The parables dealing with God’s rule over us in the book of Matthew are full of promise and hope, especially in the 13th chapter, which we heard in our Gospel reading. The sower goes out to sow his seed. Some of his seed falls on rich soil and produces a generous harvest. Then there is the mustard seed, the tiniest of all seeds. This seed eventually grows into a mighty plant and becomes a large tree, a tree large enough for many birds to build their nests.
Then there is the tiny amount of yeast. A woman mixes the yeast into her dough, changing the entire character of the dough. A man finds a treasure hidden in a field, which is so precious, that he is willing to sell everything he has to buy that field. Another man looking for a splendid jewel finds a pearl of such worth that he’s willing to sacrifice everything to buy that one pearl.
Those parables cause us to see God’s kingdom with new eyes. Yet, right in the thick of all of those parables of promise and hope, we find a sobering sentence. We heard it in our Gospel reading for today: “While people were sleeping, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away.”
It’s not as if you don’t already know these hard facts of life. You routinely find weeds growing in places where you had only planted seed. These weeds could be in your garden, in your life, in your family, and even in your friendships.
Many parents have planted good seed, nurtured it, and cultivated it, hoping it would grow and produce an excellent crop. Yet, parents soon discover that someone else has been sowing weeds, leading their child astray.
So, how does our Lord interpret His own Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds? The field that Jesus is talking about is not the Church but the world. Jesus said that’s where the Son of Man sowed His good seed. The seed produces the children of the kingdom.
At the same time, an enemy is also sowing weeds among the wheat. Don’t we find that problem even inside Christ’s Church? We find dissension, conflict, hatred, false doctrine, and many deadly weeds we didn’t plant (or knowingly plant).
Yet, much danger exists if we overreact. We can be like the servants who said, “Why don’t we just get rid of the weeds and pull them out?” Oh, you can get rid of many weeds that way, but you will also destroy many wheat seedlings! So Jesus warns us against such a rash act. He will deal with it in His own way.
Another possible danger of dealing with the weeds is that we might question God. “God, didn’t you sow proper seed? Did you cause these weeds? It’s your fault, why don’t you get rid of those weeds? Why don’t you destroy such evil?” I suspect you’ve heard someone say something like that. “If God is so merciful, then why does He allow such and such to happen?” You fill in the blank.
It seems that whenever and wherever the Gospel seed is sown, the enemy mounts a counteroffensive. God’s seed is powerful. The enemy knows that all too well. So he’s determined to destroy and undo that work of God. This could involve snatching the seed away, before it even has a chance to sprout and grow. It could be the heat of the sun withering the newly sprouted planted. It could be the cares and disappointments of this world overwhelming the plant, and the plant dies.
All of these work against the seed and its growth, its maturation. Even in places where the soil is rich and the seed sprouts and bears fruit, the enemy sows weeds to counterattack the work of God. The enemy is always masquerading, pretending to be something that he is not.
For the seed, which the enemy sows, looks almost identical with the seed the Son of Man sows. They look so much alike in their early stages that one can hardly tell the difference. It’s only at maturity that you can easily spot the difference.
Remember the Owner, God the Father, and the Son of Man, Jesus, have only the best seed to sow. More than that, hidden in the seed is the power of God to produce an excellent harvest. God’s seed produces results and brings about faith in the hearts of people–and they become children of God.
Such faith is not by someone’s choosing but the Father’s choosing. God the Father, through the Son who sows the seed, in the power of His Spirit, works faith in people’s hearts. But the enemy is always close behind, planting weeds among the wheat.
It wasn’t any different in Jesus’ day. The one who announced the coming of the Messiah, John the Baptizer, found himself in prison when Jesus spoke today’s parable to His disciples. Yes, the enemy was even at work back then, trying to undermine the noble work of God.
The enemy, the devil, counterattacks, trying to undermine the work of the Son of Man who sows the pure seed. There will be a harvest, and the Son of Man is the one who produces it. God’s rule and reign come about by His doing, not ours. That’s because God is the one who draws people into His grace-filled care and keeping. It is by His Word that He brings faith and the fruits of faith to harvest.
Jesus said, “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains a single seed. But if it dies, it produces a large crop” (John 12:24). Since the dawn of time, when the ancient serpent brought evil into that perfect garden, evil weeds have been sprouting. So God planted another seed, a perfect Seed.
This Seed would produce the incredible gift of life for all who would receive that life through Word and Sacrament. That Seed was willing to die to bring forth new life. That Seed was Christ Himself, who died on the cross that we may live. That Seed offered His life, so we could share in His life, so we could have His life in us.
Jesus’ life continues to flow to us, and in us, by the power of His Word and Sacrament. His life flows to us and in us, and we are heirs of His kingdom. So, as children of the kingdom, we are the result of the pure Gospel seed that God sows. For God gives to us, through His Word and Sacrament, everything needed to nourish us in the faith.
In the early stages, when weeds and wheat look alike, it is not so easy to tell one from the other, who is in God’s kingdom and who is not. That’s how life is in this fallen world. But, in God’s own time, He will reveal all. As Lord of the harvest, He will send His angels first to gather the weeds, so they can be destroyed. Then, He will bring in the good grain.
God does not build His kingdom by force. As the Apostle Peter wrote, “[The Lord] is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but all to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). If so, then you might ask, “Does God use us to sow such seed? Confidently? Recklessly? Even wastefully in our eyes?” Yes, He does. Yet, even still, we know that God brings about the harvest, not us. God may use someone to plant, someone else to water, but He causes the growth (1 Corinthians 3:6).
We do not know all of what God can do. Do you remember the account from Luke Chapter 9?
Jesus sent messengers ahead of Him, who went into a Samaritan village to prepare them for His arrival. But the Samaritan villagers refused to welcome Jesus because He was heading for Jerusalem. When the disciples, James and John, saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to call down fire from heaven to destroy them?” But Jesus turned and rebuked them [Luke 9:50-55].
Yet, those Samaritans, whom James and John wanted to destroy with fire, later responded to the preached Word with joy and faith. They repented and believed in Jesus as the Messiah. Yes, God can surprise us beyond our expectations.
That’s why we must be ever faithful in confessing Jesus and His life-creating and life-changing Word. For it’s the pure seed of Christ that changes hearts. That’s also why we are patient, even when so many weeds are causing havoc in our lives. For we know when Jesus comes again on the Last Day, He will bring His harvest to fulfillment. He will judge what we are unable to judge and know.
So come now to receive the food and drink of eternal life. Come now to receive the Lord Himself, in His body and blood, so you may be nourished even to eternal life, as you await our Lord’s final harvest. Amen.
