Scripture Matthew 13:24-30
Our
parable for today could be seen as an extension of the one we considered last
week (The Sower). Interestingly, Jesus intended His parables to
be seen as an integral part in the establishment of boundaries for our
lives. And He used them in a way that we
all can understand, and yet, if there was any chance that we might be
confused as to the significance of some of His parables, He also included clarifications
that remove any doubts that we might have!
But
basically, there’s a good chance that we all know about weeds – most of us have
gardens containing either flowers or vegetables, and in our efforts to keep
those areas free of impediments to the beauty or harvest of our efforts, we
engage in a constant battle with the enemy weeks!
But
here, again, Jesus wanted to ensure that we understood the spiritual side of
the story, so He always gives us enough information to eliminate any question
as to the message that He is presenting to us.
So the primary message that His story conveys, centers not on our
battle with undesirable obstructions in our gardens, but with humanity’s
constant struggle with sin.
Read Matthew 13:24-30
In
this story, Jesus is showing us the differences that exist between a life
lived within the will of God, and the life that is being impeded and destroyed
by sin. In today’s world, we are
surrounded by the beauty and glory of God every moment of every day. And yet, the vast majority of humanity still chooses
to embrace and glorify the “weeds” that are being sown to block our vision of
the Lord’s glory. This is why God’s
seeds have been spread so liberally throughout the world, and why in last
week’s parable, the “good soil” was so important to Christ’s lesson for our
lives.
Even
before God met Moses on Mount Sinai, and handed him the Law for all of humanity,
Satan has been sowing his devious “weeds” among the people to confuse them, to
lead them astray, and to convince them that his is a better way than God’s is! His deceitful tactic is that he tries to make
the sinful life just as appealing, if not more so, than the righteous life! And
humanity falls for the lie as readily today as they did 3,500 years ago! And these weeds, or “tares” as some
translations indicate, have a similar appearance to the wheat, creating
confusion, just as sin does in our lives.
But when we allow the word of God to guide us, the differences become perfectly
clear, and we can then avoid the pitfalls that have been sowed before our
life.
So
here are the spiritual identities that Jesus offers in vs. 37-39:
- the “Sower” is Christ, who is “the Way,
the Truth and the Life” for eternity, and He only wants the very best for our
lives.
- the “field” is the world – the goodness
of God is for all, not just A few!
-
the “good seed” are the faithful who grow in the word, and spread God’s word
that others will know the truth and way of Jesus Christ.
- the “weeds” are the disciples of evil
- the “harvest” is, as Jesus says, the “end
of the age”, or in other words the day of Judgment, and
- the “harvesters” are the angels, who will
be following Jesus’ commands during the Judgment (see Zechariah 3)
So
how are we to respond to this teaching? What
lessons has Jesus put here for our edification?
I believe that the first, and possibly the most important lesson, is that since we are
the Lord’s “wheat”, we need to be taller and stronger and more vital than
Satan’s weeds, that we might be more visible, more viable than the rampant sin
that is hobbling and destroying so many of the world’s people! The second important lesson is that we can do
very little regarding the sin that has infected the world around us. However, we can always be the very best and faithful
“wheat” that God will create us to be!
We can’t destroy sin, but we can resist it and deny its alure in our
life, with the help of God’s Holy Spirit. The destruction of sin will finally and completely be taken care of
when Jesus returns to set all things right once again.
And third, even though it isn’t actually a part of the parable, we need
to be seen by the “weeds” of the world as leaders of God’s alternative, that
Jesus can be their redemption and their sparing from the final
destruction of the world’s sinfulness and their allegiance to it.
This
is what the Global Methodist Church’s
marvelous theme is all about – Worship Passionately, Love Extravagantly,
Witness Boldly!
This is how the Lord’s
“wheat” should be living, and growing, and welcoming, and reaching out to all of the people in this “weedy” world!
May
it always be so for both you and me!
