2.26.30 6.22.2025 Matthew 13.24-30, 36-43 Weedy Ol’ World

Start:

Entice: I love parables but they can be challenging to interpret, understand, and apply because they belong to a thought world long ago left behind by both the church and the world.

Over the last 15 years I have made a concerted effort at letting the shape of the parable shape the sermon.

Parables are self-contained stories located in self-contained worlds. They work by comparison and analogy. Parables are organic and abstract,  framing familiar topics in unfamiliar ways.

Engage: Three times Jesus explained a parable. When He does He is not just explaining the story in question but demonstrating the process we should follow in understanding all His parables.

The risk for us is stretching a parable beyond its justifiable application.

Or making the parable

narrow and controllable.

Klyne Snodgrass in a down to earth fashion calls this

“The attempt to wring more theology and direction for church practice from the parable than is warranted.”

Klyne Snodgrass, Stories with Intent: A Comprehensive Guide to the Parables of Jesus (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2008), 198.

Thankfully Jesus gives us some guidance.

Expand: Today we look at the parable of the weeds. First, He tells the parable

Matthew 13:24–30 ESV

24 He put another parable before 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 weeds among the wheat and went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 27 And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ 29 But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”

Then, He tells two smaller kingdom focused parables. 

Matthew 13:31–33 ESV

31 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. 32 It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” 33 He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”

Next we read this statement about His purpose:

Matthew 13:34–35 ESV

34 All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable. 35 This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet: “I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world.”

Then, He returns to the parable of the weeds providing disciples with this interpretation. 

Matthew 13:36–43 (ESV) 36 Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” 37 He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40 Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, 42 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

Excite: Jesus teaches us a valuable and important lesson for living in our “find a solution, focus on the problem, fix-it all era.” Sometimes there isn’t much you can do. 

Sometimes our job is to “be a sunbeam for Jesus.” Jesus shed His precious blood to transform the weeds of this world into a bountiful, harvest. And some will never ever respond. Growing as weeds is their choice, and we are not called to rid the world of its weediness. Faithful discipleship and courageous righteous living is our calling.  NEITHER AGGRESSIVE OPPOSITION

NOR PASSIVE RESIGNATION

IS THE RECOMMENDATION.

Jesus reminds us that the kingdom breaks in amid the complexities of the real world. Most things are not black and white. They are grey and obscured by fog. 

Explore:

We live for the Kingdom in a  weedy world, not apart and not above, but within. 

Expand: 

Body of Sermon: This parable provides clear boundary markers for knowing who we are in this weedy ol’ world.  It starts with 

1 Identification.

1.1 Children of the Kingdom.

Growing from seed sown by the Son. 

1.2 Children of the evil one

Seeds sown by the Devil

Next, consider

2 Location.

2.1 The Field is the World.

2.2 Harvest is the end of the World.

2.3 Kingdom is God’s rule within.

Finally, consider your

3 Vocation.

3.1 Shining.

3.2 Responding.

(He who has ears to hear, let him hear!)

Shut Down

Until the harvest removes the weeds from the world and the kingdom, our work of witness continues. We are not told to remove the weeds. We are not counseled to oppose the weeds or remove the weeds, not even to complain about the weeds.

We are called to shed the light and to respond to Jesus’ words of guidance awaiting a harvest which is out of our hands.

Righteous living means proclaiming the righteousness of the King. In so doing some of the weeds get fractious. Parables make powerful points, but not universal. 

Prompted by this parable to live righteously as we await the judgment we find in the rest of the NT, additional  guidance for doing so. Consider the following.

Elsewhere Jesus says…

Matthew 5:14–16 ESV

14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

At least twice Paul makes the same essential point

2 Corinthians 4:6 ESV

6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Philippians 2:15 ESV

15 that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,

Our job, is to be here, to be who God calls us to be to shine like stars and to produce a fruitful crop despite a weedy ol’ world.