Amazed but Unconvinced

big idea: judgement on evil planted in God’s good world must wait, but will come

introduce me

Why is there so much evil and suffering in our world? Where does it come from? What is at its root? I think probably the most common answer you’d get if you asked the average person on the street is “a few bad apples”. The idea is that most people are generally pretty nice, pretty good, most of the time, and if it was just us on planet earth, everything would fine and happy - but there are just a few people who have come out different for some reason. Come out evil, come out mean. And just a few of those is enough to make a huge mess of this world - particularly when they find their way to power.

That’s a common answer - but I don’t think it’s a particularly good or deep answer. I mean, why do some people come out evil: is it nature - just their genetics to blame? So we could breed the evil out, fix the bad gene? Or is it more nurture - they would have been nice like the rest of us, but something was broken in their environment and turned them bad? So we should almost feel sorry for them as tragic victims, turned to the dark side. But then - where did that broken environment come from? Other evil people? But if we’re all basically good given an ok environment, where did this all start?… I don’t think “a few bad apples” answers much at all, really. And I don’t think that’s the bible’s answer at all.

The last six weeks, we took a break from following the story of Jesus as told by Matthew to step back and look through a wide-angle lens at the Kingdom of God all across the bible: what does that phrase mean? Where does it begin and end? Where can we see it more or less clearly? We did that because the next set of teaching from Jesus focuses on the Kingdom of God, or the Kingdom of heaven as he calls it here. If you’ve been with us these past weeks, hopefully you’ll see some of the threads we followed connecting in.

This morning we’re back to the story of Jesus, and we find him in the lakeside fishing town of Capernaum where he’s staying, teaching the people. We’re going to be looking at a parable Jesus told, a small story carrying a big message, that touches on this question - and what God plans to do about it. We’re going to read two short sections this morning: the parable itself, then Jesus explaining it to his disciples - something he doesn’t always do, but we’re glad when he does!

Ruth is reading for us this morning, so come with us to Matthew 13 and we’ll start reading at verse 24. Page 979 in these blue bibles. Matthew 13 - big 13 - verse 24 - tiny 24.

Matthew 13:24–30 NIV

Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. “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?’ “ ‘An enemy did this,’ he replied. “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ “ ‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. 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.’ ”

and then skip down to verse 36… We’ll come back to the bit we’re skipping over next week, don’t worry.

Matthew 13:36–43 NIV

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.” He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. 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, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 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. They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.

Thanks Ruth. Well, Jesus explained that one - so I think we’re all done, right?! Ok, ok, there are still a few things for us to think through and talk through here. This parable is addressing one of the biggest challenges we face in trying to wrap our heads around the idea that the all-good all-powerful God of the universe is building his Kingdom here on earth: if that’s the big story, how come everything’s such a mess? Let’s dig in.

didn’t you sow good seed?

Inside the parable, the servants are peacefully going about their business, expecting a harvest when the time comes - but not much excitement before that. I don’t know if you’ve ever watched crops grow, but it’s like watching paint dry, only in slow motion! Though crops develop beautifully over seasons, not a lot of action on a daily basis.

I imagine those servants are just keeping a bit of an eye on the field as the weeks go by, maybe seeing if it has enough water or the like. But then weeds start to grow up everywhere, and before too long, it’s a terrible mess. The servants are confused: “didn’t you sow good seed? Where did the weeds come from?”

Those hearing Jesus’ parable already know the answer: “while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat” - the seeds had secretly been sown long ago; the servants just thought all was well as they waited for the grain to sprout and grow.

Remember from our reading that Jesus explains this field represents the world. Well, if we were to turn back to the very first pages of our bibles, Gen 1:31 shows us God declaring the world he made including the people in it “very good” just like the master in the parable planted good seed. We might reasonably have expected a “very good” world to run smoothly, then: all in order, wonderful through and through. Like a field sown with good seed gently growing a good crop.

Genesis 1:31 (NIV)

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.

But here we are, up to our necks in “weeds”: a world seemingly dominated by evil people, both mighty and minor. Hardly the Kingdom of God or Kingdom of Heaven that we might imagine. I can see us asking God the same questions as those servants: “didn’t you make everything ‘very good’?” So how come this world is in such a mess?

an enemy did this

Well, the Lord’s answer to their questions and to ours is short and simple: “an enemy did this”

Though there are plenty of weeds in my garden, I don’t think my neighbours snuck in while everyone was sleeping and planted them - but apparently this was actually a thing that did happen in Jesus’ world - at least commentators say there is a specific Roman law about not sowing weeds in your enemies’ fields.

