A look at the gaps in the lectionary.
This week: the gap between Proper 10A and 11A
The text: Matthew 13:10-17 & 31-35
The lectionary puts two readings back-to-back for Propers 10 and 11. But each has a middle part taken out.
Let’s look at what’s missing.
Matthew 13:10-17
We remember last week’s passage dealt with the teaching about the different kinds of soil. Jesus teaches the crowd in the first part, then explains it in the second part. What we miss is why he does this.
It is kind of simple: the disciples ask him to. And he does.
But the reading itself is troubling. Jesus clearly says that God hides stuff from people. And that it’s good to keep stupid people ignorant. I’ve got to tell ya, I’m not thrilled to read that.
What do we do with this?
Honestly, I don’t know. There are ways to explain it away. And ways to exploit it. The lectionary chooses to avoid it. Is there another option?
Probably just to read it, wrestle with it, and acknowledge it. And probably resist developing a grand theory of truth from it.
But there is a question we could ask ourselves.
How is understanding used in the text?
We see that the scriptures are revealed to the disciples after Jesus’s death. Understanding doesn’t seem like something we should expect as the normal default position. It’s more like the God-given generous thing that can happen.
This might lead us, then, to comparison. Making it sound like we’re special and that we understand—everyone else are morons.
- That’s Gnosticism, a heresy and
- That’s stupid and mean.
So maybe we don’t get all high and mighty. Instead, we might take the concept of understanding as a part of humility and faith. Not something we should expect to have in reading the Bible or in being a Good Christian™.
Grace is grace. Not a tool to exploit.
Matthew 13:31-35
Last week’s missing scriptural donut hole has serious implications. This week’s seems less so. Especially as we read it at a different time in the lectionary.
Jesus teaches about the seeds and then rolls right into a parable about the Kingdom being like seeds grown in good soil. This clearly feels connected to the stuff from last week.
Then, at the end of the parable, he continues to compare the Kingdom; to a mustard seed and yeast. Super familiar.
It then says that he continues to teach the crowds in parables as a fulfillment of scripture.
And then, again, just like the soil, the disciples want Jesus to explain the parable. They want to understand. And Jesus obliges.
Two weeks of explaining parables
This is all kind of weird. Jesus goes about teaching crowds stuff and then explains it to a precious few. This is quite strange. And it codes for many of us as secretive.
It also creates an interesting tension with how we respond to the text ourselves.
How we read scripture in community and respond to it. How we want explanations—to understand, yes. But also to feel good. To feel righteous. To compare.
Jesus gives us complex ideas about faith and behavior in these two teachings. And I suspect we take the easy route: asking for them to be explained. Just like disciples. To get a key, like a cheat code.
In that way, we’re just like the disciples.
And therefore, it really does make us like them. In their understanding and in their ignorance of seeking a special understanding from Jesus that others won’t get.
Which isn’t bad. Just grace. That’s it.