Scripture

“Let them grow together until the harvest. Then I will tell the harvesters to sort out the weeds, tie them into bundles, burn them, and to put the wheat in the barn.”

Observation

Jesus tells a story about a farmer who sows good seed. In the night, while everyone is sleeping, an enemy comes and sows weeds among the wheat. The farmer’s workers report this and ask if they should pull up the weeds. The farmer ells them to wait until the harvest when the weeds will be able to be separated from the wheat.

Jesus tells two more parables. He likens the kingdom to a mustard seed which, though tiny, grows to be largest of garden plants. He also likens the kingdom to yeast, which is used in small quantities, but spreads right through the dough and changes it all.

Application

A much loved woman in our community died last week. She died from a very aggressive pancreatic cancer, leaving a husband and three young sons.

Some people asked why someone as lovely as her was taken young, while drug addicts and other less worthy people seem to live much longer.

The parable of the weeds helps to explain this. The world is made up of people who love the Lord and those who definitely do not. The Lord wants to give everybody an adequate chance to repent and turn to Him. So he allows both the godly and the wicked to coexist until the day of Judgement. Then those “weeds” are sent to the fire.

While we all have ample opportunity to turn to the Lord, none of us knows when that hour of Judgement will come.

Prayer

Thank you Lord for your great mercy. You give everyone as much time as possible to turn to you. I pray for the people I love who do not know you. Please bring them into your kingdom. Amen.