Let God Be God/ Stay in your lane

Matthew 13:24-31

Tares among Wheat

24 Jesus presented another parable to 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 tares among the wheat, and went away.

26 “But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also.

27 “The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’

28 “And he said to them, ‘An enemy has done this!’ The slaves *said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?’

29 “But he *said, ‘No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them.

30 ‘Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”

The Mustard Seed

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Mt 13:24–31.

Furthermore, on such a reading, what is the point of the servants’ desire to pull out the weeds before the harvest? In the symbolic universe set up by the universalistic interpretation, on what grounds would the followers of Christ imagine that they were capable of “uprooting” all the children of the evil one? Were they supposed to make war on the rest of the world? In the parable the servants are quite clearly told not to become involved in the process of sorting, but that it was to be left to God at the end of the age.

Robert K. Mciver, “The Parable of the Weeds among the Wheat (Matt 13:24–30, 36–43) and the Relationship between the Kingdom and the Church as Portrayed in the Gospel of Matthew,” Journal of Biblical Literature 114 (1995): 646.

How often do we think it is our job to change someones view?

How often do we thing it is our job to put someone out of a church that they did not die for?

The ecclesiastical interpretation has not been without its adherents. They explain the parable in terms of the community of faith. This community is faced with the dilemma of what should be done about evil members. Just as the bearded darnel could not be initially distinguished from the wheat, these members are also hard to distinguish from other disciples of Jesus. Yet their fruitage appears to be evil. Surely they should be rooted out of the community, as the servants wished to root out the weeds. But the message of the parable is that the community will remain a mixture of good and evil until the time of separation at the last judgment, and that the responsibility for the separation of good and evil belongs to God and his agents, not individual members of the community.

Robert K. Mciver, “The Parable of the Weeds among the Wheat (Matt 13:24–30, 36–43) and the Relationship between the Kingdom and the Church as Portrayed in the Gospel of Matthew,” Journal of Biblical Literature 114 (1995): 648–649.

What will it take for us to understand that good and bad will always be in this world?

What will it take for us to understand that we are not hear to separate Gods creation but leaving it up to God to do what he dose?

Journal of Biblical Literature, Volume 114 II. The Ecclesiastical Interpretation

Thus, on an ecclesiological reading of the parable, while the church exists within the world and, indeed, is scattered throughout the world, this is not the point of the parable. Rather, the parable points to the differences within the community of disciples—there are some who are children of the kingdom, and some who are children of the evil one. Initially it is hard to distinguish between the two groups. They both appear to be true disciples.

Do you think that we should try to change someone or let God minister to there heart?

Do you think that we are hear to lead by example and love like Jesus?

‘IF you believe that it is God who will do what God needs to do, and us to know that we can not see what someone will be in there life until the time God has gave charge for the reapers to gather and bind the tares to be burn and gather the wheat to be placed in Gods barn.’