Parable of the Weeds
Notes
Transcript
Today’s Gospel lectionary reading is another parable - sounds like last weeks one
Has different focus & message
Parable of sower addresses how people hear & receive God’s gospel message
Parable of weeds focuses on God’s Kingdom in world
So going to break down parable into 3 parts - Field & Enemy; Wheat & Weeds; Growth & Harvest
Try understand what it might say to us today (slide)
The Field & The Enemy
The Field & The Enemy
Again in this parable - Jesus uses same picture language farming - sowing seed
Way to describe what God’s Kingdom is like
Or as way to help us understand how God’s Kingdom exists / functions (slide)
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.
Key elements focus on - field & enemy
Later on in chapter Jesus gives some explanation what parable means
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 sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons 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.
So we see field represents world & enemy represents devil - Jesus is owner of field
So in Jesus paints view of world - God is creator (slide)
We know this from 1st verse of bible
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
But even though this is God’s creation he’s well aware of presence of evil at work in world through devil
When read gospels - see evidence of devil working evil against Jesus (slide)
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.
Devil tried to tempt Jesus away from God’s purpose for him & subvert God’s plans
Even though devil wasn’t completely sure what God / Jesus were up too..
But he did everything he could to stop Jesus -
By using Jesus own disciple & friend’s human weaknesses against Jesus… (slide)
The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus.
Eventually leading to Jesus death on cross
Even though God always had upper hand defeating devil...
He continues to work evil - as Peter warns us (slide)
Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
illus - We often don’t think about there being subversive evil power & presence at work in world
Its not a thought any of us wants to dwell on
But one look at news headlines and its hard not to deny presence of evil at work...
So Jesus parable addressing front on one of hardest questions people struggle with
whether they have faith or not
If God is creator (all powerful, all knowing etc) & God’s Kingdom was initiated with Jesus arrival...
And if Jesus defeat devil, sin, & death on cross…
Then why is our world still suffering from evil?
That’s not all - if you look at parable further realise Jesus telling us...
not everything happens in world can be attributed to or is caused by or is from God
In fact parable telling Jesus isn’t surprised by presence of evil in world...
So if God has limitless love & grace + sovereign over everything - what’s going on? (slide)
The Wheat & The Weeds
The Wheat & The Weeds
That brings us to wheat & weeds
Remember field is world, Jesus sows wheat seeds, enemy sows weeds (slide)
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 root up the wheat with them.
What happens next is both start sprouting & growing together
So in God’s world both evil & good exist - battling it out for survival
Now Jewish people believed when God’s chosen prophet / messiah would come...
God save Israel from Romans, seperate & judge evil people...
restore world, establish His forever Kingdom as per OT prophets
So when Jesus arrived & demonstrated he was prophet with Spirit of God & power
Preaching God’s message of repentance & salvation & performing miracles
they all thought he’d be one who’d fix everything right then (slide)
You can see from vs people originally thought John Baptist was Messiah
The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Christ.
But he said no he wasn’t & when Jesus arrive he pointed everyone to Jesus
But even John Baptist believed Jesus was going to fix everything right then… (slide)
to ask him, “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?”
But was only once Jesus resurrected & God sent Spirit - Jesus followers began understand God’s plan
God initiated / begun to establish His Kingdom through Jesus - process had begun
So Pauls writes in Romans… (slides)
What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory— even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?
God revealed his plan & intentions for His Kingdom & world through Jesus & now Church
God’s Kingdom is present in this world in part now through Church - God’s family, His ambassadors
God wants Church to tell world of His patient mercy, limitless love & grace for all people
And so He waits & waits, delaying final judgment so as many as possible come to faith, enter kingdom
Paul in Romans - gives glimpse of tension between those who will receive God’s riches in glory - Church
And those who are remain outside God’s Kingdom, those who remain under judgment of sin, evil, & death
But want you to notice subtlety in parable easily missed re. balance between God’s Kingdom & devil’s world (slide)
“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?’
Normally when planting fields of wheat - might have a few weeds appear
If they sprouted - farmer / workers pull them out once they were noticed
But servants / workers have to come to field owner & tell him his field was overrun with weeds
There’s so many - have to ask owner “where did weeds come from? Did you accidentally sow weeds?” (slide)
“ ‘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 root up the wheat with them.
