Kids Korner: Walking on water (August 13th)

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Read Matthew 14:22-33 with your family.

Even people who don’t know much about Jesus have heard about Jesus walking on water.

Too often we pay attention to the extra things Jesus did, like turning water into wine or walking on water, or even healing and feeding large numbers of people. When we have stories of all these big things happening, it’s easy to forget that that was not what Jesus wanted us to remember about his teachings. Those things might get attention, but the real message from Jesus was love each other and take care of each other.

Jesus also wanted us to trust him. That was why he invited Peter to walk on the water too. When Peter was focused on Jesus and trusted Jesus, Peter was able to walk on water. As soon as he looked down or started to doubt, Peter sank.

We might never walk on water, but we can trust Jesus to show us how to live the way God wants us to live, and that is to show love and caring for everyone else.

Sunday Reflection – August 6, 2023

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Feeding more than 5000

Matthew 14 13 After Jesus heard about John, he crossed Lake Galilee to go to some place where he could be alone. But the crowds found out and followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When Jesus got out of the boat, he saw the large crowd. He felt sorry for them and healed everyone who was sick.

15 That evening the disciples came to Jesus and said, “This place is like a desert, and it’s already late. Let the crowds leave, so they can go to the villages and buy some food.”

16 Jesus replied, “They don’t have to leave. Why don’t you give them something to eat?”

17 But they said, “We have only five small loaves of bread and two fish.” 18 Jesus asked his disciples to bring the food to him, 19 and he told the crowd to sit down on the grass. Jesus took the five loaves and the two fish. He looked up toward heaven and blessed the food. Then he broke the bread and handed it to his disciples, and they gave it to the people.

20 After everyone had eaten all they wanted, Jesus’ disciples picked up twelve large baskets of leftovers.

21 There were about 5,000 men who ate, not counting the women and children.

Kids Korner: Feeding the crowd (August 6th)

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Read Matthew 14:13-21 with your family.

The story we read today was so important to the early Christians that it is the only miracle story found in all four Gospels (the Gospel of John usually has different stories). Imagine sitting in that crowd so long ago. Matthew tells us there were 5000 men, plus women and children. So the crowd was probably closer to 10,000.

You would think a meal for that many people would be a banquet, but it was really a simple picnic of foods that everyone ate every day.

Jesus never tries to do miracles or make promises that were too big. He wasn’t showing off his power by bringing in food they had never seen before. He kept it simple, just like he kept his message simple. Feed people… it doesn’t matter what food, so long as the people are full afterwards.

Jesus was not putting on a show, he was simply seeing that people were hungry and asked his closest friends to help feed them.

Sunday Reflection – July 30, 2023

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Repeat from July 25, 2020

Parables of the Kingdom of Heaven

Matthew 13 31 Jesus told them another story:

The kingdom of heaven is like what happens when a farmer plants a mustard seed in a field. 32 Although it is the smallest of all seeds, it grows larger than any garden plant and becomes a tree. Birds even come and nest on its branches.

33 Jesus also said:

The kingdom of heaven is like what happens when a woman mixes a little yeast into three big batches of flour. Finally, all the dough rises.

44 The kingdom of heaven is like what happens when someone finds a treasure hidden in a field and buries it again. Such a person is happy and goes and sells everything in order to buy that field.

45 The kingdom of heaven is like what happens when a shop owner is looking for fine pearls. 46 After finding a very valuable one, the owner goes and sells everything in order to buy that pearl.

47 The kingdom of heaven is like what happens when a net is thrown into a lake and catches all kinds of fish. 48 When the net is full, it is dragged to the shore, and the fishermen sit down to separate the fish. They keep the good ones, but throw the bad ones away. 49 That’s how it will be at the end of time. Angels will come and separate the evil people from the ones who have done right. 50 Then those evil people will be thrown into a flaming furnace, where they will cry and grit their teeth in pain.

51 Jesus asked his disciples if they understood all these things. They said, “Yes, we do.”

52 So he told them, “Every student of the Scriptures who becomes a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like someone who brings out new and old treasures from the storeroom.”

Kids Korner: Heaven is like… (July 30th)

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Read Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52 with your family.

We have bounced around Mathew 13 over the last few weeks. When the writer and editor put this chapter together, they picked up on the first part of a few stories later in the chapter. That is why we have been bouncing around.

But all of Matthew 13 is about Jesus helping his followers and others who were listening to these stories understand what Jesus wanted them to learn. Sometimes for grown-ups it is easier to hear truth in stories than it is if they just talk plainly. Kids are good at talking plainly. Adults are not.

In the stories from today, Jesus compares heaven to a lot of different things: something small that can get so large it will provide food and shelter for everyone (mustard seed); something even tinier that will grow and grow until it provides for everyone (yeast in bread); something that is like a discovery that is so wonderful we want to tell everyone (treasure in the field); something so valuable that a person will sell everything they own just to have it (pearl); something that will grab everyone up together (fishing net)

At the end of the passage is still the reminder that good and bad will be separated. This is also a story that give lots of warning so we know to make good choices .

