GOSPEL MEDITATION PARABLES # 3
The Parable of the Weeds
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
- Find a quiet place, alone and apart from distractions.
- Be comfortably alert, still and at peace.
- Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer
- Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself.
- Slowly and carefully read the passages of Scripture.
- Reread them. From memory, determine the central points.
- The sower/farmer scatters seed widely and despite difficulty, there is a harvest, one that far exceeds 10 fold, which would be expected.
- Jesus makes a comparison with what sowers encounter regularly—along with the wheat are weeds. What to do?
- The weeds can be pulled out, others note to the owner of the field. But no, the weeds are to be left in place, which would be somewhat shocking to the field hands.
- At a later point, Jesus leaves the crowd of hearers and retires with His disciples to a private location who then ask Him to explain the parable to them.
- Turns out the sower is actually the “Son of man” or Jesus Himself. (Does Jesus sow seed through or by means of His followers?)
- The field where the seeds are sown is the world, all the people of the world. The good seed are the children of the kingdom, the weeds are the plants of the evil one.
- There is to be a harvest at the end of the age and the reapers are sent out (see Revelation 14:14-20).
- At the outset, the angels of God gather the plants belonging to the evil one and these are burned with fire. All that causes sin along with all law-breakers are thrown into the “fiery furnace.” In that place there will be “weeping and gnashing of teeth” a classical Jewish expression.
- The harvest, the crop, the fruit, will be preserved, these “righteous” will be in the very presence of the Father.
- The followers of Jesus, His hearers, are invited to hear.