July 26

[media presentation below]

GospelThink

Saturday, July 26

MATTHEW 13:24-30

Weeds

Prayerthoughts

a. I am part of the good seed that has been sown. Given my circumstances right now, what are the three good things that I do. How can I do them better?

b. What are the three evils in this world that I encounter? What can I do about them?

c. There are good and bad people in our world. Do I judge people? Perhaps I should add a prayer for them when I find myself judging them.

d. We often want the Lord to take the evil out of the world. I have to believe that the Lord knows why he has allowed them in the world. Again, I should take the time to pray for them in my daily prayer.

e. The Lord gives his definition of eternal damnation—burning. We should listen carefully, and then deliberately choose to follow the Lord’s directives in our lives.

f. My prayerthoughts…

Today, I will read Exodus 24:3-8 and write an important thought from it.

Some Thoughts on the Liturgy

AMONG THE WHEAT—EVERYTHING REFORMED

+ The Gospel is one of Jesus’s earliest parables or stories

- told basically as a scare tactic

- Jesus’s explanation of it according to Matthew is in a daily Gospel next week

- it’s statement is: that there are good and bad people in the world

- the weeds and wheat

- and the bad people will have an evil end—burning

- and the good people will have the presence of God—gathered in his barn

- looked at as an end-result, it is a rather straightforward statement—either happiness or punishment at the end of one’s life

+ The element that is left out is the reason why Jesus is telling the story and something impossible from the image he is using

- namely that the weeds can become wheat

- Jesus wanted his audience to do something about the end-result

- and if they were in the category of weeds, the bad, they should correct it, and make sure that they were in the category of wheat, the good

+ That is, in religious language—language that the Lord also used in his teaching—that we must reform our lives

- as the Israelite people who after listening to the law as delivered by Moses spoke their reform out loud:

We will do everything that the Lord has told us.

(and a little later:)

All that the Lord has said, we will heed and do.

+ The directive for our spiritual lives therefore from this liturgy becomes:

- we have to strive to be in the category of the wheat

- and the way to do it is to thoroughly reform our behavior patterns—everything that the Lord has told us

+ The idea of “thoroughly reform” is an interesting one

- that meant exactly what it says “everything”

- “everything” encompasses all that we do

- whether our language, our actions or our thinking

- change everything that needs changing

+ The liturgy then is a call to continue our conversion

- thoroughly reform our lives

- and make sure that we are among the wheat gathered into the Lord’s barn, and not among the weeds to be burned.

MEDIA PRESENTATION

Song: "Manchild” – Sabrina Carpenter

REAL LOVE

John 21:15-17

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He then said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was distressed that he had said to him a third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.”

Gospelthink: Jesus makes sure that Peter really loves him.

“You said your phone was broken, just forgot to charge it; Did you just say you’re finished? Didn’t know we started. It’s all just so familiar, what do you call it? Stupid, or is it slow? Maybe it’s useless? But there’s a cuter word for it, I know, Man-child. Why you always come a-running to me? Won’t you let an innocent woman be? Never heard of self-care, half your brain just ain’t there. Man-child, why you always come a-running, taking all my loving from me?”

Scripture scholars have studied these verses in John’s Gospel at length. First, there is a remarkable variety of synonyms in Greek: two different Greek verbs for “love”; two verbs for “feed/tend”; two nouns for “sheep”; to verbs for “know.” But they conclude that all three statements mean basically the same thing: Peter had denied Jesus three times; here he affirms three times his belief in him.

It is the New Testament’s statement of “real love.” Other people in the Gospels may or may not love Jesus in a real sense; after this scene in John’s Gospel, there is no question about Peter. He has had his doubts amidst his human failings, but now, he believes completely in Jesus, something that he proved as he gave up his life for him later.

One of the problems with love as young people decide about living together forever in marriage is when it is “real” or not. And a glance at the divorce rate in our world tells us that unfortunately there are many couples who think that their love is real, and it is not.

In Sabrina Carpenter’s song “Manchild,” the lady in the relationship has absolutely no doubt that the men whom she has met do not fit the definition of “real love.” Lyrically, she uses the song to criticize an ex-boyfriend, describing him as “stupid, slow, useless and incompetent” and ultimately calling him a child living as a man. Generalizing, it is clear that she has found no one else who does fit the definition.

Experts in the art of true love write about all kinds of indications when “real love” is present. Peter showed one of them in his direct statement to Jesus. Young people about to give themselves completely to each other must carefully consider the love they have with each other to determine whether it is “real” or not.

PRAYER

Good and gracious God, one of the most important decisions that I will make is who to marry if I am choosing that way of life. It means that I must come to the conclusion that I have “real love” for my partner.I pray that you will give my future life-time partner and me the understanding of love that we must have. Be with us, we pray.

+++++

GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT

Theme: Young people about to make the decision to live together forever must know what “real love” is.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. What does the song "Manchild" teach young people today?

2. From your knowledge of Scripture, how would you describe the person of Peter the Apostle?

3. In your understanding, what are the principal characteristics of “real love”?

4. Studying the lady in Sabrina Capenter’s song, do you think that she is too demanding of her life-partner? Yes or no and why?

5. In today’s world, many young people simply choose to live together rathen than marry. What is the reasoning behind that mindset?

6. What can be done to make “marriage” stronger in our society?