Parable of the Weeds

I taught a lesson Sunday from Matthew 13. The biblical truth was : Since God is patient with the wicked and will judge them at the appropriate time, we are to be patient as well.

The Parable of the Weeds Matthew 13: 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 root up 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.' "

What a sick thing to do to someone. I asked everyone to think of a time when the sabotaged someone for the fun of it. I brought up the times we would change a friend's answer machine without her knowing it. We also once jacked up the front end of her Pontiac Sunfire and she couldn't figure out why it wouldn't go anywhere.

Why was separating the wheat from the weeds before harvest so difficult? The sprouts often looked alike and you could do severe damage to the good plants.

Farmer-Son of Man
Fields-the world
Enemy-Satan
Good seed-sons of the Kingdom, Christ's heirs
Weeds-sons fo the evil one
Harvest-the end of time, judgment day
Harvesters-the Angels

The Parable of the Weeds Explained Matthew 13:36 Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field."
37 He answered, "The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
40 "As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. 42 They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

I asked why did Jesus wait until the crowds went away to explain the parable to his disciples. One member brought up that there really weren't any farmers amongst the disciples. Keep in mind the disciples also were inquisitive and asked Jesus to go deeper.

The end result is that the wees are finally separated and burned.

I asked "why is it so hard for us to wait on God's timing?" I think many people personally like it when bad things happen to bad people. We want IMMEDIATE justice.

What I take out of this lesson was to try and wait on God to do His thing. Stay the course in my own personal life and let God judge the wicked. Hard to do though!