The Tuesday after the Festival of the Transfiguration of our Lord
Posted on January 27, 2026 by under
Scripture: St. Matthew 13:36-43 (NKJV)
13:36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.”
37 He answered and said to them: “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. 39 The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. 40 Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. 41 The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, 42 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
Devotion
There is a plant called darnel or “false wheat”, which looks like wheat and grows in the same conditions, but is poisonous. The easiest way to tell them apart is the grain or fruit. The “tares” in the parable are possibly this plant, because it grows among the wheat and the servants do not notice it until “the grain had sprouted and produced a crop.”
This mixture of good and false wheat is an image of the visible Church on earth, in which wicked men are mixed among the saints. These wicked never become true members of Christ (as long as they do not repent), but us men cannot tell them apart, except by their fruits—hence our Lord says, “you will know them by their fruits” (Matt. 7:16). It is a fact that, even to the Last Day, there will be false brethren hiding within the Church, but the Christ knows the true from the false.
Are you wheat or tare? No one can make himself a true Christian. But, just as wheat does not sow itself, so the true Christians are the ones born again in Baptism by Christ. If you are baptized and believing, it is because He has planted and knows you.
Collect: O God, Who in the glorious Transfiguration of Thine Only-begotten Son, hast confirmed the mysteries of the faith by the testimony of the fathers, and Who, in the Voice that came from the bright cloud, didst in a wonderful manner foreshow the adoption of sons: Mercifully vouchsafe to make us coheirs with the King of His glory, and bring us to the enjoyment of the same; through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