And in our parable, that’s exactly what has happened: an enemy - notice in verse 25 it’s specifically “his enemy”, the Lord’s enemy - has gone out of his way to express his enmity by secretly messing up the field. Sowing a corruption into it that threatens the harvest, the purpose for the whole thing - see the specific weed mentioned here, darnel, actually looks a bit like wheat and produces seeds somewhat like wheat too - just poisonous ones.

Remember where we started, the idea of “just a few bad apples”, and the question of where they came from? Well Jesus is giving us his answer here: the trail from a bad apple doesn’t just lead back to a bad environment or to a flawed creation, a bug in the code - but ultimately to the work of his enemy.

One of the commentators I’ve found really helpful here, Bruner, writes this:

We would like to know much more about this enemy: where he came from, why he is an enemy at all, and so much else. But Jesus is content with defending God’s honor and indicting the true agent of evil. Believers should usually not venture much further into the metaphysics of evil than Jesus does here.

Certainly Jesus’ main point for us today is not “you should understand everything about this enemy” - when he’s fully explaining this parable to his closest disciples, he doesn’t give us anything on that front. That not Jesus’ point or purpose - so it’s not going to be our point today either. The thing we are to know, to take on board, to be aware of, is there is an enemy at work here, trying to destroy what God is doing in his Kingdom.

do you want us to pull them up?

Any keen gardeners here today? Who’s been out weeding this week? It’s definitely growing season, right?! I actually think there is something very satisfying about weeding - at least for a bit, and so long as you don’t have too much to do. You start with a total mess of plants and weeds - and you end, if you get there, with just the plants you actually wanted, typically looking much happier, peacefully sat in some healthy dark soil.

So the enemy has been at work - sowing weeds - what are we to do? How are we to respond? I’m with the servants - let’s go pull up those weeds! But, surprisingly, the master says ‘no’. Jesus’ teaching is clear: let both grow together.

let both grow together

Thinking from Jesus’ parable back to our broken and hurting world, to the the evil people behind its suffering and wounds, wouldn’t a bit of “weeding” be a fine plan here, too? Wouldn’t it be right to do something about this mess sooner rather than later? To take those Jesus’ describes as “people of the evil one” out of the picture? But Jesus is clear the answer is no … at least not yet.

Now, we’ve got to be careful when we’re thinking through these parables and what they teach. They’re stories carrying some key teachings, not precise analogues where every single feature from the story has something to teach, where every detail of the story can be mined and pressed to learn more. Sometimes we can be tempted to push too far, to read more out of them than Jesus has put in.

So here, for example, in the parable there are servants wanting to weed who are told not to. What, or who, do they represent? Lots of people have lots of ideas. But notice when Jesus is explaining this parable, they simply disappear. Go ahead - check v37-38. So who is Jesus stopping from “weeding” in our real world? I don’t think that’s Jesus’ point at all; the servants are a plot device; they’re in the story just so we hear why the weeds can’t be pulled up. That’s something Jesus is teaching us here.

One more thing while we’re thinking about parables: They’re not designed to give us the whole picture. With this one parable, Jesus isn’t teaching everything there is to know about the kingdom. That’s why there’s a whole series of parables about the kingdom. So again, it’s important not to over-read, to over-reach. We need to hear the main points Jesus is making with this teaching, not presume that’s everything there is to be said.

So in this parable, for example, it seems there’s no possibility of change; you’re either weed or wheat and that’s the end of the story. But sandwiched between this parable and its explanation, in the verses we’ll look at next week, is a parable about yeast working its way through dough - transformation. How could these fit together? They are teaching us different aspects, different parts of the whole; we need to grasp what Jesus is teaching in each - and what he isn’t. Then put them together to get the whole, not presume any taken on its own tells us everything.

you may uproot the wheat with them

Ok - so what should we be learning? the enemy has secretly planted his seeds in God’s good world - “people of the evil one” - and we’re going to have to deal with that; it can’t be fixed. Can’t simply remove evil people from the picture.

Why? “you may uproot the wheat with them”. Fact check: this actually happens! About two weeks ago I was weeding in our garden - and I accidentally uprooted a whole blueberry bush we’d planted. To be fair, it really wasn’t thriving; its roots were almost exactly pot-shaped so it popped out real easy - but still, I’ve done exactly this: uprooted what I’d planted before it could bear fruit trying to get rid of the weeds.

