Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 - Intertwined Until We Are Not

Gospel Lesson: Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

The Lord has a plan to separate wheat and weeds in the final harvest. 

       24He presented another parable to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25But while people were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. 26When the plants sprouted and produced heads of grain, the weeds also appeared. 27The servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where did the weeds come from?’ 28He said to them, ‘An enemy did this.’ The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and gather up the weeds?’ 29‘No,’ he answered, ‘because when you gather up the weeds, you might pull up the wheat along with them. 30Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “First, gather up the weeds, bind them in bundles, and burn them. Then, gather the wheat into my barn.”’”

    36Then Jesus sent the people away and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”

    37He answered them, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38The field is the world. The good seeds are the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the Evil One. 39The enemy who sowed them is the Devil. The harvest is the end of the world. The reapers are angels. 40Therefore, just as the weeds are gathered up and burned with fire, so it will be at the end of the world. 41The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will pull out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and those who continue to break the law. 42The angels will throw them into the fiery furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.

“Why?”  Does that question make you nervous when the world fires it out at the Church?  The fact that we are different, means that we will be asked to make a defense of what we believe to those in the world around us.  “Why?”  Sometimes the answer is easy for us.  “Why is Christmas or Easter so important to you?” At least I hope that presents an easier opportunity for an answer.  The birth of Jesus Christ marks the fulfillment of the long-awaited promise of the Messiah who would, who does, save His people from their sins.  The Resurrection provides the proof, so to speak.  That the sacrifice of that same Messiah upon the cross was sufficient, more than sufficient, to save us from sin, conquer the cruel mastery of satan, and defeat the bonds of death.  Yes, because He lives, we live.  But there are other questions that perhaps seem harder for us to answer.  The hardest among them has often been the topic that sits in front of us today.  “The problem of evil” or “the problem with suffering” has long been a favorite arrow of the unbelieving world to fire at the Christian faith.  Classically, it sounds like this, “If God is so good, then why does He permit evil and suffering in the world? If God is everything the Scriptures claim to be, then why not simply do away with it once and for all? Its presence would seem to say one of two things: either God is not good because He allows these things or God is not able to stop them because they happen in spite of His wishes.”  Perhaps it’s a difficult question because we wrestle with it.  In our everyday lives, it sounds a little different.  “Why has this happened to me?  Why has this happened to my relative?  Why hasn’t God protected me from x, y, or z?”

The problem with these questions is there is not a simple and easily spouted answer for each situation.  For example, it might be that the person brought it on themselves. I really have no place complaining to God that I got a fine for speeding when my lead foot doubled the speed limit whether in a residential area, commercial space, or on a freeway.  I did that to myself.  There are earthly consequences for our actions after all, even if I complain when those consequences are applied to me.  But what about when I have done nothing wrong, at least in my failing estimation of righteousness?  Here the world loves to scream gottcha.  But does it really?  Our lesson today, provides us with a framework to help work through the realities of our world and to better understand why, in this world at least, good and evil are Intertwined Until We Are Not.

This parable is one of many in this chapter of Scripture in which Jesus speaks of the realities of the Kingdom of Heaven.  Doctrinally, we speak of three Kingdoms when we speak of the Kingdom of God.  There is the Kingdom of Power where God uses His power to bend all things to His perfect will (note His will and not my will or our will). There is the Kingdom of Grace wherein God utilizes the Means of Grace to guard and guide His Invisible Church through this fallen world into the perfection Christ has won for us in heaven. Lastly, there is the Kingdom of Glory where we behold everything finally as it should be in the perfection of heaven.  I’ve always struggled to put these parables or at least this parable in any one of them but rather believe God weaves through them all within the context of the telling.  It would seem that Jesus does this as He explains the meaning to the disciples and moves from life in this fallen world to the realities of heaven at the end.  Regardless, it is good for us to have all three in mind as we navigate this parable as Jesus tells us, “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field.”

Of course, just as last week, we have the benefit of Jesus’ own explanation to guide our understanding today.  Let’s dive in. (Read verses 24-30) There is a ton here.  Let’s have Jesus start unpacking and stop as we work our through.

