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Sermon for Pent 5 – Matthew 13:24-30; 36-43

Preached at Our Savior, Raleigh, 7/23/23

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

At the risk of completely losing you in the first line of the sermon this morning, I want to mention a technical point of Greek grammar and I don’t want to lose you but it really is rather important. When Jesus starts teaching this parable he says in our text, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field…” But the Greek is a little more awkward to render in English. It literally reads, “The kingdom of heaven has become like a man who sowed good seed in his field.” In that awkward grammar there is a wonderful truth: the kingdom of heaven has already come. The kingdom of heaven is not something that will hopefully come one day. We are not like Jews who wait for and wish that one day Messiah will come. It’s a technical point of grammar but its pure comfort. We are already living in the world in which the active reign of God has been restored. The world is already like what Jesus is about to describe in this parable.

And so Jesus begins, “The kingdom of heaven has already become like a man who sowed good seed in his field but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away.” That’s what you experience isn’t it. “If God’s kingdom has already come, if God is really in charge,” we wonder, “why does He let our dear Christian brothers and sisters all over the world suffer at the hands of evil people who persecute them and kill them?” Because the devil has sown evil seed in the world in amidst the good seed. We wonder, “But if God’s kingdom has already come, how does He allow sickness and weakness and evil to beset His people even to the point that it obscures and hinders the work of the Gospel? If the kingdom of heaven has already come, quite frankly, why does it so often feel like it hasn’t?” What Jesus is saying is that the active ruling of God has already come and yet the final ending, the Last Day is still delayed. Jesus is telling this parable to describe the time of waiting for us who must still suffer the effects of the work of the devil in the world while knowing already that the kingdom of heaven has already come and it will come to completion at the harvest, the final judgment on the Last Day.

Just before our reading, Jesus had been teaching plainly and straightforwardly about his work to restore the active ruling of God in our world. In a few verbal scuffles with the Pharisees, Jesus clearly taught that He is God come from heaven to restore the right understanding of the Sabbath. Likewise, a little later after he had healed many on the Sabbath, including a man with a withered hand and a demon possessed man, the crowds began to wonder if Jesus really could be the promised Son of David, that is, God’s Messiah. But again the Pharisees said that it was only because Jesus was the prince of demons that He could command demons. Again in response, Jesus taught very plainly that it was not logical that the prince of demons would cast out demons. Chapter 12 verse 26 and following, “And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? ²⁷ And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. ²⁸ But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” Jesus is teaching plainly that the one who comes to restore the rule of heaven on earth will come and heal and cast out demons and has authority to do so even on the Sabbath. And so by the end of the chapter, verse 45, Jesus describes those allied against him as a wicked and evil generation, essentially opposed to the restoration of the active rule of God again on earth. And so these string of parables that come in chapter 13 come as a strategy to teach not necessarily less straightforwardly, but rather to teach and preach in ways that sneak around the barriers people make for themselves against the truth of God’s Word. He tells these parables to people who think citizenship in the kingdom of heaven is a list of rules perfectly followed or power and control over others. Jesus tells these parables to challenge what have become “religious” beliefs that have come to stand in the place of God’s own Word and to force people to rethink what God says it means to be a citizen of his kingdom, the kingdom he is restoring through the work of His Son and Messiah, Jesus. Citizenship in that kingdom is first and foremost about listening to the One God has sent, Jesus Christ. So, Jesus tells all these parables in response to the opposition of those around him because he wants them to see the danger they’re in. That’s really is the context for these parables.

Again, as with the parable of the sower, thankfully, we know precisely what this parable means because Jesus himself explains it to his disciples privately. He both identifies the characters and the actions that are key to understanding the parable. “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. ³⁸ The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, ³⁹ and the enemy who sowed them is the devil.” And the reapers are angels. Then he goes on to actions. The harvest is the close of the age. The weeds are gathered and burned with fire is the judgment at the close of the age. (Mt 13:37–42)

