Weeds And Seeds

Weeds and Seeds – Matthew 13: 24-30

Intro: Gloria thought of herself as a good Christian mother. One day she allowed her son, Timmy to play in the back yard of their home. Afterall, it was fenced on all sides and nothing could really hurt him. When Gloria went outside to the backyard to take Timmy a glass of Kool aide, he was nowhere to be found. Gloria was frantic. She searched everywhere and in desperation went to the house next door where Timmy’s best friend, Carol lived. Carol’s mother searched the house and yard and couldn’t find Carol. Both mothers were now frantic. In desperation they searched the neighborhood ending at the park at the end of the block where they found both Carol and Timmy. When they returned home, Gloria asked Timmy why they went to the park. He said Carol knew the way and she persuaded Timmy to go with her. Gloria shared this parable of Jesus with Timmy and told him that sometimes, people can be a “weed” that lead us to do bad things. Timmy said, “So Carol is like a weed.” “Yes,” Gloria answered. The next day at preschool Timmy was passing out the snack napkins and when he placed the napkin in front of Carol he said, “And one for Carol, the weed.”

I In the parable of the wheat and weeds, Jesus continues the theme of disseminating the message of God’s reign in the world with mixed results,

A This is the 2nd of 7 parables recorded in Matthew. It is important to understand that the field represents the world, not merely the church.

B This parable is not about the soil. It is about three things: 1) the enemy, 2) the weeds, and 3) the wheat.

C It is essential for our understanding of the parable to look more deeply into those three things.

II VS. 25 “While everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away.” Nobody likes weeds. We dig them out and even spray to kill them. Sometimes, it appears there are more weeds than seeds in our world.

A In this parable the weeds don’t just appear. They aren’t naturally there. An “enemy” scatters the seeds of the weeds in the field. Who is this enemy?

B In the Greek here the word used is echthros / e????? which can be translated into English as adversary / enemy/ foe / satan.

C Jesus is speaking here about the “kingdom of heaven.” Therefore, it would be appropriate to translate the word “enemy” to mean Satan. We know that Satan, the Devil is one who falsely accuses and divides people w/o any reason. Who in our “world” can we identify as “the enemy?”

III VVS. 26 – 30 tell us the fate of both the weeds and the wheat. The weeds in the parable are not just any weeds. In some translations the word weed is translated as “tares” which are common weeds that would have been well-known to the listeners of Jesus.

A The Greek word used here for “weeds or tares” is zizanion / ????????. It is usually translated as “false grain” but at the time of Jesus it referred to a common botanical species known as Bearded darnel. This weed closely resembles wheat or grass rye which is very difficult to tell the difference. The roots of bearded darnel surround those of the wheat and can suck up the precious nutrients and water.

B Only when the wheat and darnel are fully grown can they be easily identified. The seeds of darnel are poisonous to humans and animals. It is therefore very important to separate the two.

C The master in the parable forbids the servants to weed out the darnel. This should not be interpreted as a call to passivity in the face of evil. It is imperative to note here that wheat cannot become darnel and darnel can never become wheat even though they closely resemble each other.

Concl: This parable shows us what God’s kingdom is like. It is a kingdom where everyone has value and is necessary. It is a place where the message of Christ Jesus is shared without judgment or prejudice for it is only God who can really judge a person’s heart. Is our church family a place where no one is judged for their actions or their lack of commitment? We must realize there may be factions and divisions. What we must remember is that we are good seeds for the kingdom. Weeds cannot really become wheat. They may look like wheat, smell like wheat, and produce seeds, like wheat; but, it is only God who can truly tell the difference between weeds and seeds.