But Jesus isn’t really talking about weeding. What do his words mean here over in our world? He doesn’t spell it out - doesn’t even touch on this point when explaining the parable fully to his disciples. Sure, I can speculate why “pulling the weeds” means “uprooting the wheat” - but we don’t really know. In my plant-y experience, tangled roots were the problem - so I might speculate people of the evil one and people of the kingdom are somehow entangled below the surface - so taking one out would damage the other.

But I’m just speculating - this is the problem I mentioned earlier. We can’t press every detail of the story, the picture, and presume we can squeeze teaching out of it. Jesus is trying to make some big points - like the quick-start guide that came with our new coffee machine, not give us entire operating manual. If some detail of this entangling was key for us to get, he’d have explained it.

So it’s not totally clear what this means in our ordinary everyday life - but what is clear? There’s no weeding now for the good of “the wheat” - notice that. It’s not because God doesn’t know there are people of the evil one breaking this world. Or because God doesn’t care about the harm they are doing. Or because God lacks the power to deal with them. It’s for the good of the people of the kingdom that things are left this way. Christians, God is in this for our good.

Now I know you might find that hard to believe - particularly if you’ve come close to a real evil, and there are some here who really have: surely God should destroy the wicked from around you, release you from their schemes and plots and trouble? how could it possibly be the right call to let them grow up, grow old around you?

You might find that nearly impossible to believe: “I can’t see any reason that a good God could permit such evil on the earth.” but whether you can see that reason or not, Jesus tells us here, there is one. It’s for the good of the people of the kingdom that things are left this way. God permits this for our good; so none are accidentally “uprooted”, so we have the chance to reach full maturity and bear all the fruit that is ours to bear.

… until the harvest

Because that’s where the story is going - and where Jesus focuses his explanation. The growing season is just a season. It will come to an end; it has a goal, a culmination: the harvest. The owner in the parable has his eyes set on the harvest, when the work of the enemy can at last be undone, and the weeds he planted at last be destroyed. When the seed is at last full grown and the crop is at last ready to gather in.

What does that mean, carried over into our world? There is an end to this “age” on the earth coming, an end to this human life coming for each one of us. And that is when this division will finally be made: people of the evil one; people of the kingdom. One will be destroyed, the other shine like the sun forever, and enjoy the kingdom of their Father with all evil finally weeded out.

Many people would say Jesus was just a great moral teacher, had some good ideas for how to do life. People like that are simply not listening to much of what Jesus actually says. 8 parables in Matthew’s gospel, nearly half of them, clearly teach this final judgement, this separation. This is one of Jesus’ main themes: the fulfilment of his kingdom through the gospel, and final judgement for all who stand against him.

In the end, there are only two kinds of people - no middle ground, no DMZ. In the end, you will either be people of the kingdom or people of the evil one. Gladly bowing to God as king - and Father, knowing his salvation and grace - or destroyed with the enemy you will belong to. I can’t put it softly - Jesus’ words won’t let me. I’m not teaching them if I tell you anything else.

Whoever has ears, Jesus says, let them hear. And that’s my plea to you today. That day will come. You don’t know how long you have. Hear what Jesus is saying. Don’t just let it wash over you, but take it in, respond to it. Jesus is holding out to you right now the offer of life forever, of free and full forgiveness, of a place in his kingdom that no-one and nothing can take from you, of a place in his family: a child of God with him your Father. It’s everything that will matter in the end.

“repent and believe,” Jesus says “for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” I want to give you the chance to do that right now so here’s a short prayer you can use to say ‘yes’ to all this. You don’t have to understand everything to be ready - just enough to trust Jesus with your life. I’m going to give you just a moment to read it through and then I’m going to pray it. Join in with me in your head - God will hear you. Don’t ignore Jesus as he’s come looking for you.

If you prayed that prayer, please let someone know. Let us help you take your first steps in this new life. Speak to a friend. Speak to me - I don’t bite. If you’re online, there’s a button to connect with our team in chat or just click ‘request prayer’. If you’re watching a recording, contact us through our website. Tell someone.

And if you’re already one of the people of the kingdom - or if you’ve just become one of them - I want to leave you with this: The harvest will come. For now, we must patiently live in this broken world, persevering through the evil all around - knowing an enemy has done this. For now, we must trust our good Father is for us - not wanting any of his people uprooted. But one day - soon - you will be gathered safe into his barn, all this behind you, everything evil dealt with and away. The harvest will come.

How should we close out something like this? By saying “Come, Lord Jesus” by saying “Father, let your kingdom come.” So let’s do that together now, and sing our prayer of response together.

big idea: judgement on evil planted in God’s good world must wait, but will come