Tenth Sunday after Pentecost July 20, 2008 The Rev. Charles Henrickson The What and the Why of the Weeds and the Wheat (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43)
Last week we heard Jesus tell us the Parable of the Sower, from Matthew 13. Todays Gospel reading likewise comes from Matthew 13; its the Parable of the Weeds and the Wheat. In fact, Matthew 13 is a whole chapter full of parables, seven of them altogether. Some of these parables are shorter, some are longer. Some are explained by Jesus, some of them are left unexplained. Todays parable is one of the longer ones in the chapter, and Jesus does explain it. Therefore, what it means is pretty straightforward--Jesus decodes the story for us. Why he tells us this parable, though, that is not as immediately apparent. But we can still get there from here. Today then we want to take up both the interpretation and the application of this parable, as we consider The What and the Why of the Weeds and the Wheat. We start with the story itself. Jesus tells it: The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 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? 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? But he said, No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. 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. Like many of Jesus parables, this one is agricultural in nature. It was an agrarian society, and these stories used images and categories familiar to the hearers. So this one uses the familiar imagery of a landowner sowing seed in his field. But an element of tension is introduced when a bad guy comes at night and sows bad seed into that same field. Weeds are sown among the wheat. The weeds are such that at first, when they start growing, they dont look a whole lot different from the growing wheat. But when the workers do notice that there are weeds mixed in with the wheat, they ask the master whether they should go right away and take out the weeds. The master says, No, let it wait. Well do the separating at the time of the harvest. Thats when Ill instruct the reapers to take the weeds to be burned and the wheat to the barn. End of story. So here weve got a story with at least seven elements in it: a sower, a field, good seed, weeds, an enemy, a harvest, and reapers. Now in some parables, not all the details need to be decoded; theyre just there to fill out the telling of the story. But in this one, we can successfully decode all of these elements. We can do this with confidence, because Jesus himself provides us with the decoding. Jesus interprets the story for us, explaining what each of the images stands for. Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field, the disciples ask. And Jesus does just that: The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the close of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the close of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Jesus decodes each of the seven images. The sower: the Son of Man, that is, Jesus himself. The field: the world. The good seed: the sons of the kingdom, that is, Christians, believers, the righteous. The weeds: the sons of the evil one, that is, unbelievers, the wicked. The enemy: the devil. The harvest: the close of the age, the end of this age, when the separation of the righteous and the wicked will occur. The reapers: angels. So the interpretation, the what of the story, is pretty straightforward. In this world, Christ has his Christians, those who listen to him and follow him and believe in him, those who are counted righteous for his sake in his kingdom of grace. These are the sons of the kingdom, which means they will receive the wonderful inheritance that is waiting for them in the kingdom of glory. But in this world, mixed in among the Christians, there are also unbelievers, those who do not trust in Christ or follow him. They are sons of the evil one, for they remain enticed and captivated by the devil, the enemy of our souls. In this world, it is not always or immediately outwardly apparent which are the sons of the kingdom and which are the sons of the evil one. They could look somewhat alike. And they are all mixed up, the righteous and the wicked, the believers and the unbelievers, living in the same world, maybe even in the same community. But there will be an unmixing, a final separation. At the close of this current age, Christ will send his angels to do the separating. The sons of the evil one will share in the devils negative inheritance, if you can call it that: being cast into the fire of hell, that place of judgment and eternal torment. The sons of the kingdom, the righteous, will share in and shine in the bright glory won for them by Christ: eternal life in the kingdom of our heavenly Father. Thats the what of the story. It is very clear. Of course, it is not very popular in our day to be this clear. You could say, this Parable of the Weeds and the Wheat goes against the grain--no pun intended! For notice, there are only two types of people in this parable--only two types of people in this world: The sons of the kingdom and the sons of the evil one. The righteous and the wicked. The Christians and the unbelievers. Contrary to popular opinion, there are not many roads to God. There is just one, and that is, through Christ. This goes against the popular mindset of our Oprah-esque, universalist culture. And that there will be a final judgment, with a heaven and a hell, this