Beginning today, and continuing for two more Sundays, our gospel lessons are from the third of five sermons given in Matthew by Jesus. The first was the Sermon on the Mount, the second the Mission Sermon. It happens because there is so much to be done. So, he commissions the twelve and gives them the authority to preach, to teach and to heal as he preached, taught and healed.[1] This third sermon is generally called the Sermon in Parables[2] or the Parables Discourse.[3] What is a parable is a question that has engaged Christian writers since the earliest days of the Church. Another issue of great importance is how to understand today’s lesson in its own time. It’s hard for me, and most people, not to hear anti-Judaism in Matthew, especially in light of the history through the millennia, including the anti-Judaism in our own time.
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