Putting up with the Weeds



Matthew 13:24-30
24He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field,
25but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away.
26So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also.
27And 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?’
28He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’
29But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them.
30Let 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.’”
31He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field.
32It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”
33He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”
34All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable.
35This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet: “I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world.”
 36Then 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.”
37He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.
38The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one,
39and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.
40Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age.
41The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers,
42and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
43Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

“We may treat the parables of the Weeds, the Mustard Seed, and the Leaven together for three reasons. First, they are a triad of reign of heaven/God parables that Jesus speaks to the crowds who are not his disciples. Second, these three parables are set off from the triad that follows; Jesus will tell the latter grouping in the house and only to the disciples. Third, these parables seem to share a common major theme, namely, that Jesus’ ministry entails an important not yet character. These little stories all insist that the reign of God is now happening in Jesus’ ministry in an unspectacular way that the unbelieving crowds find unsatisfying.”
Gibbs, J. A. (2010). Matthew 11:2–20:34 (p. 694). Saint Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House.

As we have discussed in the past, there is a quality of tension to the Christian life. We live in the fact that God tells us so much about Himself in the Word and that is how we get to know Him but there is so very much that we can’t even imagine about God. We know Him but we don’t. Jesus teaches the disciples about that tension in the parable of The Weeds. God’s kingdom is here in the person of Jesus Christ – but – we have to put up with some things are not of God for a while. The Kingdom is here, but not yet.

Probably the most comforting thing about the parable is that Jesus (God) seems unconcerned about those “weeds” in his field and so, we too need not concern ourselves. So often I see Christians so consumed by worry over what the non-Christians are doing that they lose sight of the fact that God’s Kingdom progresses despite the struggles. This seems particularly true for those who make their entire lives and ministries about the end of time that they forget to live in the time they have been given. Remembering that nothing falls outside of God’s sovereign control allows us to let go of our concerns over those weeds and focus instead on the joy that is part and parcel of life with God inside of His already present Kingdom.

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