The Great Harvest

Rev. Steven D. Spencer – Pastor of Messiah Lutheran Church, Salem, OR

He put another parable before them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, 'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?' He said to them, 'An enemy has done this.' So the servants said to him, 'Then do you want us to go and gather them?' But he said, 'No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather 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 came to 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 is the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the close of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the close of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

On your way into church this morning did you come to the same realization I did, it’s the middle of summer. This time of year you typically have two types of hot. Hot and humid or hot and dry either way it’s hot. If you look outside you see the lawns have pretty much browned up. It’s just the way summers go. But think back a few months ago when it was green and lush, spring had just started. Perhaps you were thinking about the garden you wanted to plant. You know, the one without weeds, with everything planted in perfect rows or blocks or mounds. The ideal garden, the low maintenance one, you know, the one you said you would plant last year. But this year you’re really meant to do it. With paper in hand you sat down and started writing down what you were going to plant. Maybe you even drew a picture of what the garden would look like. Corn here, peas there, cucumbers on the mound. You know the type of garden, a garden with everything in its place and a place for everything; the perfect type of garden. One that would make the neighbors green with envy. You had a list of everything in the garden, corn, planted 2 inches in depth, peas planted at a ½ inch in depth. It was all figured out. The time came to prepare the soil and you went out and tilled the ground, pulled the weeds, used Round-Up on everything weeks before. The soil was just right; not too wet, not too dry, light to the touch. You tested it by crushing it in your hand and making a dirt clod and it crumbled under the clinch of your fist.  It was time for the seeds. You didn’t cut corners there. You purchased the tried and true seeds. The ones you knew would always produce and germinate. You had it all under control; it was going to be the best garden ever. The seeds were planted in their proper place and now time to wait for the germination. To me nothing is as wonderful as the miracle of seeing the seeds sprouting and new life coming up from the ground. It’s only a matter of days; patient waiting, a little water and time. And there you are waiting patiently for the new sprouts. You’re not disappointed. They arrive just like every other year each where it should be.  

But wait, what’s this growing all around the new sprouts? Everywhere something else is growing. This can’t be. You sprayed and weeded the soil. You tilled it until everything was dead. There’s no way anything other than what you planted should be growing. But it is! Someone must have come in the middle of the night and thrown other seed into your garden right on top of what you planted. What type of scoundrel would do this? A decision needs to be made. Should you spray the weeds between the rows and pull the rest, pull out everything by hand or just start over.

This is exactly what our text is about today. But the crop wasn’t vegetables.  If had been it would have been easier to deal with. It was wheat, a crop that isn’t planted in nice rows but a crop filling the whole field. Wheat can be an extremely fragile crop in its early stages. Pulling the weeds would have pulled up many of the seedlings. And to make matters more difficult the weed that was sown was also grass-like.

That weed in the Greek is called zizanium (ziza,nion) and is commonly translated darnel. It is a weed resembling wheat but produces poisonous seeds. The intent is to either destroy the crop or destroy those who would eat it. We translate the name as the stupid weed or we might think of it as locoweed. It was known to make animals stupid and humans insane before killing them. It would typically grow faster than other crop thus choking them out. Matthew 13:25 says "but while men were fast asleep, his enemy (whose enemy? The sower’s enemy) came and sowed darnel among the wheat and went his way.” This action is quite obviously criminal and immoral, so much so that the Roman Government had outlawed it.  It was a tactic used by evil men to drive farmers into poverty for the purpose of purchasing their land at a fraction of cost.

Let’s look at what was happening here.  It is the middle of night; someone sneaks into a field and sows poisonous seeds. They desired to do bitter and spiteful acts. And this was not just a token act or a small mischievous act. This was a premeditated act of sin. This is a large field not a garden. It takes planning and effort to sow that amount of seed.  It wasn’t an accident it was intentional. And after doing this dreadful deed he sneaks away in the darkness. The seed that was sown was such as many would not even know it was growing along side the good seed until it was too late. It resembles wheat in a sense it is a counterfeit and a deadly one at that. This is a criminal act, one of malice and contempt. Who would do something this heinous?

Jesus tells us who it is. He explains the parable and we only need to hear his words. In verse 37 He says, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares, darnel are the sons of the evil one; and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels.”

