"Jesus got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd stood along the shore” (Matt 13:2). Jer 1:1, 4-10; Mt 13:1-9 The setting of Jesus’ parables in Matthew 13 is itself a parable. Jesus chooses as ...

The importance of the parables can hardly be overestimated. They comprise a substantial part of the recorded preaching of Jesus. The parables are generally regarded by scholars as among the sayings ...

“I will announce what has lain hidden since the foundation of the world” (Matt 13:35). In today’s Gospel, Jesus quotes the Prophet Isaiah and Psalm 78 to explain why he teaches with parables. He is ...

During the Lord's earthly ministry, Jesus often spoke in parables, which were earthly stories with a heavenly meaning. And the Parable of the Ten Virgins is among the most memorable (see Matthew ...

Starting today and the following two Sundays, the Gospel will focus on Jesus’ parables of the Kingdom of Heaven, found in Matthew 13. This week, we’ll hear the Parable of the Sower and Seeds. Next ...

In my commentary for the Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, I called for us to move society out of the painful birth pangs of racism to deliver justice for all people. The readings from last week and ...

"The Return of the Prodigal Son", by Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, c. 1669 This Sunday’s Gospel evokes deep human emotions, which Rembrandt famously depicted in his painting The Return of the ...

A new book immerses us in the strange, subversive logic of his financial parables. When students in my Old Testament courses contrast the allegedly messy world of the first testament with the ...