Notice owner - He knows was work of someone malicious - field is overrun
No way wheat could be saved until fully grown - hard to tell wheat from weeds
Both entangled by roots - weeds in Palestine look like wheat until fully grown
So Jesus was saying - God’s Kingdom present now but at moment hard to tell where it is / differentiate it from world
When we look around at world today - don’t see a lot of God’s Kingdom presence (slide)
Illus - Study done in 2017 by Lifeway Research - Nashville -
survey 1,000 Americans looked at 13 service programs run by churches
asked if they’d heard of churches or church members being involved in those activities in past 6 mths
60% heard Churches feeding hungry; 50% heard churches giving clothes to poor -
Other 11 service programs went generally unnoticed
So not only could we ask - why is God allowing evil in world (Slide)
Might also ask - why isn’t Church having greater influence in world?
The Growth & The Harvest
The Growth & The Harvest
Well time for good news!! Or perhaps gain healthier perspective
Let’s remind ourselves - through parable Jesus painting picture what God’s Kingdom would be like
Jesus saying God’s people would be mixed in with other people in world
At times look like was being overrun, hard to tell difference between two
But that there’d come specific point in future when God would call time on our universe (slide)
When Harvest was ripe & ready to be seperated out & collected into barns
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.’ ”
In other words - Jesus telling us there’s count down to end of all things
At some point its going to reach zero - that will be when God returns to seperate out His people from world...
Then judge those who’ve decided rebel against God’s moral law & reject His love, grace & mercy
Who’ve chosen instead to pursue own way of living - chosen rebellion, evil, & sin (slide)
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 fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Jesus explanation of Harvest in Parable - pretty bleak picture isn’t it
BUT… Paul reminds us all creation is waiting for time when God does end it all (slide)
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
Its time when God’s glory will be present & visible throughout all creation
We experience true freedom from sickness, death, injustice, pain, fear, loss, & presence of evil / devil
Going be wonderful place where all God’s people live in peace with God in restored renewed creation
Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.
Jesus says even we as God’s people will suddenly be revealed as reflecting God’s glory, righteousness
We’re resurrected or transformed into a truly new creation like Jesus
But we’re not there yet - God’s judgment is delayed because of God’s love, mercy & grace towards all people
Apostle John said God desires none to perish but all to come to eternal life in Christ
The world is going through process where God’s Kingdom & World are slowly being separated
Where God’s people will grow to be less like world & more like God’s Children
But you might be sitting thinking this is all very dark & depressing
I want something to cheer me up, something to make me feel better about life
Well we can either see parable as either negative / dark - or positive / light
It all depends on what world we want to identify with
If you identify with weeds - world devil runs rampant in, causing evil, destruction & death
World full darkness, despair, injustice, war, disease; offers fragile hope, temporary happiness
But a world God wants to save, world God loves, world Jesus gave His life for to redeem
World God in mercy waits & waits & waits for humanity to respond to his free offer of love & grace
OR we can choose to identify with wheat - with God’s world which promises end - evil, destruction, disease, death
Where they’ll be true peace, real rest, fulfilment & meaning in every day, permanent sense of wellness
Where there’s true equality, absence of injustice, intimate genuine relationships with God & others
Restored renewed creation, beauty & wonder with every gaze & an eternity to explore it all (slide)
We’re in middle of a long process - like my internship - here’s some of last years graduates...
Life today can be daunting, overwhelming at times, it challenges us,
sometimes seems too hard, impossible to get through… But it’s process that has definite ending
Regardless of how many weeds see around us - let’s choose to stand tall & identify as wheat / God’s people
Let’s pray we can be one of those who will stand out in field - someone God will use to draw others to him
Let’s pray
Heavenly Father
We struggle with our current world where evil, sickness, injustice & death seems overwhelming
We struggle with Jesus message which reveals humanity is destined to be judged
We think of all those we know & love who may not know you - who might be weeds & not wheat
And we acknowledge this makes us fearful, sad, angry, confused...
But we take comfort today in your grace, your mercy, & your love for all of creation
And that you are long-suffering - desiring no one to perish… and so you continue to wait
To allow more time for everyone to have an opportunity to come to know you personally
So we pray your Spirit would tug on hearts of our family, friends, neighbours
And draw them all to a saving faith in Jesus death & resurrection -
so they may find real forgiveness, acceptance love, peace, & genuine hope for the future
Give us the courage & opportunity that we can share the gospel of hope with all those you bring before us
In Jesus Christ’s name we pray