From these two texts, we may say that Israelites are the people to whom God gave the law through Moses. And true Israelites are those who apply themselves to obeying the law. Pharisees applied themselves to being true Israelites. Applied themselves to waiting for the coming of the Messiah. The Messiah who would fulfil the promises God made through his prophets. Promises enshrined in the first part of our Bible. The part which we call the Old Testament.

Today, Matthew tells us that after Jesus explained the parables to the disciples, he asked them whether they now understood them. And they replied, “yes.” I wonder if they lied. I wonder because I’ve read many books about the parables, produced by scholars after years of study.

Today, while pondering the reading, I recalled some controversies over 20 centuries of church history. I asked myself how leaders of the church were guided by this parable when they had to deal with them. I find the history very instructive.
Take for example the sexual abuse of minors by clergy. Did church leaders appeal to the parable and say

I see that over the last ten years our congregation has moved from being “resisting Lutherans” whose saints are activists like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther King Jr., Desmond Tutu, and Dorothy Day, to “adapting Lutherans” who cherish purveyors of health, wealth, longevity, and opportunities to supply the material needs of others.

A yoke enables a person to pull a load, to accomplish some work, to fulfil a task. A yoke is a connection to others, and to God. A yoked person does work directed by another. A yoked person has a sense of personal and national destiny.

Imagine washing your face first thing in the morning every day, looking in the mirror, and saying “I reflect humility, gentleness, and patience.” And ending each day, looking in the mirror, weeping.
Prayer includes expressing truth before God and others. Bold prayer teaches the church who God is, increases understanding, grows charity, and strengthens unity.

Jesus told the Twelve they should expect a prophet’s reward. I wonder what questions the Twelve put to Jesus after they heard him say this. Because often a prophet’s earthly reward is torture and death. As the writer to the Hebrews put it:
“They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed …

But the government also began to improve national health services – so that the taunts of Falun Gong promoters could be drained of truth: just like in the 1950s in Malaya when the British introduced improvements in Chinese “new villages”[5] in response to taunts by the Communist Party.[6]

Prayer … is our partnership with God, our chance to join forces with God’s power to confront suffering and evil head-on. … [is] a window into knowing the mind of God, whose kingdom is entrusted to all of us frail, selfish people on earth. [The book also details how,] in nations such as Romania and South Africa, … prayer has transformed hearts and permitted bloodless change.