Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
Pr. Kurt A. Van Fossan – In Nomine Christi Iesu
In our Gospel for today Jesus addresses the challenge of Weeding God’s Garden.” The weeds Jesus speaks of in His parable are much more serious than the weeds in our earthly gardens and fields, even though such weeds can threaten our food supply and income. The weed in God’s garden is sin, and the weed of sin seeks to destroy our eternal life
Jesus in our parable this morning helps us to get to the point quicker by explaining some of the meaning of His parable. In Jesus’ parable last week about the sowing of the seed, the seed represented the message or Word of God. In this morning’s parable the seed is expanded to include all those in whom the Word of God takes root. By sharing our faith in the Word of God, we serve as good seed through whom God produces fruit (or wheat as in this parable). The weed in this parable can be thought of as sin and expanded to include those whom God’s Word has not taken root. As a result, such people are still controlled by the enemy–the devil. He is using them, whether they realize it or not, to plant and nourish weeds —to feed our sinful nature.
Now, before we talk about how to deal with the weeds in the world–those in whom sin is still in control, it will help to remember how God has dealt with the weeds in our own back gardens–in our own lives. You know what I’m talking about, the sin in our lives which pop up in so many ways such as through our quick temper, worrying, obsessions or ungodly desires, selfishness, etc. How do we weed-out sin in our lives?
One of the points Jesus makes in our text is that sin is too deeply rooted in our lives for us to be able to do anything on our own. Jesus makes this point by referring to a poisonous weed [“darnel”, even though our English versions translate this word merely as “weed”] which was and continues to be common in the East. It’s a poisonous species of rye grass which, in its early stages of growth, looks very much like wheat. Therefore, if this poisonous plant gets mixed in with the wheat, it’s only when the two reach maturity that you can tell them apart. But by that time the roots of both plants are so intertwined that if you were to pull out the poisonous plant, it would uproot the wheat as well.
That’s what sin is like in our lives. It is so intertwined in our very being that for us to try and pull it out is senseless. No matter how we try, we could never get it out completely. And even if we could, to do so would destroy us. Remember, “the wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23).
Such bad news, that our lives are totally corrupted by sin, would be totally disheartening if it wasn’t for the good news. The good news in our text is that it is possible for us to be weed free!
How is such weed free life possible? Only through Jesus Christ. While we cannot get rid of the weeds/sins in our lives, God can. And He did it without killing us. Instead He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to in effect eradicate the weeds in our lives. By becoming a man, Jesus was grafted into our sinful flesh so that He could take all our sins to the cross with Him and get rid of them, roots and all, through His damning death.
So now, every time the weeds of sin pop up in our lives, we know the way to get rid of them completely–the only way. We look outside ourselves and to Jesus Christ and His cross, where He eradicated our sins once and for all, and rose again to assure us of His victory. Through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ as our Saviour, we are weed-free in God’s eyes.
If repentance and faith is a daily part of our lives, then what does that say about how God wants us to deal with the sinful weeds that pop up in the lives of others?
Too often we can be like the servants in Jesus’ parable. In their zeal to get rid of the weeds in the wheat field, they wanted to quickly pull out the weeds themselves. Such action would have resulted in destroying some of the wheat as well. In trying to keep the church free of weeds we too can be quick to condemn others because of their sins, when in fact the job of condemnation (or separating weeds from wheat) will be accomplished by God through His heavenly angels on the last day.
The job God seeks to accomplish through us as Christians (and collectively as the church) is to grow wheat (to produce fruit). How is that done? By proclaiming the whole Word of God–both Law, which condemns sin, and Gospel, which can save the sinner.
Jesus didn’t hesitate to preach the Law–to clarify what sin is, as well as the condemning effect which it can have on the lives of each one of us. Through the good news of the Gospel, however, is included the call and power of God to to enable us to turn away from sin in our lives (including the sinful attempts of trying go save ourselves) and to turn in faith to Jesus Christ. So I suppose you can look at the Bible as God’s Weed & Feed solution for man.
God does not call us to be the final judge of people. Instead, until that final judgement day, He leaves us in our weed infested bodies and world and gives us faith in His Word and the desire to share His Word with others. In that Word there is some Law, which condemns sin and works on killing the weeds/sin in the lives of us and others. And through the Gospel, God works to bring us back to life again through faith in our weed killer, Jesus Christ, thus producing and nourishing wheat, ready for the harvest!
Thanks be to God.
Amen.
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