Are You A Weed?

10th Sunday Pentecost

Proper 11

Lectionary 16

Matthew 13: 23-30,36-43

"Are You A Weed?"

24* Another parable he put before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field;

25* but while 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 householder came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then has it weeds?’

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

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, “He who sows the good seed is the Son of man;

38 the field is the world, and the good seed means 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 close 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 close 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 evildoers,

42 and throw them into the furnace of fire; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.

43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

Grace abd pease to you from our Lord and Savoiur, Jesus who is the Christ. Amen

Are you a weed?? That’s a strange question isn’t it. Are you a weed?? But that is just the question our gospel lesson is asking each of us. Are we weeds?? Our gospel text concerns the difference between weeds and wheat in a field. Jesus tells a parable about farmer who sowed some wheat seeds into his field. Everything was going good, until one day his servants noticed that some weeds which looked just like the wheat were growing up in the field also. They ran to the owner and asked him about the kinds of seeds that he used. He said that an enemy has sown the bad seed in his field and that he had used good seed. Then the servants being eager to make the field look good again, asked if they should go and pull out the weeds. But the master says no, because until the weeds and the wheat ripen no one could really tell them apart and they might disturb the good wheat along with trying to pull up the weeds. He tells them that they should leave the fields alone, and then when the wheat is ready for harvest, the weeds will have bloomed also, and one could tell the difference. Then the harvesters could come and pull out the weeds and burn them, and gather the harvest of wheat next.

Jesus then explains the parable by saying that the sower or the master is the Son of God, the field is the world, and the good seed are the sons or people of the kingdom of God and the bad seeds or the weeds are the sons of the evil one or the devil who sowed them into the field. Jesus then says that you cannot tell the difference between these two groups of people, but when the close of the age comes, and the harvest of the world is ready, then the angels will separate the evil ones from tile righteous ones. The evil ones will be burned and the righteous people will live with him for eternity.

Now the question can be asked, which are you, the weeds or the wheat? This parable was not told so that we might go around and judge others and decide who is a weed and who is wheat. Jesus says loud and clear that is his responsibility, it is the function of the Father and his angels. But the parable is for one to take a close look at his or her live with the understanding that one can judge ones own heart and then repent and bear good fruit. So today, we don’t want you to look at your neighbor and say, well, pastor is really talking about you. Today’s sermon is addressed to each of us individually, it is a time to look at ones own sins, at the way one conducts ones own life, then make a decision about repentance for your own life and turning around and bearing fruit fur Jesus.