January 7, 2009 (Matthew 13:24-25)

If the truth be told, I suspect that most of us join the church not primarily to be in fellowship with God; but to be in fellowship with people who we trust will love us, nurture us, and forgive us. It comes as a tremendous disappointment, then, when we first realize that the church is not all good, and that the Kingdom values do not always hold sway among those who name the name of Christ. When this happens, two reactions usually follow.

First, we become angry at the church…and not just at the people who may have hurt us. We get angry at everyone else for allowing them to hurt us—As if the entire congregation always knew 100% about what everyone else was doing and they had all placed their “stamp of approval” upon whatever we’re upset about.

Second, after our ire is good and riled up against God’s people, we turn it on Him as well. After all, if we can justify being mad at everyone in the church for the injustices they have allowed, then it only stands to reason that God (Who is the all-knowing head of the church) is to blame as well.

It is precisely at such times, that we need to be reminded of the Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds. Jesus tells the story of a farmer who sows his field. But during the night an enemy comes and sows weeds among the field, and no one realizes it until the plants have started to sprout. When they realize what has happened, the farm hands react in the same way I often do. They are angry…incensed…they want justice and they want it NOW! They ask the farmer, “Should we pull out the weeds?” (13:28) To their surprise, the farmer says “No. You’ll uproot the wheat if you do. Let both grow together until the harvest. Then I will tell the harvesters to sort out the weeds, tie them into bundles, and burn them, and to put the wheat in the barn.” (13:29-30)

We must learn that God’s patience and forbearance is not a sign that He doesn’t care about us, or about the evil that may well be present in His field. Rather, He is patient precisely because He cares so much. To unleash His judgment before the right time, could well destroy wheat along with the weeds; And God has made the decision that it is better to let a few weeds grow than to risk destroying a single stalk of wheat. So the next time you find yourself frustrated by the weeds among you, rather than focusing upon uprooting them, look for little wheat stalks nearby who are struggling just as much as you are. Nurture them. Love them. Water them. And most of all, make sure you do your part to get them as much “Son light” as possible.

-- Justin

For the Kids: Wheat and Weeds coloring sheet

January 6, 2009 (Matthew 13:10-23)

Today’s reading begins with the disciples asking Jesus “Why do You use parables when You talk to the people?” (13:10) After essentially saying, “I speak in parables so they WON’T understand…” (13:12-13) Jesus goes on, in verses 14 and 15, to say that this is yet another fulfillment of an ancient Isaian prophecy:

When you hear what I say,
You will not understand.
When you see what I do,
You will not comprehend.
For the hearts of these people are hardened,
And their ears cannot hear,
And they have closed their eyes—
So their eyes cannot see,
And their ears cannot hear,
And their hearts cannot understand,
And they cannot turn to Me and let Me heal them.

The thing that struck me as I read this was that Jesus is essentially saying it takes more than raw intellect to understand the will of God. Some of us come from Christian heritages that have placed a lot of emphasis upon rationality and thinking skills—perhaps too much, in fact. Please don’t misunderstand, I’m not advocating that we embrace irrationality as an alternative…but I am saying that we need to hear the words of Isaiah and Jesus. The people they spoke about hear the voice of God. They saw the actions of God. In the case of the first century people, they actually saw God enfleshed as a human being—and yet they still did not understand! They saw Him…but they didn’t see Him. They saw only what they wanted to see, and blinded themselves to reality. (Isaiah said “they have closed their eyes”)

This got me to wondering, “How often do I ‘close my eyes’ to what is right in front of me?” How much of God’s will for my life have I failed to understand, not because I haven’t read the Bible, or studied Greek & Hebrew, or read great theologians…but simply because my heart is hardened and I don’t WANT to understand? I suspect that has been the case quite often. I’m struggling to improve the situation every day, but it’s rather difficult to make a blind man see. It requires an act of God. I ask you to pray for me to embrace that action of God in my life…and I will do the same for you; And together, perhaps we will finally be able to turn and let Him heal us.

-- Justin

For Everyone: Give Me Your Eyes video