When We Sow Wheat and Reap Thorns--April 15, 2019

Jesus, your opponents concluded

nothing would stop your momentum,

and Paul strained forward to accelerate it,

but too often we sow wheat and reap thorns;

we tire ourselves out but profit nothing.

Remind us that we are sure to fail

unless we call on you to keep

our going out and our

coming in.

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 119:73-80; 145; 121; 6

Jer. 11:18-20; 12:1-17

Phil. 3:1-14

John 12:9-19

Selected Verses

Ps. 121:8

The LORD will keep
          your going out and your coming in
          from this time on and for evermore.

Jer. 12:13a

They have sown wheat and have reaped thorns,
          they have tired themselves out but profit nothing. 

Phil. 3:13-14

Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

John 12:19

The Pharisees then said to one another, "You see, you can do nothing.  Look, the world has gone after [Jesus]!"