The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. That’s Jesus, so often His designation for Himself as He speaks to the people gathered round.  38The field is the world. This would immediately tell us to think Kingdom of Power or Grace. The good seeds are the sons of the kingdom. You and me, at least I hope that’s where we would place ourselves in these words.  Of course, this is Kingdom of grace talk as God works in us, plants us, grows us through Word and Sacraments, last weeks parable of the Sower and Seed applies here. The weeds are the sons of the Evil One. Back to the Kingdom of power. 39The enemy who sowed them is the Devil. Ah, note that sin and evil are not sowed by God.  This is an important acknowledgement.  They are sowed by satan and grown in the hearts and minds of unregenerate humanity. The harvest is the end of the world. Here comes the Kingdom of Glory The reapers are angels. 40Therefore, just as the weeds are gathered up and burned with fire, so it will be at the end of the world. 41The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will pull out of His kingdom everything that causes sin and those who continue to break the law. 42The angels will throw them into the fiery furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. End-time realities and the Kingdom of Glory on full display.

So the problem of Evil once again.  First, let’s acknowledge that God recognizes the issue.  That is important.  Just the fact that He knows helps us to start the conversation about it.  The field of the world contains both unbeliever and believer, good and evil.  Jesus speaks of both the root cause, sin, and those who bow to its control.  What He immediately refutes is the thought that either is somehow His fault.  They are not.  Sin is sown by satan and the love of the unbelieving world for all that is sin, and therefore the consequences of it reside not with God but with fallen mankind.

The workers basically use our fallen logic in the parable.  Let’s get rid of it then.  If it’s foreign to God and causes harm to His people, then let’s eradicate it.  But the answer that comes back is of interest.  The owner of the field, God Himself, says, “No” and even tells us why. “Because when you gather up the weeds, you might pull up the wheat along with them. It’s interesting to note that most linguists think the word for weed here refers to darnel or cheat, an especially troubling weed for those who plant wheat, because the two look the same in early growth.  It’s not until the head forms on the grain that the two can be distinguished.  The result is that in pulling the weeds, they may pull the wheat unintentionally.

The perfect parable teller hits it on the head.  What did God once tell Samuel as he stood before David’s brothers trying to pick the next King of Israel, “Do not look at his appearance or at how tall he is, because I have rejected him. For the Lord does not look at things the way man does. For man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7)”  While I want sin eradicated, God knows the truth.  “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)” To eradicate evil is to eradicate the cause, a stain believer and unbeliever alike are covered in.  Not only so, but if our job is to reach out to the lost, then they kinda have to be present.  A loving God tells us that since we can’t distinguish between good grain and bad we better just work among all of them, yes, struggling with the consequences of sin for a while here in this world, trusting in His power as He works through His Means of Grace in our hearts and those of the people around us so that, as we heard last week we see the harvest. What would Peter later write? “The Lord is not slow to do what he promised, as some consider slowness. Instead, he is patient for your sakes, not wanting anyone to perish, but all to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)” 

Ah, but then that harvest is worth holding ever in view.  You see, there will come a day of reckoning when what we have so yearned for becomes reality, when sin and the consequences of it are eradicated by the only One who can do so.  On that last and final day,41The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will pull out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and those who continue to break the law. 42The angels will throw them into the fiery furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. And lest that cause us fear and trepidation because of our lack of righteousness, Paul will announce to the Romans, “16For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes—to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 17For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed by faith, for faith, just as it is written, “The righteous will live by faith.” (Romans 1:16-17)” Ah yes, as we said last week, it is God who tills the soil of sinful hearts and removes each rock, fertilizes, and plants all in the life, death, and resurrection of our Savior, those easier answers from before, so that His grain (you and me – by grace and through faith) will produce heads of grain in the world around us regardless of the weeds around us, yes, so that even what once was indistinguishable from the weeds around it might become wheat to the glory of God.

Brothers and sisters, I know living in a world of sin, with satan lurking around every corner, combating the evil which rages around us and far too often even within, is a troublesome thing.  I too yearn for the day when we can be done with it completely.  That day will come.  Until then however, may I find more than enough reason to trust in God who promises He is aware if it, has planned for it, and will one day reckon with it. Yes, until then in this world at least, good and evil are Intertwined Until We Are Not. Amen.