Weeds

Sermon Script

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, Oh Lord, my strength and redeemer. Amen.

Weeds

As many of you know, I farm like some of you. One thing that has never changed over the years in the process of raising a crop is controlling the weeds. Now I realize you are not all farmers, but if you oversee your lawn or garden, you can relate quite well. Whether it is with a large sprayer, or hoe in hand, a large portion of the summer will be spent getting rid of those persistent weeds. This day and age, it takes Extreme Ag measures to control them. 

In Today’s Gospel we heard the parable of the weeds. It is part two, you might say, of Jesus telling us parables about farming. Last week Pastor Dan shared the lesson in Matthew about a farmer who scattered his seed over all sorts of ground, with a portion of the seed landing on good soil. Jesus follows with one today with a different twist…  whenever we are trying to sow the seeds of God’s word, there is always an enemy trying to entangle our roots. Today, I’m here to tell you that the weeds are coming. No chemicals or hoe will control them. 

The weed that first comes to my mind is one known as “pig weed.” Everywhere you look, you can find one, and has become very hard to control.

But today Jesus is talking about a different kind of weed. The weed referred to in this parable looks nothing like pig weed. In fact, it looks just like the crop the farmer planted… wheat.

So, to understand this parable, it is important to know what kind of weed this was that Jesus is referring too. It was not cheat grass, rye, or wild oats. In fact, the word “weeds”, in Greek, is a word used for a nagging plant called “Darnel.” This plant resembled ryegrass and looked just like wheat in its early growth. However, as the plant matured, it become more identifiable. Especially upon maturity as the head contained poisonous black seeds.

 Good And Bad Weeds

With that being said, Jesus begins His analogy at verse 24, by saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seeds in his field, but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also.” Obviously, the wheat is not roundup ready, so the servants wanted to go out into the fields and pull the weeds… However, the master knew the roots would be intertwined and would pull out wheat plants as well.

Therefore, Jesus concludes at verse 30, “Let both grow together and wait until harvest is come. And during harvest, I will tell the reapers… gather weeds first… Throw them into the fire… Then bundle the wheat and put it in the barn.”

We already know that weeds are bad. Other than our camels liking them, I can’t think of any purpose for weeds. They need to go.

But the wheat on the other hand, as we know, is the good stuff. That is what will be gathered into the barn. Thus we have Jesus’ story He gave to His listeners that day. The crowd that was listening, other than His disciples, were largely still on the fence of believing… in fact, if they listened at all… this is probably what they heard from Jesus…

“Stop looking for something other than what I am offering you. I know I must seem truly strange… like a man who has an enemy so evil that he scatters weeds in the man’s field at night. And then the owner doesn’t even weed out harmful plants from the midst of his own crop! This must seem strange to you, but what you are seeing in me is the present manifestation of God’s reign here in the world!”

Parable Explained 

Boy am I glad Jesus give His disciples, and us, a better explanation to this parable.

Earlier in chapter 13 Jesus explains to His disciples why he didn’t give a better explanation to the crowds. He says in verse 13, “This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.” Most of His listeners were not ready for details. 

However, the disciples were receiving this lesson so they could reveal the truth to the Jews and Gentiles later, as they go out into the world and “make disciples of all nations.” 

Jesus reveals the details of this parable right here in the Gospel reading today as Jesus explains the parable of the weeds. He begins… 

The Sower is the Son of Man… that is Jesus Himself.

The field… is the world.

The good seed…are the sons of the kingdom, which are Christians, believers, the righteous.

The weeds… are the sons of the evil one, that is, unbelievers, the wicked and wrongdoers.

The enemy of course is the devil.

The harvest refers to the close of time, that is, the end of this age when the separation of the righteous and the wicked will occur.

And finally, the reapers are of course, Angels.

So, there we have the last part of our Gospel lesson today… a slam dunk explanation… Or is it?

Picking Out The Weeds 

I admit that I am easily entertained and find that watching people can be quite interesting at times. Especially in places where there is a wide “variety” of cultures. My favorite place to do this is while waiting for a flight in an airport. Even though I always bring along a book or material to work on, I soon find myself distracted by watching people as they walk by.

Tattoos, hair color, and piercings are outward appearances that draw the most attention.

Then it is interesting to watch for things like cadence, attire, and mannerisms. I ponder where they might be from and where they might be going… I often wonder if they know Jesus.