Sunday Reflection – July 23, 2023

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Recorded July 18, 2020

Wheat & Weeds

Matthew 13 24 Jesus then told them this story:

The kingdom of heaven is like what happened when a farmer scattered good seed in a field. 25 But while everyone was sleeping, an enemy came and scattered weed seeds in the field and then left.

26 When the plants came up and began to mature, the farmer’s servants could see the weeds. 27 The servants came and asked, “Sir, didn’t you scatter good seed in your field? Where did these weeds come from?”

28 “An enemy did this,” he replied.

His servants then asked, “Do you want us to go out and pull up the weeds?”

29 “No!” he answered. “You might also pull up the wheat. 30 Leave the weeds alone until harvest time. Then I’ll tell my workers to gather the weeds and tie them up and burn them. But I’ll order them to store the wheat in my barn.”

36 After Jesus left the crowd and went inside, his disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the story about the weeds in the wheat field.”

37 Jesus answered:

The one who scattered the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seeds are the people who belong to the kingdom. The weeds are those who belong to the evil one, 39 and the one who scattered them is the devil. The harvest is the end of time, and angels are the ones who bring in the harvest.

40 Weeds are gathered and burned. That’s how it will be at the end of time. 41 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather from his kingdom everyone who does wrong or causes others to sin. 42 Then he will throw them into a flaming furnace, where people will cry and grit their teeth in pain. 43  But everyone who has done right will shine like the sun in their Father’s kingdom. If you have ears, pay attention!

Kids Korner: Separating Good from Bad (July 23th)

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Read Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 with your family.

People are not all good and all bad. People have both good and bad in them, and it’s how we choose to behave that makes the difference.

In today’s story Jesus again uses the idea of sowing grain and helping plants grow. In this story the first sower puts good grain on the land while someone mean comes behind and sows bad grain. Then the two grains grow together and their roots mix together. The sower of the good grain knows if they try to pull out all the bad stuff, they will pull out the good stuff too.

People might be full of good stuff and bad stuff, but sometimes we don’t notice which is bad stuff until we are older and the bad stuff is easier for those around us to see. Then it becomes our responsibility to act on our good stuff and try to get rid of our bad stuff.

Jesus knows that’s not easy, but if we keep making choices to be kind and love others, it will get easier to know which is the good stuff in ourselves we want to keep and what is the bad behaviour we don’t want to follow any more.

Sunday Reflection – July 16, 2023

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Sowing Seeds

Matthew 13 That same day Jesus left the house and went out beside Lake Galilee, where he sat down to teach. 2  Such large crowds gathered around him that he had to sit in a boat, while the people stood on the shore. 3 Then he taught them many things by using stories. He said:

A farmer went out to scatter seed in a field. 4 While the farmer was scattering the seed, some of it fell along the road and was eaten by birds. 5 Other seeds fell on thin, rocky ground and quickly started growing because the soil wasn’t very deep. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched and dried up, because they did not have deep roots. 7 Some other seeds fell where thornbushes grew up and choked the plants. 8 But a few seeds did fall on good ground where the plants produced 100 or 60 or 30 times as much as was scattered. 9 If you have ears, pay attention!

18 Now listen to the meaning of the story about the farmer:

19 The seeds that fell along the road are the people who hear the message about the kingdom, but don’t understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches the message from their hearts. 20 The seeds that fell on rocky ground are the people who gladly hear the message and accept it at once. 21 But they don’t have deep roots, and they don’t last very long. As soon as life gets hard or the message gets them in trouble, they give up.

22 The seeds that fell among the thornbushes are also people who hear the message. But they start worrying about the needs of this life and are fooled by the desire to get rich. So the message gets choked out, and they never produce anything. 23 The seeds that fell on good ground are the people who hear and understand the message. They produce as much as 100 or 60 or 30 times what was planted.

Kids Korner: Jesus encourages the vulnerable (July 16th)

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Read Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 with your family.

Jesus often taught life lessons in stories we call parables. A parable is a story that teaches a lesson.

In the reading from Matthew today, Jesus tells the story about sowing seeds. His audience was full of people so excited about everything they had learned from Jesus that they wanted to share it with everyone they met.

This story was a way for Jesus to remind them that someone only changes when they want to, never when they are forced. And that sometimes that change happens over a long time.

So each of us when we are sharing the teachings of Jesus has to remember that we might only get them a bit interested, but it’s going to take a lot of time and many more conversations with other believers before a person is ready to say “Yes, I want to follow Jesus”.

We plant seeds. And sometimes those seeds land on good soil, meaning the person is ready to hear what we have to say. And something that’s not what happens. We don’t get to control any of it.