In a pair of very short and powerful parables, Jesus tells his disciples that the kingdom of God is like a treasure that is worth far more than any sacrifice anyone ever might make to acquire it. God welcomes us freely into his kingdom by grace, but Jesus makes it clear that our entry must be decisive. No one can take hold of the treasure without making a game-changing commitment to it. May we find the treasure God has revealed to us, and from great joy may we put everything on the line to enter the kingdom.

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.