comPARABLE: Parable of the Weeds

Matthew 13:24-29
²⁴ Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. ²⁵ But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. ²⁶ When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.
²⁷ “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’
²⁸ “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied
“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’
²⁹ “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. ³⁰ Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”

This is an uncomfortable parable if you really look at it. There are two things I want to draw to light with this parable. Jesus is teaching this parable to tell us that 1) there will be a day of harvest, and 2) we were meant to grow among the weeds.

To dive in further to this parable, the question I find myself asking is what makes wheat, wheat and what makes the weeds, weeds? The enemy is at work, and he will do anything to spread weeds among the wheat. He will do anything to disrupt the harvest. But I want to make sure we do not focus so much on the enemy that we forget about the weeds. What if weeds could turn to wheat? What if the things oppressing us could be utilized for the glory of God? I know men who do this. I know men that use their stories, shed light on the weeds of them, eradicate the weeds and pull a great harvest from their stories.

The weeds could be certain situations we live in or it could be people we live with. Regardless of what their definition, we were not meant to live in a world where they did not exist; we are created to live among the weeds in our lives. Hopefully we do not become overtaken by the weeds, but hopefully we are not in a field of just wheat until after the harvest.
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Food for Thought: What makes a weed, a weed? What makes wheat, wheat? Which one are you? Which do you want to be?