Daily Readings - Mon Jul 30 2018

¹Thus says the Lord to me: "Go, and obtain for yourself a linen waistcloth. And you shall place it over your loins, and you shall not put it into water.²And so I obtained a waistcloth, according to the word of the Lord, and I placed it around my loins³And the word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying⁴"Take the waistcloth, which you obtained, which is around your loins, and, rising up, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in an opening of the rock.⁵And so I went, and I hid it by the Euphrates, just as the Lord had instructed me⁶And it happened that, after many days, the Lord said to me: "Rise up, go to the Euphrates, and take from there the waistcloth, which I instructed you to hide there.⁷And so I went to the Euphrates, and I dug up and took the waistcloth from the place where I had hidden it. And behold, the waistcloth had rotted, so that it was not fit for any use⁸And the word of the Lord came to me, saying⁹"Thus says the Lord: In the same way, I will cause the arrogance of Judah and the arrogance of Jerusalem to rot¹⁰This most wicked people, they are not willing to listen to my words, for they walk in the depravity of their own heart, and they have gone after strange gods, so as to serve them and to adore them. And so, they will become like this waistcloth, which is not fit for any use¹¹For just as the waistcloth clings to the loins of a man, so have I brought close to me the entire house of Israel and the entire house of Judah, says the Lord, so that they would be to me: a people, and a name, and a praise, and a glory. But they did not listen

Matthew

Chapter 13

³¹He proposed another parable to them, saying: "The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field³²It is, indeed, the least of all seeds, but when it has grown, it is greater than all the plants, and it becomes a tree, so much so that the birds of the air come and dwell in its branches.³³He spoke another parable to them: "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of fine wheat flour, until it was entirely leavened.³⁴All these things Jesus spoke in parables to the crowds. And he did not speak to them apart from parables³⁵in order to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet, saying: "I will open my mouth in parables. I will proclaim what has been hidden since the foundation of the world.

Sermon

In today’s readings, we encounter two powerful images from Scripture that invite us to reflect on God’s work in our lives and in the world. The first reading from Jeremiah describes a prophetic action where God instructs Jeremiah to bury a linen waistcloth by the Euphrates River. When he returns later, the cloth has rotted and is useless. This symbolizes the corruption and stubbornness of God’s people, who have turned away from His words and embraced false idols. Jeremiah’s message is one of warning: just as the waistcloth clings to the body but becomes worthless, so too can our relationship with God become meaningless if we do not listen to His voice and remain faithful. In the Gospel, Jesus offers two parables about the kingdom of heaven: the mustard seed and the leaven. These images remind us that God’s work often begins small and unnoticed but grows to have a profound impact. The mustard seed, though tiny, becomes a tree that shelters birds, and the leaven transforms an entire batch of dough. These parables encourage us to trust in God’s power to transform even the smallest and seemingly insignificant aspects of our lives. While Jeremiah’s reading speaks of judgment, Jesus’ parables speak of hope and the transformative power of God’s kingdom. Together, these readings challenge us to reflect on our spiritual state. Are we like the rotting waistcloth, clinging to sin and stubbornness, or are we allowing God’s kingdom to grow within us? Let us ask ourselves: Where are the small, hidden places in my life where God might be at work? How can I cooperate with His grace to let His kingdom grow? May we embrace the hope of transformation and the call to live as faithful disciples, trusting that even in darkness, God’s light can shine through.