Thought for the Day - Sunday 19 July

Thought for the Day – Sunday 19^th July

‘He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?’ He answered, ‘An enemy has done

this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he replied, ‘No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’”

Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!’ (Matthew 24-30, 36-43)

Most stories have a ‘goodie’ and a ‘baddie’ and usually it is quite easy to distinguish between the two – but it appears not so in this story for how can one tell if a seed is a good seed or a weed until they actually begin to grow!

Of course, once they begin to grow to then remove the weeds would mean disturbing the roots of the good seed and perhaps killing the good seed – so better to let both seed and weed grow together and only at the time of harvesting separate them out – burning the weeds to prevent their spread and storing the good grain for the future.

This story is often used to consider the question why is there evil in the world when God is an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-good God.

Yet, surely having been gifted free-will we realise that as a person we are not wholly good or wholly evil but actually have the potential within us to be a bit of both. Sometimes our good intentions can result in bad consequences and that is not God’s fault!

However, for those listening to this story, as a first century Christian and the stories in between these verses – people who were suffering persecution and wondering why Jesus had not yet returned to establish the kingdom of which he spoke so often, it would not have been the question of good and evil which mattered to them. Rather, they would have been seeking reassurance from these words that they should still be following Jesus and that they were not wrong to put their trust in him. Probably things in the community around them were not as they had hoped they would be, maybe they were seeing behaviours they would not have expected, maybe the kingdom of God was not being reflected by the people around them. So they would be beginning to doubt their decision to follow Jesus, to put their trust in him and the hope that his kingdom would come and they would be released from their persecution and suffering.

I think that question of trust is as important for us today as it was for those first century Christians!

Our all-powerful, all-knowing, all-good God was revealed in Jesus.

Our all-powerful, all-knowing, all-good God can be trusted.

Our all-powerful, all-knowing, all-good God has not abandoned his people.

It is us who sometimes doubt, it is us who sometimes stop trusting, it is us who sometimes don’t want to wait until the harvesting time for justice to be done.

However, even though we may be discouraged at times by the ‘weeds’ growing around us we still need to trust in God and what he is doing; we still need to keep on sowing those seeds of love; we still need to be looking out for shoots of new growth; we still need to be nurturing those shoots and we must not worry about the final outcomes of all our work – let us leave that to our all-powerful, all-knowing, all-good God.

Prayer

Creator God,

You are the source of all that is: the life in every living thing: birds and beasts; fish and fowl; crops and the locusts that devour them; trees and the diseases that threaten them; wildflowers, which are beautiful in one place, and troublesome weeds in another. You made them all, and you made us: not wholly good or wholly bad, but full of creative potential, which can be used for good or for harm; squandered or never allowed to flourish.

We come to you today, not so much to make our confession, as to open ourselves up to your inspection: ready to be surprised by the good that may reveal; hoping not to be too discouraged by what is harmful and what needs to be changed.

But first, we need to open our eyes and look, with you, at the ripening harvest of our lives.

What shoots of new growth can we see?

What is there in us that is stronger and healthier than it was before?

Let us give thanks: with God and to God, for every growth in grace; every lesson learned; every kindness shown; every struggle overcome.

Let us ask for help to nurture and encourage every seed of life that God has planted.

And now, as we continue looking inwards, what else can we see?

Are there weeds of tiredness or frustration; thorns of envy or of fear that threaten to choke the life of the kingdom, growing in us?

Let us acknowledge, before God, the dangers that we face and the temptations that draw us.

Let us promise not to feed these weeds with our time or water them with our attention, but to trust God, the farmer, to deal with them, when the time is right.

Lord of all life, may the seeds of your kingdom grow in us, and be allowed to flourish, and may we at the last share with all your faithful people in the joy of the harvest feast.

In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen