July 17, 2005
Matthew 13: 24-30, 36-43
9Th Sunday after Pentecost Series A
The Parable of the Weeds
Grace Mercy and Peace from God The Father and our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ
One of my favorite persons in the Bible is the Apostle Peter. I can
easily identify with him. Artists have depicted him as large and
rather hairy. He spoke sometimes without thinking -- He was
handy with the sword -- and he liked mountain top experiences.
More importantly --- He clearly stated that Jesus is the anointed
one -- the Christ -- the long awaited Messiah the son of the living
God.
Jesus said that this statement of faith is the rock upon which the
church is to be built. Later, in moments of panic, Peter denied
Jesus -- yet Jesus lovingly reinstated Peter at one of His post
resurrection visits. After Peter’s Pentecost experience, he was
full of the Holy Spirit and he boldly stated -- while deep in hostile
territory -- I might add-- That salvation is found only in Jesus. (Acts
4-12). This confession of faith at that time and place was bold and
not “politically correct” -- Even today it makes people nervous ---
it offends some --they ask “ what about all the good people that
don’t trust in Jesus” ? The world and some compromising
Christians think we are narrow minded when we speak the truth in
love -- the exclusivity of Jesus as the only way to the Father is
however Biblically correct.(John 14:6) In Peter’s second epistle he
makes an appropriate comment. He said some people distort
scriptures, to their own destruction. (2 Peter 3:16)
Today’s Gospel reading has been misinterpreted and distorted by
some throughout history.
Verse 38 says the field is the world -- not the church -- this is
essential for the proper understanding of this parable. The good
seed stands for the sons of the kingdom --- those who trust Jesus as
their savior ---- the weeds are the sons of the evil one. Jesus is
saying that He will take care of the weeds when He is ready.
There is a message here for the Jews of Jesus’ time that might go
right over our heads but they would most likely understand. ---
Remember Matthew was writing from a Jewish world view for a
Jewish audience. The weeds represent the other nations -- the
gentiles. The Israelites had a long unpleasant co-existence with the
gentile nations. Slavery in Egypt, constant battle with other people
in Canaan and domination by world powers such as the the
Assyrians, the Babylonians, The Persians, The Greeks and at the
time of Jesus the Romans. The Jews were expecting a Messiah
that would lead them to military victory resulting in annihilation or
slavery for the Gentile nations. The nation of Israel was told by the
prophets to be a light to the gentiles -- not an executioner -- but the
message was not accepted. Jesus said in essence --- leave them
alone they are my problem. Christians at various times in history
have not followed this advice and have distorted these words of
scripture. For example much of Europe was evangelized by the
sword. Maybe that explains why that after only 11 or 12 centuries
-- a day or two in God’s perspective -- most Europeans are
Christian in name only and the churches are for the most part
museums.
The message of the Bible clearly states to trust in Jesus for our
salvation -- For it is by Grace that we have been saved --through
faith -- We can not save ourselves.
Remember, the field is the world --- not the church -- as we trust
Jesus for our salvation we can also trust Him to deal with the
weeds in the world at a time of His choosing not ours.
Admittedly, our world situation makes this a difficult task at times.
We look in certain places and from a distance see all weeds and no
wheat. The weeds -- the sons of the evil one -- demonstrate
hostility towards us and cause injury and death. For now we can
and should defend ourselves --but Jesus will see that they are
thrown into the fiery furnace. This will happen on Jesus’ schedule
and by His will not ours. It may, after all, be His plan that their
hearts be changed. Jesus does not want us, in our misplaced zeal,
to cut short any man’s time of Grace.
Are there weeds in the Church? -- Todays lesson does not deal
with this issue. -- We need to make distinctions here -- remember
the weeds are the sons of the evil one -- not the sons of the
kingdom who are beggars at the foot of the cross -- trusting in Jesus
---- knowing that we are sinners -- helpless to save ourselves ---
yet clothed in the righteousness of Jesus. And the distinction is
this: We are the sons of the kingdom even though we -- at times --
act like the weeds. The reverse is also true --- there are weeds that
ACT like Christians but are really weeds -- These are the
hypocrites. Quoting my Bible Commentary since this is a delicate
area ---- “Many hypocrites , if not most of them practice their
hypocrisy successfully until their dying day. (Matthew 7: 21-23: 22:11-12)
We can not play God by Judging their hearts, We must leave them
to Him who knows and judges the thoughts and intents in men’s
hearts.”
There have other been wrong conclusions drawn from this parable.
