Wheat and Weeds – One Family’s Reflections on Matthew 13

Weeds we know well. Our garden backs onto a park, so we’ve long since given up battling the various seeds that blow over and pepper our lawn. We’re similarly invaded by the bindweed coming over from next door, and Carl skirmishes occasionally with whatever large-leaved interloper plagues our front drive.

Wheat we’re less good at. We only really know it as the fusilli in the pasta jar and the sandwiches in packed lunches. Child Number Two conceded that the drawing of wheat she did in Transformers on Sunday morning looked more like asparagus. 

But that’s ok: one thing we took from this week’s sermon on Matthew 13:24-30 and 36-43 is that we’re not in the business of sorting the wheat from the weeds anyway – that’s Christ’s to do when he returns in judgment.

What we were in the business of as we discussed the passage over Sunday lunch was identifying encouragements from the passage that speak to our focus on making Jesus known.

Here is some of what we shared about what had particularly struck, challenged or encouraged us in our witness: 

Each negative reaction comes within God’s overall control

During Sunday’s sermon I circled the ‘Let’ of 13:30 in my Bible as it shouted to me ‘this is all of God’s sovereign control and will’. He lets both grow together. That is, he knows that some will be wheat and some will be weeds and he permits that state of affairs. He knows who is which. We don’t. But he is letting rejection of him – the very rejection that makes us nervous or timid in evangelism – continue because he knows that there is wheat he is going to gather in. So I don’t need to fear people’s negative reactions: they are all under his control, all taking place under his plan and, what’s more, all a sign of his ongoing patience. If the harvest hasn’t come yet, if weeds persist and if the gospel is met with rejection by some, it means God knows there are still people yet to turn to him and be saved. Which relates to our discussion on the idea that…

Each new day comes with God’s mission statement

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.(2 Pet.3:9)

As we discussed this verse shared in Sunday’s sermon, we were struck by the idea that, basically, if Christ hasn’t come back yet, it’s because there are more people to be saved. That’s important to remember when we feel our classmates or colleagues or society at large are uniformly antagonistic/uninterested. The fact that Christ hasn’t come back says otherwise. And as I was praying after the sermon, it made me say to myself: If God has given me another day, if I wake up tomorrow with breath in my lungs, that new day exists because God wants people to repent and be saved. So every morning I wake up, I know there is a purpose to that day from God’s point of view: the saving of souls. And he has given me a role to play in that as I hold out the word of life. On which note…

Each urgent warning comes with God’s incredible invitation

Telling people about the reality of judgment and the horror of hell is uncomfortable – uncomfortable but urgent, as we were thinking about in the sermon. It’s important to be clear-sighted about what Jesus saves people from to make us faithful, committed and earnest in prayer and witness. In the car on the way home from church, though, we were also struck that the Gospel message we get to share is not just that Christdied to save us from judgment but that Christ died to save us for restored humanity, for new life and life eternal, for intimate relationship with the God of the universe. As verse 43 puts it, those clothed in Christ’s righteousness  by faith “will shine like the sun in the kingdom of God”. There is a radiant future for the lowly wheat. And, as we suddenly realised in the car home, who shines like the sun in Matthew? Christ does at his transfiguration (17:2). Those who are in Christ will shine like the Son! With the Son! Forever! In that little verse is a glimpse of the glorious picture of life in the kingdom that Matthew offers here. We’ve got to be real with people about eternal judgment. But we get to be real with people about eternal joy too. When we’re nervous of sharing the hard news, we can remember that we’re also sharing an astounding invitation. The good news is not just ‘saved from’, it’s ‘saved for’. 

Each interaction comes as a God-given opportunity

Before heading to church on Sunday morning, I read the day’s entry from Paul David Tripp’s New Morning Mercies, in which he noted two wrong tendencies in believers, one of which was to ‘wait for God to do for [us] what he has clearly called and empowered [us] to do’ already. 

It was with those words still ringing in my short-term memory as we thought on Sunday morning about sharing the gospel with others that the following thought struck me: how often I pray or ask for prayer for opportunities to share the gospel with others when in fact every time I find myself in conversation with someone, God has given me an opportunity. What I suspect I really mean is that I want an easy ‘tell-me-what-I-must-do-to-be-saved’ opportunity. But God hasn’t promised those. What he has done is given me a clear calling to share the good news of his Son. He has given me the Holy Spirit and his powerful gospel message to empower that work. And, Matthew 13 and 2 Peter 3 tell me, in his salvation-desiring patience he has given me another day to do what he has already called me to do. 

What struck you?

Those were the slightly rambling subjects of our post-sermon family conversation, pulled here into some sort of shape after the event. As you look back over the passage, what is it that strikes or encourages you? 

Next time you’re pulling up thistles or trying to get to the dandelion heads before the wind does, what spur to make Jesus known will you call to mind from this passage? Next time you’re decanting pasta or buttering bread, what good news about our God and his patient kindness will you reflect on to share with others?

And now, next time you eat asparagus, could that be a reminder of this parable too?!