A Man Who Sowed Good Seed

A Man Who Sowed Good Seed

Recap

SLIDE Sower—Generous & impartial

Wheat among Tares

Mustard Seed—Frustrates the order of things

Leaven—Here and not yet

Hidden Treasure—changes priorities

A merchant—changes identity

Net

Key Text

SLIDE Matthew 13:24–30.

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.” ’

Intro

In Matthew 13, Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to a sower twice. The first is a generous Sower, scattering seed extravagantly across every kind of soil. The second is a sabotaged Sower, planting good seed only to have an enemy come behind him and sow weeds among the wheat.

SLIDE Jesus never explicitly connects these two parables, and there is no reason to assume they describe the same event. But since they are placed so close together, what would happen if we read them as the same event? What if the enemy’s sabotage happens precisely because the Sower has been so generous with the good seed?

The challenge of this parable is that it comes from a world most of us do not understand. We live in a world of extraordinary food availability. If we want something to eat, we can go to the grocery store, pull through a drive-through, or order food through Grubhub. We can walk into a store in the middle of winter and buy tropical fruit, corn, oils, nuts, and foods grown thousands of miles away.

Some of us may have gardens, but I’m guessing very few of us depend on what grows in them to feed our families throughout the year. If our tomatoes fail, we are disappointed. We are not likely to starve.

In the time of Jesus, farming carried much higher stakes. A crop's success or failure could mean the difference between abundance and hunger, security and desperation, even life and death. A ruined harvest was not simply lost income. It threatened your family’s livelihood.

So when Jesus tells a story about a farmer who sows good seed, only to discover that an enemy has deliberately contaminated his field, his listeners would not have heard it as a minor inconvenience but as evil, catastrophic sabotage.

This field will not just feed the Sower and his family. It will feed his workers and contribute to the life of his village through the harvest and the income it produces. The enemy doesn’t just hurt the Sower; he hurts an entire community.

And notice how Jesus describes the saboteur. This isn’t simply an enemy. He is his enemy, the Sower’s enemy. The field is being attacked because someone hates the one who sowed it.

And the enemy’s sabotage would not have been immediately obvious. For months, the wheat and the weeds would have grown together with little visible difference between them. It wouldn’t have been until the plants matured and produced heads that anyone would have noticed.

By the time the Sower’s workers realized what was growing among the wheat, the enemy was long gone, and his work was already deeply rooted.

Four Different People

Jesus does not tell us what was said among the workers and the villagers. But given the crop’s high stakes, we can imagine the conversations that took place. I imagine at least four groups of people trying to make sense of what they found.

The first group were the haters. These people already perceived the Sower as an enemy. They said, “I knew we couldn’t trust him! He wants us to starve. He does not care about us!”

The second group were the accusers. These people perceived the Sower as incompetent. They said, “I thought we could trust him, but it turns out this guy has no idea what he is doing. Look at his field!”

The third group were the defenders. These people loved and trusted the Sower deeply. So much so that they felt the need to explain every evil thing in a way that made the Sower look good. They said, “Everything the Sower does, he does on purpose. There is a plan here that we simply do not understand!”

And finally, there were the lovers. These people also loved and trusted the Sower deeply, but unlike everyone else, they knew the Sower. What they saw growing in the field did not match what they knew about his character. They said, “This is unlike the Sower. Why don’t we go ask him?”

SLIDE And that is exactly what the workers do.

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?’

SLIDE The answer the Sower gives is not deep, it is just a matter of fact:

28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’

For all their presumption and strong feelings, the truth is remarkably simple. The Sower did not plant the weeds. The Sower did not want the weeds. The Sower did not need the weeds. There was no mysterious purpose behind the weeds.

After a tragedy, many well-intentioned people often say, “Everything happens for a reason.” I think there is something genuine about this sentiment. It is surrendering control, trusting his wisdom and providence, acknowledging his sovereignty, omniscience, and omnipotence, and allowing God to remain a mystery.

But it can also make a dangerous assumption: that God is responsible for the evil we are trying to explain.

SLIDE: Imagine someone you love is killed by a drunk driver.