I’m sure most of us are quite comfortable, I would hope, with the idea that we are the children of God. But how often do we think about the fact that there are those who are children of the evil one. Do we really understand what the text says here; sons of the evil one? The original language says sons of the Devil (ponhro,j). Quite literally meaning those that are toilsome, painful, and grievous in behavior. They are, as the original language states; truly “good for nothing”. Quite frankly, they are a pain in the---- neck. They cause problems; they are malicious and only want to cause division in the body of Christ. They want to choke the faith out of you and keep you from producing good works that shows others the faith within. These are what Ephesians 5 describes as immoral or impure persons, who are idolaters, and they have no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. The word in the Greek for these people is pornos (po,rnoj) from where we get the word pornography. This is not a passive activity. They serve the evil one with great effort and much work. Perhaps you’ve heard Winston Churchill’s famous declaration during World War II, “All that is necessary for the forces of evil to prevail in the world is for enough good men to do nothing." Churchill was quoting Edmund Burke a British statesman who on March 22^nd 1775 delivered these same words to the US in favor the American Colonies in her quest for freedom from Britain.

I like Burke. He was a cocky Irishman born in Dublin.  Burke catches the important message of our text. Dealing with evil!

What are we to do with this knowledge of the evil that lies around us? Are we to sit quietly and let it overtake us?--- NO! Are we to tolerate the injustice and division that weakens our Church?--- NO! Are we to be like sheep lead to the slaughter?---NO! Jesus allowed himself to be led to slaughter like a sheep for our sake. And we too should be willing to allow ourselves to be led to slaughter for the sake of others. But when it comes to the truth, the church and others we cannot allow evil that to overtake us.  We cannot, We should not, We must not allow evil to prevail. We are surrounded by evil. Our text says the seed was sown amongst the wheat, literally next too, in between, aside of, the wheat. You and I are God’s seed and the seed of the evil one surrounds us. Evil, sin and corruption meets us at every turn of our lives. It is in our own church, our synod, our society, our world. But dear fellow believers, don’t lose heart, and don’t give up the fight. “For greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4). And  great comfort comes to us in Jesus words to his servants in our text today, “Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, "First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn."  This is the Great Harvest! You shall be gathered unto Him. He allows the tares, the evil ones to live that they too might repent and be gathered together with you into everlasting life. But those that don’t repent shall be harvested also and burned with an eternal flame and cast into damnation.

We have a great opportunity. Our world is becoming more and more chaotic. Sin is expanding exponentially. People are dying of stress because they have no hope, no direction, no God. When it’s darkest then the light shines the most brightly. You are that light. People see that light that is within you. Because of what Christ has done for you. People are spiritually hungry. They can eat the bread of life—or-- the seed of that wicked weed, the weed that causes stupidity and insanity the fruit of the evil one. You can invite your neighbors, your friends and your love ones to feast upon the bread of eternal life. They can hear God speak to them here, in His house. You too need to feast upon that bread that brings life. How do you do that? By coming to the Lord’s Table and receiving His body and blood in the Holy Sacrament. Yes it is a great day to be God’s Child and you have been planted by the Son of Man, watered though your baptism and fed through the Lord’s Supper. The day is coming when the Angels of God will gather the harvest in and you shall be with Him though all eternity. Now is the time to share the Good New of God’s love to all mankind. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” You know that message personally for Christ has spoken it you. We are in a battle against Satan, sin and the world for evil does surround us. But you are victorious. And how do I know that you are victorious? Because God has declared the victory for you because of what Christ did on the cross, in the tomb and in His victory over death itself. It was a bloody battle, Christ blood. And because His blood was spilled you are redeemed and victorious. And in that victory you have the power to resist all attacks of the evil one and to boldly say, “to hell with you Satan and your legion for I am a child of God, property of the Most High, be gone.”

What wonderful comfort and assurance this is. You are God’s very own not because of what you have done but because of what Christ has done for you. For even the gates of Hell shall not prevail against you for you are the church of God (Matthew 16:18). You are God’s very own people.

All Praise be to God He calls us His own, in Jesus name, Amen and Amen!

The Peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts minds in Christ Jesus, Amen