{"id":26494,"date":"2026-07-15T20:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T18:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/?p=26494"},"modified":"2026-07-15T20:57:39","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T18:57:39","slug":"matthew-1324-30","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/matthew-1324-30\/","title":{"rendered":"Matthew 13:24-30"},"content":{"rendered":"

We Grow and God Weeds \u2013 It\u2019s not the Usual, but it is Divine | The 8<\/b>th<\/b><\/span> Sunday after Pentecost | 19 July 2026 | Matthew 13:24-30 | Beth A. Schlegel<\/b><\/h3>\n

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text English Standard Version <\/b>Copyright \u00a9 2001 by Crossway Bibles<\/span> (or other version)<\/p>\n

24 [Jesus] put another parable before them, saying, \u201cThe kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his\u00a0field, 25 but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. 26 So when the plants came\u00a0up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 27 And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, \u2018Master, did you\u00a0not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?\u2019 28 He said to them, \u2018An enemy has done this.\u2019 So the servants said to\u00a0him, \u2018Then do you want us to go and gather them?\u2019 29 But he said, \u2018No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with\u00a0them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, \u201cGather the weeds first and bind them in\u00a0bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.\u201d\u00a036 Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, \u201cExplain to us the parable of the weeds of the\u00a0field.\u201d 37 He answered, \u201cThe one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the\u00a0kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the\u00a0reapers are angels. 40 Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send\u00a0his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, 42 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In\u00a0that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He\u00a0who has ears, let him hear.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We Grow and God Weeds \u2013 It\u2019s not the Usual, but it is Divine<\/b><\/p>\n

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.<\/em><\/p>\n

An old joke goes, \u201cWell, the world would be a great place if it weren\u2019t for people\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

We all get frustrated, annoyed, and angry because of the ways other people behave.<\/p>\n

\u2022<\/span> They deceive us
\n\u2022<\/span> Betray our trust
\n\u2022<\/span> Put us in a bad light
\n\u2022<\/span> Make us feel stupid, or helpless<\/p>\n

And even when it isn\u2019t personal, we can be upset by other people\u2019s profanity, personal habits,\u00a0arrogance or meekness, even their fashion choices.<\/p>\n

Yes, other people can be vexing. It takes all kinds to make the world.<\/p>\n

And some people, Jesus tells us, are more than just crazy-making \u2013 they are evil.<\/b><\/p>\n

Evil is more than just doing bad things or making mistakes.<\/p>\n

Evil is that which is against God; against the goodness God intends for the whole world; against<\/p>\n

life, faith, and hope.Evil is opposed to love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and\u00a0self-control, the fruits of the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n

And instead, evil acts with hatred, misery, chaos, intolerance, cruelty, ruthlessness, infidelity,\u00a0violence, and self-indulgence.<\/p>\n

Evil people purposely do what is contrary to the will of God and purposely act to get in the\u00a0<\/b>way of those who do what is right. <\/b>Evil people are weeds growing so closely to the good wheat\u00a0that to try to pull them up would destroy the wheat.<\/p>\n

I used to think it was possible to avoid evil. If I chose my friends carefully, declined invitations\u00a0that went against God\u2019s commandments, stayed away from the so-called \u201cdens of iniquity\u201d, then\u00a0I could move through life unscathed by evil.<\/p>\n

Then, I got on the school bus– with kids who taunted \u201cretard\u201d when the bus passed my house,\u00a0because of my brother who had been severely disabled and died of his brain injuries.<\/p>\n

That was evil. God\u2019s enemy had sown seeds of hatred in those young hearts. But I still had to\u00a0ride the bus with them every day.<\/p>\n

In time, I learned that there were even greater evils in the garden of life:<\/p>\n

\u2022<\/span> scammers, swindlers,
\n\u2022<\/span> people who treat other people as less than human,
\n\u2022<\/span> murderers, thieves,
\n\u2022<\/span> people who pretend to be great, but who trample the weak like toothpicks.<\/p>\n

And they are our neighbors, coworkers, church members, people we live with day in and day out.<\/p>\n

Sometimes, evil is the face in the mirror\u2026<\/p>\n

In Jesus\u2019 story of the kingdom of heaven, it was logical that the field workers thought the best\u00a0solution would be to simply get rid of all those weeds. It\u2019s human nature to want to do away with\u00a0the obstacles in our path, to maintain our sense of control. Humans do this especially when we\u00a0believe we have the highest power and authority and there is nothing greater than we are.<\/p>\n

