Jesus told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.
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?'
'An enemy did this,' he replied.
The servants asked him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?'
The servants asked him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?'
'No,' he answered, 'because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. 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.' "
I love it when I'm reading the Bible and I discover passages I didn't know existed, especially when those passages are relevant to my life.
Explanation:
Yesterday I was sitting in my living room, discussing with fellow Bible College students the reason for and the proper reaction to people who claim Christianity but don't show fruit. The conversation was mostly about how do you know if someone is really a Christian... by mere proclamation? By the good fruit they produce? Or are we, as fellow Christians, really the ones who have the insight to make that judgment? One of my fellow students used the verse in Matthew that talks about how it'll be evident who they are by the fruit that grows on their tree – like the verse says, he argued that a good tree cannot produce bad fruit (Matthew 7:16-18). The thought that I added to the conversation is that we shouldn't judge them, but judge ourselves... take a good hard look in the mirror and see what kind of fruit are we producing. I also noted that the church today is missing the boat and neglecting to teach solid valuable truth to new believers, because sometimes I think we offer a salvation message but then neglect to teach infant Christians how to crawl and walk and eat solid food. I suggested that instead of looking at young baby Christians with disdain or distaste for their lack of good fruit baring, or lack of knowledge on how to produce good fruit, that we should examine ourselves to see 'what lessons am I teaching, through example, by the fruit I'm producing.' After all, a good tree cannot produce bad fruit.
And then, today I was reading just for mere time passing... it is the summer, I hardly have anything better to do. And within the very first two pages that I read, the author discussed this bit of scripture. (Oh God, your timing slays me!) The man writing the book that I was reading was talking about why Jesus put the parable in the words and format that He did, and then the author went on to say that the point that Jesus was driving home was 1.) That it isn't easy to distinguish the weeds from the wheat – that sometimes God really is the only one who can tell, and 2.) that destroying evil might destroy good (Jesus for President, pg.96-97).
Where I totally understand the second point, it doesn't convict me quite the way the first point does. The first point, that sometimes you can't tell the good from the bad... that is exactly what we were talking about yesterday. And, in my own life I know that this was a necessary thought to process.
Good job God, you teach me even when I'm not looking for a lesson.
