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24 Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. 26 When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. 27 “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’ 28 “ ‘An enemy did this,’ he replied. “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ 29 “ ‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’ ” 36 Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.” 37 He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. 40 “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. 42 They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear. (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 NIV Bible)
Nellie and I love flowers. We have a flower bed in the front of our home and oh the stories we could tell about our attempts to grow flowers as the ones that came with the home died. I talked to some church members, asked about how to protect the flowers from uninvited grass and grass runners. One honest brother finally told me, "You can't." And so we didn't. Our flower bed became a weed bed. Then our son-in-law dedicated a full day of hard labor and smart shopping and we have now a glorious flower bed. But, the weeds still peek out from time to time, as do the runners of the grass kind. All uninvited. All unwelcome.
Jesus tells this parable of a sower who plants good seed. I take this to mean the kind of seed that will provide food. It's hard work to plant. In Jesus' time it was mostly manual labor. And once the good seed was planted, the man goes to sleep. The sower and his family, who were more than likely his staff or farmhands, and they're asleep too. While the snores from inside the house provided a soundtrack, an enemy of this sower comes and plants weed among the good seed, which is now identified as wheat. A good harvest of wheat would provide bread for this family and those who depended on them. But when the wheat started to grow, so did the weeds, causing the servants to come and ask the sower, "Boss, didn't you plant good seeds in your field? How then are we seeing weeds showing their ugly head among the wheat?" The man replies that he did not and that it was his enemy who planted the weeds. "Bummer," said the servants, "Should we go out there and yank out the weeds?" "Nope," said the sower, "You might accidentally uproot the wheat with the weeds and that would not be a good thing. Let's just let both grow side by side and when it's harvest time, the harvesters will be told to gather the weeds first, tie them in bundles and burn them. Then the harvesters will gather the wheat and bring it into the barn." Great story, no?
Jesus is leaving the crowd and the disciples come and say, "What was that all about? Say more, like to explain it to us!" And so Jesus does. He says, the sower of good seed is the Son of Man. The harvest field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, and the enemy is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. As these weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this present age. The Son of Man will send forth His angels and it will be the angels who will weed out from the kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. These will be thrown into the blazing furnace where there will be much weeping and gnashing of teeth. The righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of the Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.
Nellie and I spent a good part of our Saturday in getting to our bank and then getting me a new debit card because a thief early on Thursday morning decided since they had my bank number could purchase something for themselves. I shook my head when I got the text from the Fraud Department of our bank, thankful they caught this and denied the purchase. It meant that I would not have the privilege of spending money during the ending of a short vacation to Houston. And, it was a chore to drive to New Braunfels to the nearest branch of our bank and then to await them making me a new card. I asked myself why do some people find it so easy to take what is not theirs? I asked that of the nice bank clerk too. She agreed and said it is a very common occurrence. I think of these as being part of the enemy's work in our lives. These are indeed bad seed or weeds, seeking to disrupt our life and seek a shortcut to getting what they want at my expense. I do know God's got this under His control, but I pray that a change would come over those who currently belong to and work for the enemy. I did pray for whoever was responsible for this act, as we all should.
The point of the parable was to let all of us know that life is not perfect, nor easy. There are those who work to get things from us and other ways to make our life a bit unpleasant. It is also Jesus' desire for us to recognize that even when wronged, we should know that God is still in control and God's justice will win out. It's also an invitation for us to examine ourselves and our actions for there are times we think we can switch sides or change teams and as long as no one gets hurt, we are alright. Not so. God wants us on His paths of righteousness for His name's sake.
PRAYER: Loving God, forgive us our sins and our debts as we should forgive our debtors. Help us stay the course on the paths of righteousness. May we bless You and Yours by the way we live and make our decisions. In Christ Jesus we pray, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! YOUR CALL TO ACTION: Seek to be light and to lead others away from the furnace which will burn those who oppose God.
Receive my blessings of love and joy,
Pastor Eradio Valverde, Jr.
