Our Focus Bible reading for this Sunday is Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
Jesus presented to them another parable saying… “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while the men were sleeping, their enemy came and sowed darnels [weeds] among the wheat, and he went away. When the wheat sprouted and produced fruit, then the darnels also appeared… He who has ears, let him hear.”
As you read or watched the news, maybe you’ve wondered, “How the world has gotten to this point?” It is one headline after another: wars, natural disasters, injustice, lies, intolerance, abuse, violence, humanitarian emergencies. And these are just a few. It seems the world is out of control. The people who gathered on that beach to hear Jesus tell them stories had experienced oppression from Rome. Even among their own people, they had watched the rich get richer while the poor get poorer. Life wasn’t fair. and then, you may want to know, how could God allow God’s people to continue to suffer, while evil seemed to flourish around them? Yet here was Jesus, telling them stories about farming! Who cares about weed control when the world is falling apart around you? Where, then, did these weeds come from?” We often live with the assumption that if we do good, work hard, and be nice everything should work out as we want. That is the reasoning of the workers in this Sunday’s parable. “Master,” they ask the farmer, “Didn’t you sowed good seed in the field?” Of course he did! That is why they are so surprised when they discover weeds among the wheat. This is not supposed to happen. “Where, did these weeds come from?” We want an explanation and someone we can blame, hold accountable, and even punish. Jesus, however, seems less interested in this approach than we are. He doesn’t give it much time or attention. “An enemy has done this,” he says. That’s it. He doesn’t identify or name the enemy. He doesn’t give instructions to find, drive out, or punish this enemy. This parable of the weeds has something in common with the one we heard last week; both teach us about judgment. Judgment will come, and evil will be destroyed – but not yet. The kingdom has already broken into our world in the person of Jesus Christ and is already at work among us through the Holy Spirit. The seed is being scattered. There is still opportunity to harvest. But what about those weeds? What do we do about them? Not according to Jesus. “Let them grow together among the wheat until the harvest,” he says. That makes no sense!
We invite you to join us at worship this Sunday at 2:30 pm. to continue learning from this wonderful Gospel and the message of the Parable of the Weeds to our lives.
We will be praying for you and your family. Please include us in your prayers as well.
Dear God, we thank You for Your Word. We recognize that in this world, good and evil coexist, and that we are often surrounded by difficulties and weeds. We ask you to grant us the wisdom and patience necessary not to judge quickly, trusting that you are the only righteous judge. Amen!
See you at worship!