sermons & Illuminations

First Reading: Genesis 29:15-28
The concept of “biblical marriage” gets complicated in this first reading from Genesis. First, Jacob, a notorious trickster, is tricked in his turn by Laban, who puts him to work for seven years to earn Laban’s daughter Rachel as his bride. But then, much to Jacob’s consternation, Laban switches his older daughter, Leah, for Rachel on their wedding night. Only after working for Laban another seven years does Jacob eventually marry Rachel, too. When we consider scripture’s seemingly casual acceptance of arranged, polygamous marriages, with the women given no opportunity to participate or object, there’s no use in holding up Scripture as the example of a marital ideal. What does remain timeless is the celebration of God’s faithfulness, as told in the stories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their descendants who will go on to populate all nations.

Psalm: Psalm 105:1-11, 45b
This portion of Psalm 105 sings a ringing hymn of praise to God and God’s works. It offers thanksgiving for the reward that the Genesis story of Laban’s daughters foretells: God made an everlasting covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God promises that their children would inherit the Promised Land for a thousand generations, in return for their covenant to follow God’s teaching and obey God’s laws.

Second Reading: Romans 8:26-39
Our extended journey through Paul’s letter to the Christian community in Rome reaches a high point in this passage. His long discussion in which he has contrasted life in the flesh against life in the spirit now comes to its conclusion in a burst of poetic words: If God is for us, who is against us? God’s abiding faithfulness was made manifest through God’s gift of God’s own son. If God gave him up for all of us, nothing in all creation – not hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword – can separate us from the love of God through Jesus.

Gospel: Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
What is the kingdom of heaven like? Jesus offers quick, thought-provoking glimpses in a quick series of short parables this week. The kingdom is like a tiny mustard seed that grows into a mighty tree! Or yeast that leavens bread! Or wait, is it like buried treasure? A merchant with an expensive pearl? Fishers with a full net? And there’s that scary threat of the fiery furnace again, with the weeping and gnashing of teeth that awaits evildoers. Parables don’t tell us the whole story – they only offer ideas that flash through our consciousness – but every one of them sparks our imagination about God’s kingdom.