Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father

 

 Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house.  And His disciples came to Him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field."  He answered and said to them:  "He who sows good seed is the Son of Man.  The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one.  The enemy sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age,  and the reapers are the angels.  Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age.  The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire.  There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.  Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.  He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"

 

- Matthew 13:36-43 

 

Yesterday we read that, after telling the parable of the Wheat and the Tares, Jesus gave the people more parables:  "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches." Another parable He spoke to them:  "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened."  All these things Jesus spoke to the multitude in parables; and without a parable He did not speak to them, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:  "I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things kept secret from the foundation  of the world."

 

  Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house.  And His disciples came to Him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field."  He answered and said to them:  "He who sows good seed is the Son of Man.  The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one.  The enemy sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age,  and the reapers are the angels.  Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age."  Here, as He did also with the parable of the Sower, Jesus gives an explanation in private to His disciples regarding the second parable He gave, that of the Wheat and the Tares, also known as the Wheat and the Weeds (see Thursday's reading).  Again, we note, as in the parable of the Sower, Jesus is the Sower, the Son of Man.  But the good seeds sown here are the product of His word, the sons of the kingdom.  That is, the believers that have taken in His word, and become a new people of the Lord thereby.  The enemy, who sows his own seed, is the devil.   And those who take in that seed, receive it, and are nurtured on it, are the sons of the wicked one.   But the harvest time is the end of the age -- and those sent to do the harvesting are the angels of the Lord.  

Jesus teaches, "The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire.  There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.  Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.  He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"   Note that at the end of the age, Christ's Kingdom is all in all, and it is those sons of the wicked one who are the interlopers, the ones who don't belong.  Here Jesus details what that means:  the things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness.  This is about what is done, let us note -- offenses and lawlessness.  And those who practice this will be, like the tares or weeds, cast into the furnace of fire.  Wailing and gnashing of teeth are images from Jewish Scripture (particularly the Book of Enoch) concerning descriptions of Sheol or Hades.  "Wailing" and "gnashing" indicate anguish and despair, mourning and anger, a poisonous kind of grief.  For this again is the Kingdom, a place where time as we know it does not exist.  Worldly time and and the eternal state of the Kingdom play a role in Christ's recent teachings.  In yesterday's reading, Jesus taught that His parables reveal things that have existed since "before" the creation of the world and time.  These parables reveal things kept secret from the foundation of the world, and He is the One who can do that.  He is the One who was with God before the world, who in the beginning already "was," who was with God, and through whom all things were made (John 1:1-5).  In that passage from John we also read, "in Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it."  But in this time of the harvest at the end of this age, there are those who are cast into the furnace of fire, and then those others, the righteous, who perhaps even in the midst of this fire will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.   There is the patristic understanding that the fire we associate with hell and the divine energies of God are one and the same -- it all depends upon how compatible we are with those energies, with the divine reality of this Kingdom.  When it is fully manifest, in that time "when all things are made subject to Him," and when God is "all in all" (1 Corinthians 15:28) then midst that divine light that is the life of men, even then the righteous will shine forth as the sun.  For now -- and even at the time of Christ's Incarnation -- this light shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot comprehend it.  For now is the time of seeding and growing, and all grow together as we look to the end of the age.  But the light still shines, and if we but listen and do, it shines in us nevertheless. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:16).  At that time of the end of the age, all will be revealed as it truly is for all to see.  Let us be among those who will shine forth as the sun.

 

 

You are the light of the world

Easter liturgy, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem

 "Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.  Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

"You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?  It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.

"You are the light of the world.  A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.  Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."

- Matthew 5:11-16

Yesterday we read that, seeing the multitudes, Jesus went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him.   Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying:  "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.  Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.  Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.  Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.  Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.  Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.  Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."  These blessings, which Jesus continues to express in today's reading, are known as the Beatitudes, and Jesus is giving the Sermon on the Mount, which will continue through chapter 7.

 "Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.  Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."   Jesus  is speaking to His disciples.  What He's indicating is that those who suffer persecution for faith in His Kingdom are walking the road of the prophets, saints, and martyrs.  In Greek, the word translated as be exceedingly glad means literally to "leap exceedingly with joy,"  indicating tremendous exaltation.  (See Acts 5:40-41.) 

 "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?  It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men."  Jesus sets out a comparison of His followers to two elements of the world:  salt and light.  They illustrate the role of disciples in society.  Salt's preservative powers, necessity for life, and ability to give flavor meant it had both religious and sacrificial significance (Leviticus 2:13; see also Numbers 18:19; 2 Chronicles 13:5).  To eat salt with someone meant to be bound together in loyalty.  My study bible says that as the salt of the earth, Christians are preservers of God's covenant and give true flavor to the world.

"You are the light of the world.  A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.  Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."  God is the true and uncreated Light.  In the Old Testament, light is symbolic of God (Isaiah 60:1-3), the divine Law (Psalms 119:105), and Israel in contrast to all other nations.  In the New Testament, the Son of God is called "light" (John 1:4-9, 8:12; 1 John 1:5).  My study bible explains that light is necessary both for clear vision and for life itself.  Faith relies on this divine light, and believers become "sons of light" (John 12:36; 1 Thessalonians 5:5) who shine in a perverse world (Philippians 2:15).   In many Orthodox parishes, the Easter liturgy begins with a candle presented and the invitation in a Paschal hymn to "come receive the Light which is never overtaken by night."  Through the virtues Jesus extols in this sermon, faith has both a personal and public function.  Our virtue, my study bible notes, can bring others to glorify the Father. 

Salt and light give us images of preservative power, something that fixes another substance in the world, gives flavor, and enhances everything -- and that which fills the world with its energy, giving life to all things which are dependent upon those life-giving energies.  Light is importantly, in the Scriptures, also a metaphor for truth.  It is a conveyance of reality, of what truly is -- and even more deeply of spiritual truth.  Jesus says, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life" (John 8:12).  In that context, light is not only truth and the reality of what truly is; it is also the very thing that gives life.  But even life is more than existence and the fact of our conscious awareness of ourselves as living beings.  Life and light are the true energies of God, which create from nothing, and which convey to us the something so-much-more than merely surviving or existing.  Salt and light, then, become the very elements that make life worth living -- that give life flavor, warmth, glowing values that radiate goodness and joy.  These are gifts that come from God, but by becoming salt and light ourselves, we become those things for the world.  We may radiate the qualities given to us through participation in the life of Christ, and so become beings who carry those gifts to the world.  Are human beings capable of great joy?  Are they capable of transcendence?  Can they give value to the world that elevates human life to something invaluable?  All of these questions come from the record of faith that tells us that we are so much more than intelligent animals -- that we as bearers of the image of our Creator also have creative gifts with which we are endowed to illuminate and beautify the world.  To become salt and light is to bear divine realities into the world, to radiate an incomparable value around oneself.  We learn through Christ that human beings are meant to be bearers of a divine light, that each one is capable or has the potential to be a child of light, "sons of God" (see yesterday's reading, above).  We are not meant for mere existence, but for something infinitely beyond the sense of that kind of life in which we only survive.  "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly" (John 10:10).  Don't let anyone tell you different; we become full of this life through participation and discipleship.