How can you tell? Some people I see are wearing a cross necklace or a t-shirt with a biblical message on it. But even then, how do you know for sure? Alternatively, farmers are easy to pick out. Maybe not today, you all clean up pretty well on Sunday’s. But most days you can pick them out because they are wearing a seed corn hat and a pair of pliers on their belt… At a ball game you can sort out rather easily the fans that are supporting one team or another by the colors they are wearing. 

But how do you pick out the darnel plants in the wheat field? The people that are weeds amongst the amber waves of grain.

Just like the people you might see walking through an airport, they all look the same spiritually. There is no way to know who an unbeliever might be, let alone a wicked wrongdoer… A weed in the field… Who among us might be a weed?

Am I A Weed? 

Hold that thought for a moment as we go back to the parable… You might question the farmer like the servants did… Sir, why do you not want us to pull the weeds…? Most of you know very well what the result is if you let the weeds grow in your field or garden. They take over and rob valuable moisture and nutrients, therefore having a negative affect on harvest yield. The sooner you can eliminate these weeds the better.

Obviously, we see it like the servants do. If God is the one who plants the good seeds, and Satan plants the bad ones, the bad plants need weeded out. The sooner the better.

But God is not concerned about this, and for a good reason. We are told if you pull the weeds, you will also uproot the wheat. If you separate out those that fall into the unbelieving, wicked wrongdoer category now…. Who are we to say that those souls will not get their house in order in the ninth inning? Sitting there watching people walk by, there is absolutely no way of knowing the good seedlings from the bad ones. 

Realistically, this is good news to us. How so? Going back to my question… who among us are weeds? The truth is we are all a little weedy at times. There are days, well technically daily, that we would identify as darnel plants in the wheat. In our field called life, there are weeds of envy, pride, greed, and many more sins that will grow into an identifiable plant. If Jesus come and pulled up the weeds, if He got rid of all those “bad people”, where would that leave me if that happened on one of my not so good days? Yes, we try to do all the right things, but you must admit there are the times in our life that the weeds are growing, and we don’t realize it.

 God’s Loving Patience

So, we thankfully wait in the mercy of God’s time, not ours. Only God knows how and when to pull the weeds without harming anyone.

God has been looking out for the harvest of mankind for a long time. He looks across the fields we dwell and can identify who will bear good, or not so good fruit. He knows the weeds… 

God can see the good seed among the weeds as they stroll through the terminal where you and I cannot. And He loves all mankind enough to wait. Waiting until the harvest. I know…  we just want to pull the weeds of evil now, but God is willing to wait. 

I admit, the world around us seems to bulge at the seams with evil. Even within churches that adopt false doctrine to accommodate leftist modernism… Martin Luther once said, “Wherever God puts a church, Satan builds his chapel next to it.” We would like nothing more than to see this evil come to justice, and the sooner the better. In the meantime, it seems that those pig weeds in the world are doing just fine while the rest of us struggle with various life challenges. 

We look to God and want fairness. But then again, we are put in our place and reminded that fairness includes getting what I deserve also… The good news is that God will come and sort it all out on the last day as we are told in Luke 3:17, “His winnowing fork is in His hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

God has His plan in place as He tells us through this parable, “wait until harvest time, and at that point I will get rid of these weeds and burn them off.” 

God’s plan has been in place since the beginning of time; however, it went into effect the very day Jesus died on the cross. With that plan and by our repentance, we are forgiven of all our weedy sins. God loved us so much that He sent His one and only Son to dwell amongst the good and the bad seeds on earth.

Gathered and Ready For Harvest

Teaching His disciples and us the secrets of the kingdom… sowing the seeds of the good news of salvation. 

His plan was in place for us to thrive in good soil and grow in His righteousness. Spreading the good seed to all nations and going to Extreme measures to place our trust in God’s will and to make sure our crop is ready for harvest.

Brothers and Sisters in Christ. As we wait… we wait in hope as we are one day gathered as wheat in the barn of eternal life with Christ. On that day Jesus will send His angels to remove the weeds and take the true wheat out of this sinful world to Himself in eternity. The true wheat, that is all those who truly believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, will live in joy forever as our weeds remain at the foot of the cross… Weed free for eternity. 

And may the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Amen.