The Lessons for Sunday July 20th, 2014

First Reading: Isaiah 44:6–8

⁶Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel,

and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts:

I am the first and I am the last;

besides me there is no god.

  ⁷Who is like me? Let them proclaim it,

let them declare and set it forth before me.

Who has announced from of old the things to come? 

Let them tell us what is yet to be.

  ⁸Do not fear, or be afraid;

have I not told you from of old and declared it?

You are my witnesses!

Is there any god besides me?

There is no other rock; I know not one.\

Second Reading: Romans 8:12–25

¹²So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh —  ¹³for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.  ¹⁴For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.  ¹⁵For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, "Abba! Father!"  ¹⁶it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God,  ¹⁷and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ — if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

¹⁸I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us.  ¹⁹For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God;  ²⁰for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope  ²¹that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.  ²²We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now;  ²³and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.  ²⁴For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen?  ²⁵But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Gospel: Matthew 13:24–30, 36–43

²⁴He put before them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field;  ²⁵but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away.  ²⁶So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well.  ²⁷And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, 'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?'  ²⁸He answered, 'An enemy has done this.' The slaves said to him, 'Then do you want us to go and gather them?'  ²⁹But he replied, 'No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them.  ³⁰Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.'"

³⁶Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field."  ³⁷He answered, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man;  ³⁸the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one,  ³⁹and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.  ⁴⁰Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age.  ⁴¹The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers,  ⁴²and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  ⁴³Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!