Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 Pentecost 8
Pastor Ron Koehler
Grace—Tucson, AZ
July 23, 2023
I have a fig guy. His name is Vadim. I recently bought two trees from him because after a friend gave me some figs, I wrapped bacon around them and grilled them, and let me tell you… Anyway, Vadim knows everything about figs. He told me the appropriate pot size, what to put in it, what to spray on it for pests, when the figs should come and all sorts of stuff. He even talked about it being a “biblical plant.” Vadim the fig guy plants his trees in the best spots, cares for his trees, helps them to bear fruit, and he looks forward to the harvest. I can get a hold of Vadim any time for his wisdom and help. Today, Jesus shares with us a story about planting and harvesting that tells us that God does certain things—and does certain things for us—that are very similar to what Vadim the fig guy does—and what he does for me. Mine is just a little earthly story; Jesus’ story is an earthly one with a spiritual meaning. It is the story of how Christians Live as Wheat Among the Weeds. Jesus begins, The kingdom of heaven is like... So, we know, right off the bat, what this story is going to be about, that is, as long as we know what “the kingdom of heaven” is. Now, our first guess might be that Jesus is going to talk about what heaven itself is like. But that’s not the case. You’ll see, as Jesus talks, that he’s not really talking about a place but an activity. The kingdom of heaven as Jesus talks about it here, is God’s gracious rule in human hearts and minds while they live here in this world. That’s what the story is about. A field owner planted some good seed. This field owner is none other than Jesus himself. The field is really the world. And the good seed Jesus plants in this world are Christians. He calls them the sons of the kingdom—the heirs of God’s riches given by grace. We know how we became the wheat in God’ field. The Son of God lived and died and rose so that all who put their confidence in him and what he did will be saved eternally. Then Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to make us part of his kingdom by putting that saving faith in our hearts. You and I are not who are by accident or by some choice we made. The Spirit worked with the tools of his powerful Word and the miracle of Baptism to make us wheat in his field. The Holy Spirit continues to make that faith grow in our hearts day by day through his Word. And so, we are the good wheat seeds which Jesus, the owner of the field that is the world, planted. Everything would be just fine if we were the only seeds to be sown in the big field of the Earth, but unfortunately, we’re not. There is other seed out there. While people were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. Crafty move, sowing the weeds all over where the wheat was planted. And doing it under cover of darkness too! Who does that sound like? We could probably guess