December 17th THE PARABLES
December 17th THE PARABLES
Weeds among the Wheat (Matt 13:24-30)
Weeds among the Wheat (Matt 13:24-30)
The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather from His kingdom everything that causes sin and those guilty of lawlessness.
Matthew 13:41, HCSB
Context: An enemy over-sowing a wheat field with weeds is not unheard of in the Middle East. “The weeds” may have been poisonous bearded darnel (Lolium temulentum). It has an appearance much like that of wheat until maturity, but then it can be readily identified. If eaten, it can result in dizziness and sometimes even death. Since the roots of these weeds readily become intertwined with the roots of the wheat, to uproot them before harvest, even if they could be identified, would result in loss of wheat.
Meaning: In the Jewish mind, the coming of the Messiah signalled the coming of the kingdom with cataclysmic events. Jesus through this parable showed that fulfillment of the messianic kingdom would be delayed until he comes a second time. During this long interval, Jesus plants true children of the kingdom while Satan plants counterfeits – enemies within having a counterfeit gospel and counterfeit righteousness (Acts 20:29; Rom 10:1-4; Gal 2:4-6).
Application: Out of a sense of justice, we may spend excessive time exposing and cutting weedy pseudo-Christians down to size. Jesus, though, wants us to be evangelists, not detectives. Weeds identify themselves by what they produce. We need to patiently await Christ’s timetable. It is not our job to untangle roots but to put our own roots deeper into Christ (Matt 7:21-23; 2 Cor 4:1-5; Col 2:6-7). We value spiritual unity amongst true Christians over religious uniformity. Hence according to Hebrews 13:8-14, we go outside the camp of ritualistic religion to Jesus, bearing his reproach, and are continually strengthened by grace.
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Put our roots deeper into Christ
Put our roots deeper into Christ
