＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

Jeremiah 13:1-11

This is what Yahweh said to me:

“Go! Buy your­self a linen belt and put it around your waist; do not put it in water.” So I bought the belt as Yahweh ordered and put it around my waist. The word of Yahweh came to me a second time, “Take the belt you bought, the one you put around your waist, and go to the torrent Perah; hide it there in a hole in the rock.” I went and hid it as Yahweh instructed me.

After many days Yahweh said to me, “Go to the torrent Perah and get the belt I ordered you to hide there.” I went to the torrent and dug up the belt but it was ruined and good for nothing, and Yahweh said to me, “In this way I will destroy the pride and great glory of Judah, this wicked people who refuse to heed what I say, this stubborn people who go after other gods to serve and worship them.

And they shall become like this belt which is now good for nothing.  For just as a belt is to be bound around a man’s waist so was the peo­ple of Israel and Judah bound to me – it is Yahweh who speaks – to be my people, my glory and my honor; but they would not listen.

 

Dt 32:18-19, 20-21

You have forgotten God who gave you birth.

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊

Matthew 13:31-35

Jesus offered them another parable “The kingdom of heav­en is like a mustard seed, that a man took and sowed in his field.  It is smaller than all other seeds, but once it has fully grown, it is bigger than any garden plant; like a tree, the birds come and rest in its branches.”

 He told them another parable, “The kingdom of heaven is like the yeast that a woman took and buried in three measures of flour until the whole mass of dough began to rise.”

 Jesus taught all these things to the crowds by means of parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. This fulfilled what was spoken by the Prophet: I will speak in parables. I will proclaim things kept secret since the beginning of the world.

 

Gospel Reflection：

Many scientists have urged grade school teachers to stop telling stories about Adam and Eve and biblical stories on how the world emerged. Teachers are asked to teach, instead, the Big Bang Theory-that the universe sprang from a powerful energy causing massive explosion.

These scientists would advise that we should not confuse young children with mysterious stories of creation. It is best to make things clear for them while they are young. There is so much to appreciate in scientists’ efforts to give us natural explanations of how we came to be.

But they cannot claim being able to explain the deep mysteries of our world, let alone of God. a scientific story is just another parable. We thank God for giving our scientists some articulate wisdom – but God alone holds the truth behind the parables they are saying.