Last week we looked at a parable in which good seed fell on all kinds of soils, but this week Jesus is teaching about good and bad seed planted in fertile soil. The presence of evil in the world shouldn’t surprise us, but it isn’t a call to arms, either. In a parable filled with tension, Jesus teaches what the familiar song affirms: “Though the wrong is great and strong, God is the ruler yet!” This calls for patient hope and a lot of grace on the part of believers.

This week we are hearing a familiar parable – the parable of the sower. It is a parable about the powerful seed of the Word of God (the kingdom of God), and it is also about hearing the Word of God. Within the parable are 4 kinds of hearers, but the parable contains a bigger story as well. When we hear the parable, are we really hearing the big story of God’s amazing work? Fruitful hearing is like a growing seed – just when we think we understand what it is, we find that it produces even more. To those who have ears, let them hear.

The kingdom of God is not the home of those who have it all together; the kingdom of God is the home of all who trust in God to set things right. God the Father’s heart seeks the spiritually wandering person as a shepherd seeks a wandering sheep – one by one. If our hearts are in line with God’s, then we will also seek out the wanderers – one by one. May our words and actions bring joy to our Father in Heaven as we reach in love to the fringes.

In this week's text Jesus says to confront a brother or sister who sins against you. If that doesn't work, bring someone with you. If that doesn't work, bring it to the church. If that doesn't work, treat the person as an outsider. It would be easy to misinterpret this passage as a "three strikes and you're out" pattern for church discipline, but that is unlike the Jesus we know in the Gospels. Jesus is giving us personal and persistent patterns for healing the conflicts that inevitably arise among Christians. Unity among believers is as important as health to a body, because when one part hurts, we all suffer.

Last week we saw Jesus praise Peter for recognizing that Jesus is the Christ, and now moments later Peter gets Jesus completely wrong. Peter recognized the victorious Christ, but he completely missed the need for the suffering Christ, including his death. The two can’t be separated. As we celebrate communion this week, we embrace the sacrifice Jesus made for us on the cross. We must also hear Jesus’s call: “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.”