In your grief, someone puts their arm around you and says, “Everything happens for a reason. God has a plan.”

Maybe they mean to comfort you. Maybe they are trying to remind you that God is still present and that your life has not fallen outside his care.

SLIDE: But think about what they have just implied.

God wanted the driver drunk.

God wanted the crash.

God wanted the person you love dead.

And perhaps, if you could see everything God sees, you would understand why he needed it to happen.

The key word here is implied, because that is where the logic leads. God had a plan, and of all the infinite resources available to him, the only way he could accomplish that plan was to end someone else’s life.

I don’t think that is what most people mean when they say, “Everything happens for a reason.” But it is worth asking whether that is the kind of God our explanation requires.

But sometimes the answer is not that deep.

SLIDE: God did not do this. This is not part of God’s plan.

Pastoral Empathy

Before we continue, I want to acknowledge that this may be extremely hard for some of us to hear because of the deeply painful experiences we have had and the enormous losses we still carry. We want so deeply to believe that our suffering is not pointless. That God is not wasting our tears.

And some of you may even object because you have a personal testimony of suffering that once seemed meaningless but, looking back, became profoundly meaningful.

If that is you, let me just say: I hear you, and I see you.

And I want to invite you, just for a moment, to consider another way of seeing it. One that might reveal a God who is even bigger and more beautiful than the one you have imagined.

Sin is Meaningless

SLIDE In the creation story, in God’s design of the heavens and the earth, everything has a role and function, a purpose and a direction. However, Sin, with all its suffering and pain, appears with no purpose and function. SLIDE: Ellen White says in The Great Controversy,

It is impossible to so explain the origin of sin as to give a reason for its existence… Sin is an intruder, for whose presence no reason can be given. It is mysterious, unaccountable; to excuse it, is to defend it. Could excuse for it be found, or cause be shown for its existence, it would cease to be sin (Ellen Gould White, The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan; Great Controversy (Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1888), 492–493.)

Slide: In other words, sin has no God-given purpose. And neither does the suffering it unleashes upon the world.

Consider how the loss of a loved one, a job, our health, a marriage, a relationship, our self-esteem, or our self-control can produce this profound sense of meaninglessness. Sin eats away at our will to live by stripping from life the dignity of purpose God gave it in the beginning.

But—

SLIDE God is in the business of redemption.

He brings meaning and restores what sin takes away from us. Our suffering might be meaningless, but God can take the broken pieces of our lives and make us new. Paul says in 2 Corinthians that he who is in Christ, the old has gone; the new has come. He is a new creation.”

SLIDES:  The Old is gone because it has no purpose; it was not part of God’s plan. But in the crashing of the ages, God pillages hell to make the wastelands new.

My friends, if good can come out of the darkness of our lives, it is not because God needed the darkness in order to make the good. It is because God is a redeemer.

It is because Isaiah says that God can take the ashes of our lives and give us a crown of beauty. He can take our mourning and give us the oil of gladness. He can take our despair and clothe us in praise (Isaiah 61:1-3).

Are there moments when God tests us? When God disciplines us? Absolutely, but Psalm 30 says, “For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime.” While God’s discipline and tests refine us, sin dehumanizes and destroys us. Knowing the difference matters, especially when we are going through it.

SLIDE Looking at the landscape of this earth, we might ask Jesus the same questions the workers did,

27 … ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’

Jesus, did you not sow the Kingdom of Heaven on the earth? How then is there evil intertwined with good?

SLIDE And Jesus would offer us the same answer

28 … ‘An enemy has done this.’

Our parable is not yet finished. Two verses and Jesus’ explanation remain. But our time together this morning is up, so we’ll finish this parable next time.

In the meantime, I want to leave you with a challenge from today’s teaching and a question to ponder as we look ahead.

First, the challenge:

SLIDE Are there moments in my life when I have been a defender instead of a lover? And how would I relate to God differently if I heard him say, “An enemy has done this”?

And then, the question for next time:

SLIDE This is a kingdom parable. What does this parable tell us about God’s rule and reign—and, ultimately, about how God will judge?