too goes against the grain. But yes, Jesus does teach the reality of hell. He does this a lot, actually, in many places in the gospels. There will be a final judgment, a separation, with two very different outcomes: on the one hand, the kingdom of heaven for those who by faith in Christ are counted righteous, and, on the other hand, the damnation of hell for those who reject the only Savior there is and thus remain condemned in their sins. These realities are as unpopular in our culture as they are clearly taught by Christ. They are both. But Jesus teaches it, so therefore we preach it. Now we come to the why question: Why does Jesus give us this parable? We know what it says, but why does Jesus tell us this story? From interpretation we move to application. What are we to get out of this? What is the impact, the intended effect, the why of what Jesus has just told us? After all, he says, as he often does, He who has ears, let him hear. What does Jesus want us to hear? Three things, at least. 1) Ask yourself, Where am I in this story? Am I one of the sons of the kingdom or one of the sons of the evil one? Am I among the righteous or with the wicked? In other words, am I listening to and following and believing in Jesus, or am I following some other way? If you are not sure where you fit in this story, then repent. If you do know you belong to Christ, then rejoice. This is a parable of warning, among other things, warning you of the coming judgment. And it is a parable of salvation, showing you very clearly where salvation is to be found, namely, in Christ. Flee the coming judgment by taking refuge in Christ Jesus, the Savior God has provided for all men. There still is time; the final judgment is not yet. Therefore now is the day of salvation. The doors of grace are open. Jesus is your Savior. He died for you. On the cross Christ endured the judgment your sins deserve, that you might receive his righteousness, his resurrection, and live forevermore in his kingdom. 2) Everything is tied to Christ. The kingdom, our sonship in it, our righteousness, our eternal future--everything! Jesus comes as the revealer of the kingdom. He makes the kingdom known to us, as he does in this parable. Indeed, Jesus brings in the kingdom of heaven here on earth and brings us into it. Notice, Jesus is the Sower in this story. He is the one who plants us as good seed in his field. He has given us life and made us what we are. We are sons of the kingdom because of the Son, the Son of God, Jesus Christ our Lord. He is the truly righteous one, righteous in himself, and by faith in him we become the righteous. We stand justified, righteous before God, for Christs sake. Therefore, as sons of the kingdom, we will share in his inheritance, joint heirs with Christ of the glory to be revealed when he comes again. Everything good in this parable--everything good we have now and everything we have to look forward to--it is all tied to Christ, the Son of God, the bringer of the kingdom, our Savior. And so, finally: 3) Its not going to go on like this forever, this mixed-up state we live in here in this world. There is something better in store for us. Right now we are living in a mixed-up world. The devil has been at work. The world is full of weeds, all around us. This causes us consternation and discouragement. Sin and scandal, offenses and causes of stumbling, lawlessness and law-breakers--this is the world we live in. Life as a Christian is not easy. How long, O Lord, how long? The answer comes in this parable: Not forever. A day is coming, dear Christians. The day we long for, the Savior we long for, is coming. Pauls words in Romans fit right in here: For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. Yes, we wait with eager longing for that day. This parable Jesus tells us today, this is a parable of hope, of encouragement! We have something to look forward to! When that final harvest comes, we, the sons of the kingdom, will be gathered in and receive the inheritance that is ours in Christ, the glories of the age to come. And so we pray: Even so, Lord, quickly come To Thy final harvest home. Gather Thou Thy people in, Free from sorrow, free from sin, There, forever purified, In Thy garner to abide: Come, with all Thine angels, come, Raise the glorious harvest home. - - - - - You can listen to the services of St. Matthew Lutheran Church-Bonne Terre, Missouri, on the radio and over the Internet. Each Sunday morning, 8:15-8:45 (Central), we broadcast 30 minutes from the previous week's service on KREI, AM 800 in the Farmington-Bonne Terre area, and streaming online at: http://www.krei.com Charles Henrickson 4749 Melissa Jo Ln St. Louis, MO 63128 (314) 845-8811 (home) (314) 779-8108 (cell) [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________________________________________________ 'CAT 41 Sermons & Devotions' consists of works that are, unless otherwise noted, the copyrighted property of the various authors; posting of such gives members of this list implied consent for redistribution _with_ _attribution_ unless otherwise specified by the author, as well as for quoting or use in a congregational setting _with_or_without_attribution_. Note: This list's default reply is to the *poster*, NOT the list. Do *not* reply to the list with your comments, but to the poster. Subscribe? Send ANY note to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe? 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