“Parable of the Weeds,” from Matthew 13: 24-30 & 36-43, is a story Jesus told as he sat in a boat looking out to a crowd of people on the shore. People came to hear him tell his stories from great distances because they heard that Jesus would teach them the word of God.
Jesus knew that storytelling was a way that he could help people understand the meaning of his message. He told stories that would be retold over and over to people yearning to hear about God and his love for us.
It was by the water that Jesus told his parables of “The Sower,’ “The Weeds,” and “The Mustard Seed.” He spoke about farming to people who fished for food and to people who knew the difficulty of harvesting a good crop. “The Parable of the Weeds,” is a simple story that carries a deeper message and difficult for his Disciples to understand.
Jesus explained, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.”
Pastor Sarah reminded us that God will separate the sin (weeds) from the good(grain). We need to have faith that in the end, God will remove sin and leave us with justice, peace & love. It is not our job to point fingers at those who we think are sinful, but to look inside and recognize the weeds that we have in our own lives and wait for our own redemption. In the end, God will separate the weeds from the grain and leave us to “Shine in the Sun.”
In kindergarten we teach children that books and stories that they love are called, “Old Favorites.” Those stories are the ones that they want to have read to them over and over. Those stories are the ones that children remember when they grow up and tell them to their own children.
Jesus parables are stories that we can read over and over until they become “Old Favorites.” He taught us that simple messages can have great meaning.
Have a great week. Pray for peace and love in our world and tell an “Old Favorite” story to someone.