The Elect Matthew 13:24-30
Today we’re continuing our examination of some of Jesus’ parables. In today’s parable, Jesus, as he has done in others, uses farming, planting and harvesting to give lessons about mankind and God.
Verse 24, “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in a field.”
In one regard the kingdom of heaven is not like a man sowing good seed. The kingdom of heaven isn’t almost like that. The kingdom of heaven isn’t somewhat like that. The kingdom of heaven is exactly like that.
Genesis 2:7, “Then the Lord formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.” Genesis 2:22, “Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the woman.” The kingdom of heaven isn’t like a man sowing good seed, the kingdom of heaven is exactly that. The man, God, making perfect, loving, innocent, worshiping mankind and placing them in the perfect Garden of Eden.
On the other hand, Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is like a man planting good seed in a field. Why did he say it this way? It’s because he’s talking about the world after man’s fall. The man in the parable is still God, we are the seed, and the field is the earth. God creates all mankind with the potential to be good seed, to do what he asks while we are on earth.
Verse 25, “But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat…” He we are, good seed, but doing what God asks takes effort, it takes conscience, it takes dedication and constant vigil. But when our guard is down, when we become complacent, the enemy that is Satan comes in and whispers in our ears. The deceiver works on our desires and our fears, and he causes us to go against God.
Verse 26, “When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, the weeds also appeared.” There are those in the world who try their best to do God’s work. They are the peacemakers. They are the ones who reach out to those on the fringe of society and welcome them. They are the ones who give of themselves in order to aide and lift up others. They are the ones who help a neighbor, give to a charity, work in their community. They are us, those who do what they can for others with God as their motivation, and Jesus in their hearts. And interspersed with us, the fruitful wheat, are the weeds, those who criticize our faith, those who mock our values, those who demean our work. In all the world, the wheat and the weeds stand side by side.
And the parable goes on to tell us the man’s servants saw the weeds and asked in verse28, “Do you want us to go and pull them up?” God destroyed the earth once. And I can imagine the angels in heaven seeing the world after the flood, going to God and saying, “Lord, you sent a flood and they still didn’t learn. Do you want us to go and remove those lacking faith so your faithful can flourish stronger and more plentiful?”
Verse 29, ’No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling up the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them?” Why would God say to leave the weeds, wouldn’t the world be better off without them? I will answer this question with the story of John Newton.
John Newton was an Englishman in the 1700’s. In his youth he worked on, a slave ship. He captured men, women, and children in Africa and sold them into slavery in England. Evil to be sure. A weed among God’s wheat. But he came to see the truth of the gospel. He accepted Christ as his Lord and savior. He became a leading voice against slavery. He became a dedicated Christian. He worked for God. And he wrote probably the most well-known Christian hymn, “Amazing Grace.” John Newton inspired thousands by his conversion and work. What if God had told his angels, “Yes, pluck out the weeds.” What would have happened to those who John Newton inspired?
Verse 30, “Let both grow together until the harvest.” God allows the faithful and the unfaithful to live together until Jesus comes again. As I meditated on this I think God does this for a couple of reasons.
God gives us until our last breath to accept Jesus as our savior. Many grow up in a family that teaches of God and they come to faith early in life. Many others, who for a variety of reasons, don’t have faith early, but later in life are moved by the Holy Spirit to see the truth.
To pluck the weeds means the plant has gotten to a point of being too large. To remove an unbeliever means there has to be a point in one’s life where you pass the ability to be redeemed. Romans 10:13, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” It doesn’t say everyone under thirty. It doesn’t say everyone under fifty. It says everyone. And for it to truly mean everyone, it has to apply to everyone who is alive. Everyone until to moment of death. Every weed.
Let them both grow until the harvest. The wheat and the weeds grow together in the same field. The faithful and the faithless live in the same world, they live together in the same towns, they live together in the same house. Wouldn’t it be better if we were separated? Ancient Israel tried to keep itself separate from the surrounding Gentiles. It didn’t work out so well. They became isolated and self-absorbed. They failed to share God with those around them.
Jesus uses Paul to reach out to the Gentiles, to give them, to give all of us, opportunity to find faith in God. In the world of men, Jesus uses the wheat to reach out to the weeds. Psalm 107 verse 2, “Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story …“ The faithful and the faithless live side by side so believers can share their testimonies, giving those who are lost the opportunity to hear of God. Giving the lost the opportunity to accept Christ and salvation.
Verse 30, “At that time, I will tell the harvesters: first collect the weeds and burn them; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.” In time, and only God knows the time, the end of our age will come, and the believers and unbelievers will be separated from each other.
Jesus warns of this more than once. Later in Matthew 25, verses 31 and 32, “When the Son of Man comes into his glory…All the nations of the world will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people from one another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.”
In today’s parable, Jesus tells us how God creates all people with the potential to believe, and to be redeemed. And even though all can be saved through faith, the deceiver whispers in our ear, preying on our desires and fears, keeping those from who listen from God. But God places the faithful and the faithless together in the world so the lost can have the opportunity to be saved by their hearing of the Word and the hearing of our testimonials.
Yet Jesus gives warning. The opportunity for salvation is here now, but the day will come when it will be removed, and we will be separated. Matthew 3:12, “He will separate the chaff from the wheat…”
As children of God, let us pray that God uses our lives, our struggles, our testimony, to open the eyes of those still lost.
Amen