The Weeds Explained

Scripture: Matthew 13:36-43 (Click link for scripture in Bible Gateway)

36 Then, leaving the crowds outside, Jesus went into the house. His disciples said, “Please explain to us the story of the weeds in the field.” 37 Jesus replied, “The Son of Man is the farmer who plants the good seed. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed represents the people of the Kingdom. The weeds are the people who belong to the evil one. 39 The enemy who planted the weeds among the wheat is the devil. The harvest is the end of the world, and the harvesters are the angels. 40 “Just as the weeds are sorted out and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the world. 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will remove from his Kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. 42 And the angels will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in their Father’s Kingdom. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand! (Matthew 13:36–43 NLT)

In the story of the farmer and the four soils, the seed was the message of the kingdom. In the story of the weeds, the seed is people. In one story we learn about the seed planted in us, now we learn about us planted in the world around us. In yesterday’s devotional we saw that the yeast was mixed into a large amount of flour causing the entire loaf to rise. Now we’re planted in the world around us and we’re going to have a great impact on the WWW (Whole Wide World)!

But wait! The good farmer has a bad enemy. That enemy has sown seed of his own into the same field we’re sown in and it’s bad seed. The weeds represent the sin and wickedness of sinful and wicked people and it’s easy to get panicky and want to pull up all the weeds and get rid of them so only the good plants (that’s us) remain. Somebody should do something about the bad people and all the trouble they cause us good people. Right?

Think about this, friends: It’s not the wheat’s job to deal with the weeds. The wise farmer isn’t panicked. He’s got a plan to take care of it all at the right time. So don’t get all worked up about who’s bad and who’s good, who’s going into the barn and who’s going into the fire. Just grow. And wait. And trust the farmer.

Prayer:

Father, Thank you for planting us as seeds of the Kingdom in this world. Help us not to waste energy hating the seeds planted by your enemy, but rather to grow and trust and bless as many as we can as much as we can. For your Kingdom’s Sake!