Dionysus on a Bike

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 – 7/19/2026 – The Eighth Sunday after Pentecost

Hell is real, but it’s not what you think. Here in the parable of the weeds sowed among the wheat, Jesus says that all evildoers will be thrown into the furnace of fire. If all are sinners, then it follows that all will be thrown in the furnace of fire. Therefore, if the promises of Christ are true, then hell can’t be eternal punishment. Something else is going on, and this parable doesn’t mean what most people take it to mean.

A fiery furnace can be used to purify. If evildoers are thrown into the furnace, and Christ redeems evildoers, then it follows that the furnace must be doing something other than punishing, even if it does come with weeping and gnashing of teeth. Even in the explanation of the parable, Jesus leaves much unexplained, leaving the “truth” open to interpretation, pointing to a kernel of wisdom without dictating everything that we think of the world.

If one looks to the parable of the weeds among the wheat for evidence that Jesus taught a hell of eternal torment as punishment for our sins, one is likely to miss the point. The point is that now, in our age, in our time, the important thing is to let all grow and to not discriminate between “wheat” and “weeds,” between the righteous and the evildoer. Now is not a time of judgment, but of growth, of coming into what we already are, by the grace of God.

Revised Common Lectionary Readings for 7/19/2026, The Eighth Sunday after Pentecost:
Isaiah 44:6-8 or Wisdom of Songs 12:13, 16-19
Psalm 86:11-17
Romans 8:12-25
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

Reflections of a Dionysian Lutheran, comments on the daily readings of the Revised Common Lectionary by Justin Marquis