ON THE VANGUARD

SEEDS AND WEEDS
“’Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.’”
Matthew 13:43

Jesus spoke most often in parables when trying to get a point across, and as easy as they can be to understand, they sometimes still left the crowd confused. The parable of the weeds in Matthew 13:24-30 is one of those that left even the disciples a little baffled. Jesus spoke that the Kingdom of Heaven was like a man who sowed seeds of wheat. But during the night, his enemy came and also sowed seeds. These seeds, however, were weed seeds. His enemy planted them alongside the wheat, so that when they all began to spring up there was a mix of both wheat and weed. When the servants of the man came to report the details of the crops, they questioned just what type of seed had been laid. Knowing full well, the man replied that the enemy had come in and corrupted the crop by planting the weeds. They would all have to grow together and await the harvest before being separated. At that time, the wheat would be kept and the weeds thrown in the fire.
It was a little later that the disciples came to Jesus and asked for a more understandable explanation of this parable. We pick up the conversation between Jesus and His disciples in verses 36-43. The one who sowed the good seed, the wheat, was the Son of Man. He sowed this seed within His field, which is the world. We understand this because John 3:16 tells us that God so loved the world that He gave His Son to the world. The enemy who came in and planted the weeds is the devil who in truth has planted his own seeds in the world. These seeds can be negative attitudes, people, addictions, or anything that would cause us to detour ourselves from Him. These seeds are also those who do not choose God.
The harvest, as explained in Matthew 13:39, is the end times. Christ will come back and take His followers, His seeds. The weeds will be bundled up and throw in the fire. These are the people who have chosen not to follow after God. But for those who do choose, for those who are not bundled up in the weed pile, they enter into the Kingdom of God. Jesus then makes one more final note concerning this parable when He states, “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear” (Mt 13:43).
Are you one of the righteous? Just recently I touched on this aspect, and how outside of Christ we have nothing righteous to offer. We are sinful beings who live in a sinful place. But, when we offer ourselves to Him, because He was holy, we then take on His character. Jesus was righteous. In accepting Him we wear His righteousness. In accepting Him we become the wheat seeds that were planted by the land owner. In rejecting Him, however, we become the weeds and our destruction will come when Christ returns and we are separated. I make this point not to urge you to buy ‘fire insurance’, but rather to help you consider where your fate lies. Consider, are you a seed or a weed? When the harvest comes, will you be found as wheat, taken to the barn of the Master? Or will you find yourself as a weed, bundled and set into the fire? Choose before it is too late, for no one knows when the harvest day comes.