Christmas with St Matthew 6

12.
And what was this about David’s mighty men? What was he doing comparing us to them when all we were was hungry? And what was that about all of us being his true brothers and sisters? I who until moments ago had been disowned by my own brother. (James caught my eye, it’s true, when Jesus said that, and my heart pounded.) Perhaps, in these early heady days we were walking with him more for the elation of being on his team, not yet knowing what it meant to be his brothers and sisters, not knowing the cost of being among his mighty men.

13.
But our rebuke would come. Too many were concerned with who was in, who was out. Everyone was certain that they were in, and desperate to see God destroy those who were out. Only the kingdom didn’t work like that, as we would slowly learn. Weeds grew up alongside crops, tares were indistinguishable from wheat until the harvest. But the kingdom would grow all the same, like yeast working invisibly through the dough, a mustard seed slowly germinating, breaking and sprouting beneath the surface. Our task, he made clear, was not to judge who was out. It was to listen, to see. To know that the kingdom was at hand.