The Mystery Man

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Once upon a time there was a desolate land, a land of dust and death and grit and thorns. Anything that lived on the land decayed and died. Plants, animals, people – they all died, and some, in dying, suffered greatly, and some, watching the dying, suffered greatly as well.

During the short time that the people lived on this land, they quickly grew backs that bent way over from them trying to scratch out a living upon the face of the cursed ground and to keep from dying. Most of the time it was only the old ones who died, but sometimes it was a young man, a promising child, or a baby girl.

The people did not like the thought of dying for they had seen what a struggle it was. To keep from being reminded of dying, the people of the land did not think about it much. Whenever someone did die, they dug a hole in the ground or in the side of a hill, and they put the dead man or woman or youth or child or baby into the hole. And if it was a baby, the hole was not very big.

A Mixed Bag

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Church of God here on earth is a mixed bag. In any given Christian assembly there are the faithful saints of God, redeemed by Christ and anxious to hold fast to the pure Word of God. And right alongside them are the false saints, the pseudo-Christians who would reject the truth of the Gospel, water down the proclamation of the Word, or propose new ways and new measures to accomplish their goals. We may wish it were not so, but that is how things are.

This is what the parable Jesus tells in today's Gospel reading teaches. The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field, but in the middle of the night, the enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat. No one was any more the wiser, until the plants grew up and their fruits were evident.

When it was evident that the weeds had been sown over top of and into the midst of the wheat, the servants of the master asked whether they should go and rip out the weeds. The master told them to leave the weeds alone until the harvest, lest they damage the wheat as they worked. Then, at the last, they could separate the good from bad and deal with each accordingly.

Out In the Weeds

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Today we hear another parable from Jesus about the kingdom of heaven. This time, it is compared to a field in which the master has sown good seed, and yet the enemy comes after him and sows weed seed over the top of the wheat. The servants are concerned about what to do, but the master instructs them to wait until the harvest to separate them, so as not to harm the growing wheat. Then, at harvest, the weeds will be burned, while the wheat is gathered and stored safely away.

In the context of Matthew 13, we know that the seed sown is the Word of God. Now, since it is from God, we know that the Word is good. In last week's lesson, the prophet Isaiah proclaimed that the Word of the Lord comes from His mouth from heaven to earth, and it accomplishes the purpose for which He sent it. The Word of God does what it says. When He says, “Live,” you come to life. When He says, “Rain,” it rains.