Getting the Kingdom, 2: The Weeds, "Evil Among Us" Matthew 13:24-30 & 36b-43

- This week in our series, "getting the kingdom," we're going to look at the parable of the weeds and its explanation.

- We're going to leave out the two short parables about the mustard seed and the yeast, but we will come back to those at the end of this teaching series.

- Before we read our Scripture lesson, I want to point out that this parable is only found in Matthew. It has no parallels with Mark, Luke, or John, so again, it is only found in Matthew.

- Let's take a look at our gospel lesson for this morning. Matthew 13:24-30 & 36b-43

The Parable of the Weeds

²⁴ Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. ²⁵ But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. ²⁶ When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

²⁷ “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’

²⁸ “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.

“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’

²⁹ “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. ³⁰ Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”

The Parable of the Weeds Explained

^36b His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”

³⁷ He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. ³⁸ The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, ³⁹ and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.

⁴⁰ “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. ⁴¹ The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. ⁴² They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. ⁴³ Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.

- Can we hear the voice of Jesus in the parable of the weeds this morning? Are we prepared to listen to what God wants to say to us?

- We are learning that one of the reasons Jesus tells kingdom parables is to show what the kingdom of heaven is really like as opposed to people's expectations.

- First century Jews expected that when Messiah came that the kingdom of God came with him, and while it is true that in Jesus God's kingdom is present, however, its complete fulfillment is delayed.

*- One of the things that this parable teaches is that we live between the times, between "the already" and "the not yet."

- In Jesus, the kingdom of God has come already, it is present, but the kingdom has not yet come in all its fullness.

- The kingdom will come in its fullness when Jesus comes again.

- In this "parable of the weeds", Jesus told his listeners that God's kingdom grows in a kind of quiet abundance, yet evil is present in the world.

- We learned in "the parable of the sower" that good soil produces and that God is looking for the church to sow seed so that he can bring about abundant growth.

- In this parable, we see that not only is God looking for abundant growth, but his enemy is looking to plant weeds among the wheat in the world.

- This enemy is crafty and wicked and is able to plant his weeds by stealth and cunning at no-fault to the master's servants.

- In warfare and feuds of the ancient world it was a common practice to plant bearded darnel among the wheat of your enemy.

- The practice was pervasive enough in the Roman world that they even passed a law against it.

- It is very likely this weed Jesus was thinking of since bearded darnel was a poisonous fungus bearing weed which closely resembles wheat when both are young.

- Only after the heads formed were the servants able to tell that someone had sown weeds among the wheat.

- By that time the roots of the weeds and the wheat would be entangled.

- So the servants went to their master and said, "Sir, did you not so good seed in your field? So where did the weeds come from?"

-Had the master's servants made some mistake in their planting? Had they planted the wrong seeds?

- No, it was an enemy. In fact, the grammar of the Greek hints that the master understood that the weeds were the work of a particular enemy, an arch enemy.

- So the natural desire of the slaves would be to pull up the weeds, get rid of them, but because they're growing together in the same soil and the roots are entangled, then pulling up the weeds would put the wheat at great risk.

- The master knows that it is much easier to let the wheat reach its full maturity and when the time is right gather the weeds for burning and harvest the wheat & bring it into his barn.

- What would be convenient for us would be if God remove the darnel weeds now.

- What is best is not always what we expect or what is most convenient.

- Though there be evil among us, at the harvest, God will exercise his justice.

- In this parable, Jesus was preparing his disciples for the reality that the coming of the kingdom would not be as soon as they expected, but that there would be an extended time of waiting before the kingdom comes.

- Good and evil will coexist in the world until the end of time.

- The weeds are gathered together first to be burned because evil must be destroyed for there to be only good.

- Though there be evil among us, at the harvest, God will exercise his justice.

- Thankfully for us, we do not have to rely on ourselves to interpret this parable. Matthew has shared with us Jesus' own interpretation of his parable.

- The disciples come to Jesus and ask him to explain the parable of the weeds in the field.

- “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. ³⁸ The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one,

³⁹ and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.

⁴⁰ “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age.

⁴¹ The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil.

⁴² They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

⁴³ Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.

- Though there be evil among us, at the harvest, God will exercise his justice.

- The Son of Man is Jesus' favorite title for himself. This phrase was a common expression in Aramaic which simply meant human being.

- But if we read Daniel 7, we find the phrase "one like a son of man" used of one who approaches the Ancient of Days on his throne, i.e., God, and receives dominion, glory, and an everlasting kingdom.

- Believe it or not, this idea is something new in Jewish thought, we read nothing like this elsewhere in the Law, Prophets or Writings.

- Later, however, in the book of the first Enoch, written sometime after Malachi but before the birth of Jesus (& left out of our protestant Bibles I might add), we find the phrase Son of Man used to in reference to one described as the Righteous One, the Chosen One, and the Messiah.

- First Enoch also claims that the Son of Man was pre-existent, i.e., he is eternal; that he has the attributes of the Messiah, the righteous branch, pictured in Isaiah 11.

- Furthermore, the Son of Man figure in first Enoch is pictured as sitting on a glorious throne.

- So in the book of Daniel we have the figure of one like a son of man and in the book of first Enoch we have a pre-existent, messianic, gloriously enthroned Son of Man, and now with Jesus we find him repeatedly referring to himself as the Son of Man.

- Add to these clues together and what are we to conclude about Jesus and the kingdom of the heavens?

- No wonder the early church denied the claims of Rome that Caesar is Lord. The church defied Rome by declaring that Jesus Christ is Lord!

- Though there be evil among us, at the harvest, God will exercise his justice.

- Jesus gave his disciples a picture of himself as the Son of Man planting the good seed of the good news of the kingdom of God thus bringing the world under his dominion.

- While the field is the world, it is God who supplies the power to spread his kingdom.

- Jesus reveals in this parable that there is a cosmic battle going on for human lives between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness, the world's evil principalities and powers.

- By using both the terms "evil one" and "the devil", Jesus wants his disciples to be good-and-certain they know who their enemy is.

- It is impossible in this world to avoid the battle between good and evil. There can be no fence sitters because Satan owns the fence. One either belongs to the kingdom of the heavens or to the powers of darkness.

- The harvest image is significant to Mediterranean life and is a natural fit as a metaphor for the end of the age in which evil is destroyed and an eternity of goodness and glory are ushered in with the un-fading light of God's presence.

- Though there be evil among us, at the harvest, God will exercise his justice.

- The secret or mystery of the kingdom of the heavens in this parable does not have to do with the coexistence of good and evil in the church or in the world, but, as I said near the beginning of this message, it has to do with the kingdom being already present and not yet fully present.

- The re-launch of the kingdom began with the presence of the eternal Son of Man, Jesus Messiah, becoming flesh, pitching his tabernacle among fellow human beings.

- The kingdom of God will only be complete with the return of Jesus and only then will God judge the living and the dead, and renew and restore all things.

- Until then, we live between the times, the time of Jesus' first coming and the time of his second coming.

- As we wait, the church is called in the power of the Holy Spirit to introduce people to the wonders of the kingdom that has come and is coming in the person of Jesus Christ.

- Can you hear the voice of Jesus in Matthew's Gospel this morning? Is God's Holy Spirit speaking to you today? Will you listen to him and do what he says?

*- Though there be evil among us, at the harvest, God will exercise his justice.