by Don Emmitte |
|
|
Here
is another story Jesus told: "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a farmer
who planted good seed in his field. But that night as everyone slept, his
enemy came and planted weeds among the wheat. When the crop began to grow
and produce grain, the weeds also grew. The farmer's servants came and
told him, `Sir, the field where you planted that good seed is full of
weeds!' "`An enemy has done it!' the farmer exclaimed. `Shall we pull
out the weeds?' they asked. "He replied, `No, you'll hurt the wheat
if you do. Let both grow together until the harvest. Then I will tell the
harvesters to sort out the weeds and burn them and to put the wheat in the
barn.'"
(Matthew 13:24-29 NLV). I was in the doctor’s office
not long ago and I saw some beautiful flowers on the filing cabinet behind
the receptionist’s desk. I happened to be one of the first patients to
arrive for the day and I noticed that they were very fragrant.
I thought that she must have only recently put the flowers in the
room. I remarked how nice they smelled and she smiled and reached in her
desk and showed me a can of floral aerosol spray! I couldn’t have been
more surprised. In fact, when
she told me that the flowers were artificial, I really was amazed. They
looked like they were real, they smelled like they were alive, but they
weren’t! Our reading today is about the illusion of life. In verse 24, "Jesus told them another parable: 'The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.'" Now, Jesus went on to say that the farmer's servants are concerned about this mixture of wheat and weeds so they ask, "'Do you want us to go and pull them up?' 'No,' he answered, 'because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. 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.'" Jesus explained it later. The wheat is the people who really have a relationship with Him. The weeds are people who look like they have a relationship with Him, but really don't. Notice the servants couldn't tell the difference between what was real and what wasn't. We can't tell, but God can. According to Jesus, there are lots of folks who are sort of like our receptionist's artificial flowers, they look and smell and sound like they have eternal life, but the looks are deceiving somehow, they have missed Jesus. And the difference will be very clear on Judgment Day, horribly clear. The weeds, Jesus said, will be burned. The wheat will be brought to Him. It's an unsettling thought that
sitting next to each other are two people who both look like they know
Jesus, talk like they know Jesus, even act like they know Jesus, but one
is headed to heaven, the other is headed to hell. The difference is
whether or not there was a time when they, in their heart, went to the
cross of Jesus and said, "Jesus, I'm putting all my trust in You and
what You did on that cross for me. You may have a lot of Christianity but
somehow you've missed Jesus. All you have is artificial life. Don’t
settle for what appears to be real when you can have the real thing! |
|