\u2026when we confuse being \u201clike God\u201d with \u201cbeing God\u201d.<\/p>\n

We want to be able to point fingers and say: They are the evil ones and must be destroyed.<\/p>\n

But Jesus teaches a different way.<\/b><\/p>\n

Jesus points those field workers to a greater authority and power than theirs to deal with evil\u00a0weeds. Jesus himself will send angels to gather the weeds for the fire and the wheat for the\u00a0granary \u2013 but only at the time of the harvest. It is not the responsibility of the field workers todistinguish between the wheat and the weeds at the harvest. That will happen by God\u2019s\u00a0judgment.<\/p>\n

During the growing season, Jesus teaches patience<\/i>, forbearance<\/i>, perseverance<\/i>, and hope<\/i>.<\/p>\n

This applies to each of us living in a field of wheat and weeds, righteousness and evil. In any\u00a0situation when we are tempted to \u201cplay God\u201d to get rid of obstacles to our will, we learn from.\u00a0Jesus.<\/p>\n

Patience<\/b> \u2013 Wait. Discern the will of God. Pray to ask for guidance in how to proceed in\u00a0coexisting with evil. Leave the judgment to God.<\/p>\n

Forbearance<\/b> \u2013 Jesus says to let the weeds and the wheat grow together until the harvest.<\/p>\n

Yes, we must put up with the presence of evil and its minions \u2013 but we don\u2019t need to go along with it. Martin Luther is purported to have said it this way: \u201cYou can\u2019t stop a bird from\u00a0pooping on your head, but you can stop it from making a nest there.\u201d Forbearance also means\u00a0accepting our need to confess and ask forgiveness for the evil we do. We cannot root out our\u00a0own weeds, but must daily ask the Lord Jesus to do just that, for the sake of his cross. When we\u00a0practice forbearance with ourselves, we can also forbear with others and accept them. When we\u00a0receive forgiveness for our sins, then we are humbled and no longer need to control others. We\u00a0are ready for Jesus\u2019 call to perseverance.<\/p>\n

Perseverance<\/b> \u2013 we are to continue to grow as the wheat we are. While we have to contend with\u00a0the evil around us as it seeks to distract us and prevent us from growing, we should not overly\u00a0worry about it; instead, we should focus on growing and producing fruit to the best of our ability.<\/p>\n

So, with patience, forbearance, and perseverance, we live as wheat alongside the weeds. We can\u00a0do this, because Jesus gives us hope.<\/p>\n

Hope<\/b> \u2013 At the harvest, the weeds will be separated from the wheat. God will see to it. Evil does\u00a0not win. Jesus has seen to that by his death and resurrection. In the end of our time, Jesus\u00a0promises to send angels to gather up all causes of sin and all evildoers, <\/i>42<\/i><\/span> and they will throw\u00a0<\/i>them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. <\/i>43<\/i><\/span> Then the\u00a0<\/i>righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.<\/i><\/p>\n

In the meantime, let us continue to be good seed sown by Jesus in the world and being a source\u00a0of life for the world.<\/p>\n

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9Beth A. Schlegel
\npastorschlegel@live.com
\nSt. Peter\u2019s Lutheran Church, York, PA, USA
\nChrist Lutheran Church, Manchester, PA, USA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We Grow and God Weeds \u2013 It\u2019s not the Usual, but it is Divine | The 8th Sunday after Pentecost | 19 July 2026 | Matthew 13:24-30 | Beth A. Schlegel text English Standard Version Copyright \u00a9 2001 by Crossway Bibles (or other version) 24 [Jesus] put another parable before them, saying, \u201cThe kingdom of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26495,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,454,727,157,334,853,108,110,430,349,3,109],"tags":[],"beitragende":[],"predigtform":[],"predigtreihe":[],"bibelstelle":[],"class_list":["post-26494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-matthaeus","category-7-so-n-trinitatis","category-archiv","category-beitragende","category-beth-a-schlegel","category-bibel","category-current","category-engl","category-kapitel-13-chapter-13-matthaeus","category-kasus","category-nt","category-predigten"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26494"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26494\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26497,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26494\/revisions\/26497"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26494"},{"taxonomy":"beitragende","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/beitragende?post=26494"},{"taxonomy":"predigtform","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtform?post=26494"},{"taxonomy":"predigtreihe","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtreihe?post=26494"},{"taxonomy":"bibelstelle","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bibelstelle?post=26494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}