Sermon for the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost, Year A, "God's Reign Is Like," Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
Sermon 7/26/20 Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52 God’s Reign Is Like Our reading from Matthew today covers a lot of ground in a very short span of verses. I love Jesus’ parables, his unique way of storytelling that helps us understand God’s nature and God’s reign on earth and in eternity. And Jesus’ parables are collectively some of our favorite and most well-known of Jesus’ teachings: The Parable of the Good Samaritan, The Parable of the Prodigal Son, the Parable of the Lost Sheep. But here, in these twelve verses, we cover five parables. And while we might be familiar with the first one - the Parable of the Mustard Seed, the others are not particularly well-known. When Jesus is done with his quick-paced teaching, he asks the disciples if they’ve understood what he’s said. And they say, “Yes.” And their one word response makes me laugh every time, because I’m a little suspicious of their answer. Sometimes it’s easier to just say we’ve understood something than to admit we need to go back an