Blessed God, bless and protect this dear reader today in all that they may face; in Christ Jesus I pray, amen.
Our text for today comes from Matthew 13: 24 He told another story. "God's kingdom is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field. 25 That night, while his hired men were asleep, his enemy sowed thistles all through the wheat and slipped away before dawn. 26 When the first green shoots appeared and the grain began to form, the thistles showed up, too. 27 "The farmhands came to the farmer and said, 'Master, that was clean seed you planted, wasn't it? Where did these thistles come from?' 28 "He answered, 'Some enemy did this.' "The farmhands asked, 'Should we weed out the thistles?' 29 "He said, 'No, if you weed the thistles, you'll pull up the wheat, too. 30 Let them grow together until harvest time. Then I'll instruct the harvesters to pull up the thistles and tie them in bundles for the fire, then gather the wheat and put it in the barn.'" 36 Jesus dismissed the congregation and went into the house. His disciples came in and said, "Explain to us that story of the thistles in the field." 37 So he explained. "The farmer who sows the pure seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, the pure seeds are subjects of the kingdom, the thistles are subjects of the Devil, 39 and the enemy who sows them is the Devil. The harvest is the end of the age, the curtain of history. The harvest hands are angels. 40 "The picture of thistles pulled up and burned is a scene from the final act. 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, weed out the thistles from his kingdom, 42 pitch them in the trash, and be done with them. They are going to complain to high heaven, but nobody is going to listen. 43 At the same time, ripe, holy lives will mature and adorn the kingdom of their Father. "Are you listening to this? Really listening? (The Message)
There are stories of churches, and I pray these are from where you are sitting, where if the conduct of a church member or visitor is not in accordance to that church's stances and doctrines, that church votes to dismiss the member and send him/her on their way. One such church, and this was some years ago, had a teenage girl in their midst who was known as "wild." Her behavior embarrassed even her parents not to mention what "the church" felt. She was disobedient, talked back, kept her own hours, yet still came to church, much to the dismay of "proper folk." The dilemma that pastor had was to listen to the proper folk and boot her out or allow her to stay with them praying and hoping that one day the "message" would take. The proper folk mentioned this parable and how it was now "harvest time" and the thistles needed to be taken out and burned! It was scriptural and thus it was mandated! How would you have voted?
It seems there was another thistle that was on its way to be "burned," for she had been caught "in the act" with a man and the law demanded her death. Someone by the name of Jesus intervened and stopped the execution with something He wrote on the ground. What he wrote no one really knows but people suspect that they were thistle things about each of the ones carrying the stones ready to kill the young woman. Funny thing how we can sometimes put ourselves in the "pure seed" category and then hear someone preach or teach and we realize we aren't so "pure" and find our name on the thistle list. Hmm. How I see it is that the separation duties belong to Christ. Our duty is to strive to be among the pure seed and to encourage others to come along and join us. If we see ourselves or someone we love moving slowly toward the thistle side, we pray harder and work harder in our example and witness so that we don't lose these potential harvest people to the gathering and burning that Jesus spoke of. What Jesus stressed was for us to listen really hard. I repeat the question, How good are your ears?
PRAYER: Loving God, open my ears, and not just my ears, my eyes, my heart, my soul, to listen closely and intently to what You speak to me. Let me hear truth. Let me see truth and let me be truth in all that I think, say, and do. Give me and all of us patience to love even those we have already put on a thistle list and want them scratched off the membership rolls. Forgive us and free us as we say so often, "for joyful obedience." I pray this in Christ Jesus' precious and powerful name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
