The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany

For the student: Read along, fill in the blanks, and write your answers on the lines. Your parent has the answers.

Step 1 · Understand the Collect

Most collects follow a five-part pattern: the address (the One to whom we pray), the reason (what God has done or promised), the petition (what we ask), the purpose (what we hope will result), and the ending (the closing that names the Trinity).

1. Mark each part of the collect. Which part is missing?

2. The collect calls the Church God's "family." What does that say about us?

3. Why ask to be kept in the faith "continually"?

Step 2 · Understand the Gospel

Read the Gospel on your own.

Matthew 13:24-30

24 He put another parable before them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25 but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 27 And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, 'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?' 28 He said to them, 'An enemy has done this.' So the servants said to him, 'Then do you want us to go and gather them?' 29 But he said, 'No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.'"

1. Jesus explains this parable in Matthew 13:37-39. Who is the enemy?

2. Why doesn't the master pull the weeds right away?

3. The weeds were likely darnel, which looks like wheat until it ripens. What does that teach?

4. Does this parable mean the Church should never correct false teaching or discipline its members?

Step 3 · Find the Collect in the Gospel

1. Find at least two places where the collect's words appear in the Gospel. Explain each one.

2. 2 Timothy 2:19 says, "But God's firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: 'The Lord knows those who are his.'" How does that comfort Christians who cannot tell wheat from weeds?

Step 4 · The Small Catechism

The Third Article. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. What does this mean? I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith. In the same way He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. In this Christian church He daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers. On the Last Day He will raise me and all the dead, and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ. This is most certainly true.

Cross-reference. "So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God." (Ephesians 2:19)

1. Luther says the Holy Spirit "calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church." In Jesus' explanation, who sows the good seed (Matthew 13:37)?

2. How does the Spirit keep the Church "in the one true faith" while weeds grow nearby?

3. Ephesians calls believers "members of the household of God." Which word in the collect matches?

Think about it. How can I know I am wheat and not a weed? Read 2 Timothy 2:19 and be ready to talk about it.

Step 5 · Wrap It All Up

1. Write a short collect of your own for this day. Use all five parts.

Pray today's collect together. Then answer:

2. What does Jesus do for you in His Church?

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible. Small Catechism quotation from Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation, © Concordia Publishing House.