We’ve already had a grammar lesson this morning so I should probably add to that a bit of botany. The weeds sown in the field are called zizania, what is known today as darnel. Darnel looks like wheat in fact it is sometimes known as false wheat. When they grow together in the same field, their roots even intertwine as they grow together. The difference is when the ear appears on the wheat. The ears on the true wheat are so heavy that it makes the entire plant droop downward, but on darnel the ears are light and stand up straight. Ok. End of the botany lesson. The difference between wheat and weeds is the fruit. Jesus doesn’t elaborate on the point but I will. The difference between children of the kingdom of heaven and children of the evil one is their fruit. The first fruit of children of the kingdom is faith in the kingdom bringer, Jesus Christ. Friends, remember that Jesus is telling these parables in response to a situation. People are not listening to Jesus’ plain teaching because it doesn’t match with what they think is God’s Law. The Pharisees have rejected Him and are leading others to do the same. In fact all who reject Jesus, who reject who He claims to be and who reject His teaching are the sons of the evil one. They will not produce the same fruit as children of the kingdom. The difference between children of the kingdom of heaven and children of the evil one is their fruit.

But Jesus is not just speaking narrowly about the church. Remember the field is the world. Jesus is speaking about how evil exists in this world and how it got there and what it does. And He is promising you what will happen at the judgment. Evil, all evil in the world, everything that stands against the goodness of God’s creation for his people, all brokenness, sickness, pain, and open sinfulness, will be judged and punished. Jesus is describing the active ruling of God in his creation again as he has come to restore it and how we already experience it.

There is also great comfort here too. Look at the attitudes of the characters of this parable. Look at the servants of the sower, the angels. They want, just like you do probably, to get rid of every last weed in that field. It is not right that the good plants should have to compete for resources with the weeds. If Jesus has really come from heaven to set to right all that is wrong with the world and restore the rule of God, it is not right that Christians should be beset on all sides by the devil and his sons. But look at the field owner. He is not worried about His good seed being choked out. What He is worried about is them being uprooted in the process of getting rid of the weeds. The owner is patient. He is sure of the seed he has planted. He is sure they will bear fruit even if they must live in amidst the weeds. He has directed the sowing of the good seed in His field and He will oversee the harvest. By the way, in case that doesn’t leap out at you, Jesus is making an implicit claim to being divine here. Jesus the Son of Man is the Sower and He will direct the harvest and it is for your sake, for your protection, that the weeds are not uprooted until the harvest.

Let me go a step further now and speak a little bit about what this parable is not about. This parable is not narrowly about the church. Remember the field is the world. The announcement that the rule of heaven has been restored in the world has become like this—a field where the Sower has sown the good seed and the devil has sown weeds so as to frustrate and sap the strength of the good plants. There remains evil in the world. It cannot be rooted out without a great deal of destruction. The Spanish Inquisition and the Crusades are but two examples from history that fall along these lines. At the same time, this parable is not about prohibiting church discipline. It is not about allowing to remain in the church people who preach and teach false doctrine or who live ungodly lives disobedient to the clear Word of God and are openly unrepentant with regard to the rule of heaven. Congregations and church bodies have the full right to remove from their communion people who will not conform to godly doctrine and life. Remember it is the fruit that is judged. If we excommunicate someone, we are saying they are in need of repentance so that they are not condemned at judgment. There is a great deal of mischief among leaders in the church who misapply the field to the church rather than to the world and so say that Jesus is condemning the rooting out unrepentant false doctrine or shameless ungodly behavior. “Leave the judgment to the angels,” they say. That’s a deliberate and false reading of this parable. The field is the world not the church. Those are but two of the things that Jesus is not teaching in this parable.

Jesus tells this series of parables to describe to us how the active ruling of God has already come in his coming. Whereas last week’s parable was centered around bearing fruit, this week’s parable is centered around persevering in challenging and less than ideal circumstances. And so Jesus is explaining how the kingdom of heaven can be present in the world while not yet wiping out all opposition to it. That must await the harvest. The parable deals with sincere expectation of the judgment of the world on the Last Day not the deterioration of doctrine or life in the church. He’s telling this parable to describe the delay between the restoration of God’s rule on earth and the final judgment. He tells these parables in response to opposition of those around him because he wants them to see the danger they’re in. The difference between wheat and weeds is the fruit, that is, the difference between children of the kingdom of heaven and children of the evil one is their fruit. The first fruit of children of the kingdom is faith in the kingdom bringer, Jesus Christ. Jesus is who He says He is. It is for your sake, for your protection, that the weeds are not uprooted until the harvest. Jesus, the Son of Man is the Sower and He will direct the harvest. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus. Amen.