Reading Plan for May 10 - 16
May 10, 2026 | Matthew 12:33-42
Reflection:
Is there a way to summarize Jesus’ message? “Let your actions be consistent with the love of God. Live through an integrity that is shaped by an openness to others. You will be known by the fruit you bear.” The Apostle Paul summed up the fruit that God’s Spirit bears through us with these characteristic markers: love, joy, peace, forbearance (patience), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). If this is Jesus’ core message, why did he have so many detractors? They just weren’t willing to see how God was working through him. Jesus says to them when they ask for some further proof that he is doing God’s work, “All of the outsiders whom you revile and think are on the outside of God’s community will actually rise up above all of you in judgment. Truly, you will be known by your words and deeds. Sings and wonders will occur all around you, but you are too hard-hearted to see them.” Any one of us can be blind to what God is doing in our midst, and we may be quick to criticize and doubt. Jesus says to us still, “Be a good true, as best you can. Let God’s Spirit bear fruit through you that is healing for all nations.” Be a good tree.
May 11, 2026 | Matthew 12:43-50
Reflection:
In this opening passage, is Jesus teaching us about the habits of evil spirits? At first, you may think that. But these verses really read like a parable. How do we know this? Well, read the last line, “So it will be with this generation.” That little word “so” (“thus,” “in this manner”; houtōs in Greek) signals a comparison and most likely a metaphor. Jesus isn’t interested in educating us about the demonic realm. He’s interested in opening our eyes to what’s happening all around us. He’s interested in pointing out hypocrisy. In yesterday’s passage, Jesus criticized “this generation” for its shortsightedness. We can interpret Jesus’ parable in multiple ways, like, “This generation thinks it’s acting righteously by seeking to eliminate one injustice, but the tricky thing about injustice is that each individual injustice is interconnected with all others. Say that you think the Romans are like one evil spirit you can eradicate, and all will be well. Don’t you know that there are plenty of other evils you need to face, evils in which you are engaging? Don’t ever assume you’re completely righteous and above reproach. Draw close to God every day…and seek for the good of others, so that all injustices may be banished together. Do the will of God, and you will live truly as my kindred and kinfolk to one another.” How else could you interpret Jesus’ parable of the unclean spirits?
May 12, 2026 | Matthew 13:1-9
Reflection:
This is one of Jesus’ best-known parables. It seems so straightforward, at least for the portion we read today: make sure you plant seeds in good soil. If you do so, you’ll get a good yield. We get this message. However, this parable is not teaching us how to plant. It’s teaching us something more. When we only read the parable and not the interpretation, we’re free to apply the message we glean any way we wish. It’s open-ended. It could mean, “Pay attention to what you are doing. Assess the best way to go about your task. Be wise.” Notice, however, that the sower is not chastised for the way he spreads these seeds. It just seems to be the nature of sowing: spread the seed wherever you can. Some of that randomly and carelessly spread seed will bear fruit. Notice that we don’t get any interpretation in today’s portion of scripture. That’s okay. Just sit with it. Pretend you’ve never heard “the meaning” that Jesus offers a few days later. If this were all that was given for us from Jesus, how might you interpret what Jesus is saying?
May 13, 2026 | Matthew 13:10-17
Reflection:
People write books on “the purpose of the parables.” You can learn all about how parables function, what parables do to us and with us, and where we are to experience the meaning of a parable. Jesus just says, “I speak in parables because they just won’t ever get it. They didn’t understand the plain speaking of the prophets, and they certainly didn’t open their ears to hear what I have to say.” Even though I’ve read Jesus’ “why” many times, I still want him to say, “I speak in parables because it’s the only way they will ever understand. When people’s minds are stuck closed, a parable will slowly work its magic. The dawning of understanding and genuine change comes over time. And a parable is patient. Like water dripping on a mountain, a parable transforms a monolithic understanding progressively and with grace. Or a parable can break open a rock like a lightning bolt. Either way, a parable will do what a parable will do.”God’s grace works in these ways too: slow and steady or instantly with blinding grace. How do Jesus’ parables function for you?
May 14, 2026 | Matthew 13:18-30
Reflection:
We don’t always get an interpretation from Jesus to accompany his parables. This will be the case in the second half of today’s reading. With the parable of the sower, however, in the three gospels that record this parable, we hear Jesus offer his disciples a way of understanding that, with a lack of understanding, evil can snatch the word away from the heart, without grounding, joy dissipates, and the cares of this world can strangle or choke out our hope. Only in “good soil” does the word grow and bear fruit. So what are we left with? How are we to be good soil? Look back. How did failure happen in the other cases? Reverse them: seek understanding, be well-grounded in faith, and live in the world satisfied with what God provides. At least, this is one way of hearing Jesus’ explanation. How then do we hear the second “sowing” parable? This parable helps us to hear that “good and evil” seem to walk side by side in this life. Let God deal with it all in the end. For now? Live as faithfully and lovingly as you can. Entrust all else to God. How would you interpret this parable?
May 15, 2026 | Matthew 13:31-43
Reflection:
In today’s reading, we do get Jesus’ interpretation of yesterday’s parable of the sowers. The way Jesus explains the parable, it all seems pretty fatalistic, as if there is little responsibility for either the righteous or the wicked in being what they are. The righteous are sown by the Son of Man; the wicked are sown by the Evil One. In the end, they are reaped by the angels and receive their eternal destiny, according to their predetermined fate. One could see how someone like John Calvin might read “double predestination” in a parable like this. We can, however, hear this interpretation in light of the two parables that come before: a little bit of faith goes a long way, and a little bit of yeast (faith) causes tremendous growth. Both of these parables act as a call to faithfulness. Things are not predetermined. As we engage with the life of hopeful and loving faithfulness, our experience of the Kingdom of God grows. Maybe the parable of the wheat and weeds is more of a call to faithfulness than saying, “Some are in, and some are out.” Let God worry about those who appear to be “out” of the kingdom. When this world seems too full of weeds, love anyway.
May 16, 2026 | Matthew 13:44-58
Reflection:
In Old English, the word bīspel meant “A proverb, a pattern, or an example.” [In German today, Beispiel means “example.”] Bīspel also meant “parable.” Nine hundred years ago, someone in England might say that Jesus spoke in bīspels. He spoke in patterns. These little stories wove spells with words; that is, they didn’t just tell us something directly. They slowly worked their magic to bring new understanding, and thereby, a new way of living. In what ways are you inspired to live in a new way, thinking of the kingdom of heaven like a priceless treasure? What does it mean that in the kingdom, there is only room for what is good and righteous and holy and loving? What pattern of living is Jesus showing us through his parables? In the second part of today’s reading, Jesus is rejected by those who think they already know him. In what ways do we think we know Jesus and reject the One who “comes to us as One unknown, without a name, as of old, by the lakeside, Who came to those men who knew Him not. Who speaks to us the same words: "Follow thou me!" and sets us to the tasks which He has to fulfill for our time. Who commands, and to those who obey Him, whether they be wise or simple, will reveal Himself in the toils, the conflicts, the sufferings which they shall pass through in His fellowship, and, as an ineffable mystery, they shall learn in their own experience Who He is.” ― Albert Schweitzer, The Quest of the Historical Jesus