The Transfer of the Relics of the Holy Unmercenaries Cyrus and John (5th c.)
Apostles’ Fast.
Read
1 Corinthians 3:18-23; Matthew 13:36-43
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
One of the striking details of this parable is that Jesus uses the familiar images of the parable of the sower—as they are common human natural experiences—in a different way. We are all familiar with the parable of the sower, which we read on the twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost, but the parable of the weeds among the wheat does not get as much attention. The common images of field, seeds, weeds, and growth are externalized and in a way we can say are used on a macro level, or the larger scale. Where the sower parable speaks about the state of the heart of a person—their inner growth in the life of grace—the parable of the weeds among the wheat zooms out to a global perspective on the life of the Church in the world. Jesus explains in the first parable that those who hear the Word of God, cultivate the soil of their heart and carefully watch over its state will bear much fruit. In this parable those who grow the Word of God in their heart, not only bear it, but as Jesus says become identified with the good seed as the sons of the kingdom. Notice the path of the growth of the Kingdom and God’s grace: from the inner heart out into the world. On the other hand, if we allow the weeds of darkness to grow in our hearts, we will not only get choked, but will become identified with the weeds as sons of the evil one.