen to be preparing the disciples for a life of hiddenness which they will have sold everything to gain. Historically this was the case with the church growing by people witnessing Christian lives and seeking to know why they were so counter cultural and flourished. So strong was the need for the church to remain hidden, records show that it would take over three years before people were admitted to the church. They were concerned about the habits of nonviolence, purity in relationships and self-sacrificial love, especially in the care of the poor and attitudes towards enemies; the Way. We can see from the Paul’s letters how protective the church was of the reputation of the Way. Jesus himself prophesied the marginalization of his followers as these habits marked them out.
The parable of the net repeats the message of the wheat and tares. The link back in our scriptures is that this is the promise to Abraham and the letter of Paul; all will be included, every nation. As people are drawn in to the church the church needs to exercise discernment, but it is at the end of time that the angels judge. Paul helps us not to fear this in his exhortation! Both in the case of the wheat and tares and the net it is the angels that judge. The kingdom of heaven isn’t like the judgement, Jesus taught, he did not come to condemn anyone, it is the drawing in of the net and the harvesting of the field. The tares are wrong teachings sown by the evil one and the bad fish are people judged to be bad by the fishermen. It is the angels who separate the evil from the righteous.
My interpretation of this takes Paul’s exhortation and adds these parables and is that, the church is to disagree agreeably knowing that the Spirit in each will discern the truth and that though they have to exercise authority with regards to the Way, they do not have the final say as to destiny of people. We can be reassured that Paul exhortation says: who can bring any charge against God’s elect. For me the parables say, it’s not the church that gets to decide this.
And surely Christians have persecuted and set to the sword one anther because of their judgement of who is good and who is bad, whose word is planted by the evil one and whose of God. The warning for me is that we are to be humble, because when the judgement is made, when the end of the age comes, we may find the fire of God proving us, burning away the dross to reveal a treasure we had rejected(1 Corinthians 3 and Hebrews 12). Indeed, there will be much weeping and grinding of teeth as we must let go of our treasured opinions about doctrine and treasured judgements about who the elect are not. Salvation is to be found in Christ’s teachings on love. We will suffer loss in the flames of God’s purging fire. For those found in Christ this may fall as persecution as we stand for truth in this world as Paul lists.
I believe these parables are a call to humility and cautionary for the close followers, those who have heard; you’ve found a treasure you can’t boast in as all people can see is you have sold everything for a field; you need to stay humble especially as the age comes to an end, and stay close to God; and not be drawn out by evil teachings that don’t lead to love of our neighbour and our enemies, and the power of people who don’t welcome the stranger and do good to the afflicted (parable of the sheep and goats)
For some of you that has challenged my credentials. Thank goodness we get to discuss this and we can agree to disagree agreeably in this gathering. Jesus teaches us to find the treasure.
Parable of the Seed Edie Mae Herrel, the multi-talented and award-winning artist, developed her distinctive style in etching and printmaking, characterized by delicacy and attention to detail. Her artwork, stimulated by biblical scripture, encourages her observers to connect deeply with spirituality and inspires them to live by the beliefs of love, truth, and joy. Read more information about the artist at Edie Mae Herrel.
Genesis 25:19–34 tells a story that reveals something deep about the sovereign will of God, a will that operates beyond human strength, tradition, or expectation.
Isaac, the son of Abraham, married Rebekah when he was forty. She was barren, but Isaac prayed, and God answered. When she conceived, the twins inside her struggled so intensely that she cried out, “If this is how it will be, why go on living?”
She sought the Lord, and He revealed a prophecy:
“Two nations are in your womb… the elder shall serve the younger.”
Even before their birth, God had already declared how His promise would unfold.
Esau came first — red and hairy, a strong hunter, a man of the field. Jacob followed, gripping Esau’s heel, and grew up as a quiet man who stayed among the tents. Isaac favoured Esau for his game, but Rebekah favoured Jacob.
One day, Esau returned exhausted from the field and begged Jacob for some stew. Jacob seized the moment:
“Sell me your birthright first. ”Esau, driven by hunger rather than wisdom, replied, “I am about to die; what good is a birthright to me?”
He swore an oath and traded the blessing of the firstborn for a simple meal.
This moment shows us something important: Esau was strong, but not strong in God.
He had the birthright — the promise — yet he treated it lightly. Jacob was not strong, nor the firstborn, yet he desired what God had promised.
He sought the blessing that mattered.
Even the circumstances testify against Esau.
He surrendered God’s promise for temporary satisfaction. And so, the blessing went to Jacob — not because of human tradition, not because of manipulation, but because God had already intended it.
Did God manipulated Esau to treat him lightly? Didn’t Jacob seek God’s promise like it matters more than anything he could desire?
The stories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob consistently show that God’s purposes stand above human expectations and traditions. And this is how he chooses according to 1 Cor 1:27-29
1Co 1:27-29 NET27 But God chose what the world thinks foolish to shame the wise, and God chose what the world thinks weak to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, what is regarded as nothing, to set aside what is regarded as something, so that no one can boast in his presence.
And this is what Romans 8:5-11 said as well
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.
To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law–indeed, it cannot,and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
But if Christ is in you, then the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 tells us about the parable of the Sower, it reminds us that when we hear the Word of God, we must sow it in good soil.
The parable of the Sower and the seed that same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea.
Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach.
And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow.
And as he sowed, some seeds fell on a path, and the birds came and ate them up.
Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil.
But when the sun rose, they were scorched, and since they had no root, they withered away.
Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.
Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. If you have ears, hear!”
“Hear, then, the parable of the Sower.
When anyone hears the word of the KINGDOM and does NOT understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in (your) the heart; this is what was sown on the path.
As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet such a person has no root but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away.
As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of this age and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing.
But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”
The Word of God produces fruit in our lives when it is planted in the good soil God intended. This good soil is not our strength or our wealth, but a heart that treasures His Word as the only true source of life, even in seasons of nothingness or the loss of things we laboured in the flesh.
Through it, nothing can hinder the Word of God to grow abundantly in our hearts, neither could anything take it away.
Herrel, Edie Mae. Parable of the Seed, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=59800 [retrieved July 22, 2026]. Original source: Image was donated by Edie Mae Herrel and Dan Herrel, dkherrel@hotmail.com, nancynuss@gmail.com, Patrick.herrel@hotmail.com.
Daily Readings from Lectionary
