Thursday: 17^th Week in Ordinary Time-A

I Reading: Exodus 40:16-21.34-38: The cloud covered the Tent of Meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

Gospel: Matthew 13:47-53: They collect the good ones in a basket and throw away those that are no use.

The Parable of the Dragnet: Separating the Bad from the Good, 13:47-50

The net is the kingdom of Heaven and the gospel is the message of the kingdom. The sea is the world in all the depth of its darkness and its unknown. The fishermen represent Christ and His followers.

1. The parable describes the kingdom (v.47)

2. A net is cast into the sea (v.47-48)

a. It generates every kind

b. It is drawn when it is full

c. The good are gathered into containers

d. The bad are cast out

3. The parable is a symbol of the world’s end (v.49-50)

a. Angels come forth

b. Purpose: Separate the wicket from the righteous

          1) To cast into fire

          2) Result: Weeping and gnashing

The Parable of the Householder: Devotion, Study and Sharing, 13:51-52

This parable teaches a strong truth: the true disciples of Christ had the same privilege and responsibility as teachers and householders. They were unusually blessed. Throughout their lives, they had been instructed in the old counsel, but now they had been taught by Jesus Christ, the Messiah himself. They now knew the new counsel of God. Thus, they were to be responsible disciples and share the whole counsel of God, both the old and the new.

Jesus was charging the disciples to share what they had learned from old Truth (OT) and the new Truth (NT).

Thought: The disciple is like the head of a household. The disciple possess an enormous treasure: the Old Testament and the New Testament (Rom 15:4; 1Cor 10:11; Jn 1:17-18; 14:6; Ps 119:142; Rom 8:3; Heb 8:6, 9:14-15; Mt 5:17)

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