Thoughts for the Day

Jesus 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!'

(Lectionary, New NIV)

Thoughts

My father, Bob, came from the East End of London. One of four brothers, he was taught to read by my mother. He ended up in the SAS during World War, behind enemy lines. A small but powerful man, he was full of odd sayings culled from his childhood and the army. Add that to a mother who had been brought up in Costa Rica as a child, and there were even more odd sayings that occurred. One of these was "Wash out your lug-holes!", said if you didn't hear something. Or as Jesus said, far more delicately "Let anyone with ears listen!"

'The Parable of the weeds' teaches us in graphic form about the seeds of evil that can grow insidiously amongst the good seeds in the Church and in the world. The phrase 'the Son of Man' appears in the explanation of the parable. In the Old Testament which was written in Hebrew, the phrase 'son of man' refers simply to a 'man' and is not a title. But in the Book of Daniel which was written in Aramaic, there is a divine being 'like a son of man' (Daniel 7.13-14). Since this was the language that Jesus and most Galileans spoke they would have understood his words as claiming he was the Son of God. It was a title that Jesus used over over eighty times in the Gospels, and was to lead to his death.

"Let anyone with ears listen" says Jesus - for the seeds of sin and evil are in and around us. The task for us as children of God is to try and not let these seeds get established in ourselves.

Lord God,
we come to You this day
to ask for forgiveness for our sin:
for those things we think, or say, or do,
which break the rule of love for You,
and for others;
and those times when we are
completely selfish and self-centred.
We ask Your help to keep listening
to You and following Your guidance
today and in the future.
Amen.