Jesus’ words --”let them both --- the wheat and the weeds --- grow
together until the harvest has erroneously been taken to mean that
the church -- either a local congregation or national body should
not exclude from its fellowship those who have become obvious
sons of wickedness --- and I repeat -- obvious Sons of wickedness.
Although we all sin -- we are still the children of the kingdom -- If
only perfect people came here --- the church would be empty. We
have a process of Christian admonition with the sole purpose of
restoring the brother or sister that is a ---- persistent ---
unrepentant --- and defiant sinner. Rather than putting them out or
excluding them from fellowship . (Matthew 18:15-18; 1 Cor 5:1-5,12,13) the goal is
always to gently return the brother or sister to fellowship with
Christ and His church. St. Paul writes in Galations 6:1 Brothers,
if someone is overcome by some sin, you who are spiritual should
restore him gently... St. Paul puts the whole matter into
perspective for us in 1 Corinthians 5:12-13 when he deals with an
unrepentant sinner in the Corinthian church. Paul writes “ What
business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you
not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside.” -- Paul
says “Expel the wicked man from among you“ (Deut 17:7; 19:19; 22:21,24; 24:7)
The wicked unrepentant man Paul refers to is mentioned again in 2
Corinthians 2: 5-11. He has shown genuine sorrow and repentance
for his sin and Paul states that he should be lovingly restored to
their fellowship. There is always room for pardon and restoration.
----- Some compromising churches have apparently lost this part of
the bible. The weeds that they permit to grow will destroy their
church bodies. (Rev. 2:20ff )
When the wheat is very young and the weeds are very young they
are difficult to tell apart. The Greek word which is translated with
weeds designates a plant -- probably darnel -- which has foliage
much like that of wheat. Its grass like appearance could easily
deceive the eye. As the plants mature the distinction becomes
clear. This is true for us as well -- as we mature as Christians -- as
we become discipled -- we are sanctified -- that is made holier by
the action of the Holy Spirit ---- we become more spiritual and less
worldly.( 1 Cor 3:1-3) This happens as we hear the word of God,
receive Holy Communion, study the word of God, pray regularly
and associate with other mature Christians in bible study and acts
of servanthood in the church and in the community done in the
name of Jesus. --- As we mature we look more like the wheat and
less like the weeds and are less likely to act like the weeds. If we
reject Christian maturity, if we do not stay close to Christ in word
and sacrament, we start to resemble the weeds.
We fail sometimes to relish the easy yoke that Jesus has given us.
We are unsettled, unsatisfied -- we work for all the wrong reasons
-- we live beyond what God has provided for us -- we try to live
lavish lives -- we want to own a bunch of “stuff” -- we try to
impress others with our possessions -- we take exotic vacations --
we run up credit card debt and struggle to pay for items that have
exceeded their usefulness or have long ago been consumed. By
failing to be content with God’s provision for our lives, we have
replaced our freedom with a financial bondage --- stifling our lives
and forcing ourselves to rob God. We give GOD what we have left
over --- after we indulge ourselves --- rather than giving Him the
first fruits of our labor that He expects and deserves.
I grieve over the consequences of sin that I see in peoples lives.
Yes we are forgiven but there often are consequences. Last Friday
in our newspaper there was a story of a woman pleading guilty for
stealing $142,000 dollars from her employer, a Christian ministry.
She wrote checks for college tuition for her children and shopping
trips for herself over a five year period. --- She will be forced to
make restitution and serve time in jail for at least nine months. The
worst case scenario is jail for 987 years and two million in fines.
The money that she stole was from employee payroll deductions
that she failed to deposit with the Internal Revenue Service. -----
An organization that takes very seriously Matthew 22:21 “Give to
Caesar what is Caesar’s...” ---- She had a fine reputation in the
community, was active in a variety of areas and did a lot of good.
It all started with a violation of one of God’s principles --
contentment in all circumstances (Phil 4-11-13) which then lead to
actual violation of His laws concerning, coveting, stealing, lying
and idolatry. She has confessed, We know that God has forgiven
her, her congregation has forgiven her but she will live the rest of
her life with a tarnished reputation, restitution payments, jail time
and a criminal record. Sadly the ministry she mis-managed has
ceased to serve the community because of her actions.
Paul wrote in Phillipians 4:11-13 “I have learned to be content
whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be poor and I
know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being
content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry,
whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through
him who gives me strength.” As we grow spiritually -- as we
become more “Christ-Like” in our behavior, as we realize that God
owns everything, --- as we put God and the support of His work as
our reason for existing, -- we will act less and less like the weeds
and more and more like the Lord of the universe.
In The Name of Jesus
