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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Jesus told them another parable:
“The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed
in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds
among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then
the weeds also appeared.”
“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?’”
“‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.
“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull
them up?’”
“‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the
weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. 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.’”
Then He left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to Him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”
Then He left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to Him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”
He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son
of Man. 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, and the enemy who sows them
is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.”
“As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 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. They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
“As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 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. They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be
to God.
As we have seen over the past two devotions, Jesus used a special form of teaching called a parable. Simply put, it was a story with a meaning beyond its face value, a meaning that was meant to impart some spiritual or moral knowledge on the hearer. When Jesus taught this way, some people got it; others didn’t because, as Jesus said, they were seeing but not perceiving, hearing but not understanding. Those not comprehending what Jesus was trying to get across consisted of those who chose to reject Him, the Pharisees, Sadducees, and teachers of the law being counted in that number.
As we have seen over the past two devotions, Jesus used a special form of teaching called a parable. Simply put, it was a story with a meaning beyond its face value, a meaning that was meant to impart some spiritual or moral knowledge on the hearer. When Jesus taught this way, some people got it; others didn’t because, as Jesus said, they were seeing but not perceiving, hearing but not understanding. Those not comprehending what Jesus was trying to get across consisted of those who chose to reject Him, the Pharisees, Sadducees, and teachers of the law being counted in that number.
Indeed, Jesus was already showing that there would be a
separation between people, a separation where on one side you will find those
who placed their belief, hope, and trust in Him and those who don’t on the
other.
How will that separation take place?
Well, as we see in today’s passage from Matthew’s Gospel
and one other later on in this same book, there is a future sorting coming, a
sorting where those who choose to not be in Christ will be weeded out from
those who do. Look again at the words of Jesus from Matthew 13 here:
Jesus told them
another parable:
“The kingdom of
heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping,
his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat
sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.”
“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?’”
“‘An enemy did
this,’ he replied.
“The servants
asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’”
“‘No,’ he
answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat
with them. 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.’” Matthew 13:24-30
Right on the heels of the parable of the sower, here we
find Jesus going back to the matter of planting seeds with the hope of the
sower being that those seeds will grow and produce a rich harvest. The wheat in
this parable represents the Christians of the world, those who have placed
their faith in Jesus as Savior. This is what the kingdom of heaven on earth
would look like in a perfect world, everyone would be a Christ believer and
follower.
But we don’t live in a perfect world, do we?
Rather, we live in a fallen and broken world that has
been that way since the great fall in Eden’s Garden as sin entered into the
world to infect mankind for the ages. And that infection has led people to live
in opposition to Jesus from the time He came onto the scene right through to
present times. It’s these people, the ones against Jesus who are represented by
the weeds in Jesus’ illustration.
Note here that the “weeds” (non-Christians) were sown by
the “enemy” (Satan) and appeared right next to the good crop (the wheat which
represented Christians) produced from the good seed (sown by Jesus). This
alarmed the sower’s servants who asked where the weeds had come from and after
told they were planted by the enemy, the servants were willing to go out and
try and remove the weeds.
But the owner (representing Jesus in the parable) denies
the request, at least for the moment. For rather than risk hurting the good
crop while trying to deal with the bad, the owner chose to wait instead and
allow the wheat and weeds to grow together until the right time (the harvest)
when the weeds would be collected, tied in bundles and burned. After this was
done, the owner called on the harvesters to “gather the wheat” and bring it
into His barn.
Friends, a day is coming when Jesus is going to return
and on that day a future sorting will occur. Those who rejected Him will find
their way to a fiery judgment built on the foundation of eternal damnation. Conversely,
Christians, those who placed their faith in Jesus, will be gathered up and
brought into Jesus’ “barn”, the new heaven and earth to come. Look at these
words from the 25th chapter of this same book:
“When the Son of
Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on his
glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will
separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the
goats. He will put the sheep on His right and the goats on His left.”
“Then the King
will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father; take
your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.
For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me
something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited Me in, I needed clothes and
you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you
came to visit Me.’”
“Then the
righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or
thirsty and give You something to drink? When did we see You a stranger and
invite You in, or needing clothes and clothe You? When did we see You sick or
in prison and go to visit You?’”
“The King will
reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these
brothers and sisters of Mine, you did for Me.’”
“Then He will say
to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal
fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave Me
nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink, I was a stranger
and you did not invite Me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe Me, I was
sick and in prison and you did not look after Me.’”
“They also will answer,
‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes
or sick or in prison, and did not help You?’”
“He will reply,
‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you
did not do for Me.’”
“Then they will go
away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” Matthew
25:31-46
Here we find Jesus reinforcing his words spoken in
chapter 13 but instead of using an analogy of sorting between wheat and weeds,
we find Jesus using something else familiar to His listeners, the shepherd
sorting out His flock and separating the goats from the sheep. The goats
represented those who did not believe in Jesus, the sheep Christians who chose
to be a part of Jesus’ flock.
Those who chose to not follow Jesus will “go away to
eternal punishment”, like the weeds destined for the fire, while those who
believed in Him as Savior (the righteous) would be given eternal life, like the
wheat brought into the barn.
Which place will you find yourself when the future
weeding/sorting happens?
Will you be like the wheat and sheep, believers in Jesus destined
for positive outcomes at the harvest? Or will you be counted among those doomed
for destruction, an enemy of Jesus with an ending similar to the weeds and
goats?
The good news here is that you have a choice. You can
place your faith, hope, and trust in Jesus as Savior and secure your salvation
now and forever. Or you can decide to reject Him and find yourself rejected on
judgment day.
Which is it going to be?
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
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