Get Out

The hardest work is out. 

It's a phrase we have uttered to nearly everyone we know at some point.
Our kids have walked in when we're on the phone and they are getting loud.
So, we exclaim, "GET OUT!"

If you are in management, maybe you have had to deal with incompetent worker at some point or other. Their antics and incapability to perform their job properly might cause you to lose it in their presence and force them to leave your office. "GET OUT!"

No doubt, there have been arguments at home, work, even church. And, somebody has most likely screamed the phrase in anger. "GET OUT!"

For some reason, this famous phrase came to mind as I read this passage from Matthew.
Maybe you'll see what I mean after you take a moment.

Matthew 13:24-30

New International Version (NIV)

The Parable of the Weeds

²⁴ Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. ²⁵ But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. ²⁶ When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.
²⁷ “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?’
²⁸ “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.
“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’
²⁹ “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. ³⁰ 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.’”

A farmer's greatest enemy is not bugs or too much sun or not enough fertilizer.
It's weeds.

They suck the life right out of the ground. They suck up moisture and make it hard for anything else to grow. Not to mention, they just don't help anything look good. Nobody likes the look of a bunch of weeds between the rows in your garden.

A farmer's work is to make them get out.

He pulls and he hoes. He cultivates and he waters.
But he never does any actual harm to the garden he cares for.
The chief goal is to make sure that everything grows properly.

One thing that causes me some wonder as I read here is the interpretation.
Who is the one planting seed supposed to be? Who is the enemy?
What do the wheat and weeds represent? What is this parable actually saying to us?

Well, unlike some parables that leave us wondering, this is one of the few parables where Jesus actually gives the interpretation. Just a few lines later He is giving the explanation...

The Parable of the Weeds Explained

³⁶ Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”
³⁷ He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. ³⁸ The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, ³⁹ and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
⁴⁰ “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. ⁴¹ The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. ⁴² They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. ⁴³ Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.

As I have read the Parable of the Wheat in my earlier years, I wanted to make a true assumption.
There must be a way to get rid of them weeds.
After all, weeds don't do anything good. They just debilitate the garden, the things that need to grow.
After all, we all know people we have seen in the church who don't seem to do anything good.
What are they doing here? Why are they in this place? Wouldn't we be better off if they were gone?

Oh, but here comes a very dangerous point. How do we go about judging that someone is a "weed"?
The weeds in this parable, after all, were planted by "the enemy".
How is it that we go about determining that someone else is a "child of the enemy"?
Is it even safe for us to do so?

Lets look at the true emotion that we feel when we are dealing with someone who we feel falls into that category. What is ti we would like to tell them? You know it to be true. "GET OUT!"
"Get out of here and quit causing trouble!" "Get out of here and quit holding us up from going somewhere!" "Take your horrible attitude and your horrible self and leave us alone!"

If we could check our own attitude at the door for just a second, we might want some clarification.

You see, this parable has absolutely nothing to do with us.

It doesn't tell us to do anything. It doesn't tell us to go and work on anything.
It's simply for the means of clarification.

Jesus says He is the one who sows the good seed. He doesn't specifically say who the good seed is or point fingers at anybody to designate them. In other places, he explains what good fruit looks like and what a person do if they are truly a child of God. But, he doesn't point to any specific person and tell them, "You are my child." and to anybody else, "You are a child of the devil." (Although, John chapter 8 does have Jesus in a conversation with the Pharisees and he does say to them "You are children of your father", meaning the devil.)

What I'm saying is, Jesus did not make it his way to go about judging others into a palce of salvation or condemnation. What he says in the parable is true. Leave it till the end.

The Father will sort it out. Who are his children and who needs to go away.

What could we take from this parable?

Jesus wants to plant good seed and spread the kingdom. How does he do that?
Through you and me. We are his workers, his hands and feet, his eyes and ears.
There are needs to be met and people who need to be met.

Maybe we need to go. Maybe we need to GET OUT.

Get out of the pews and into the street. Into peoples homes and hearts and lives.
Can we see ourselves getting out instead of expecting or demanding others to get out?

Could we be God's children in a field full of weeds?

God needs wheat, children of good seed.
God wants to grow something good in good soil.
Is your heart in the right place to receive the seed, be his child, cause some good int he world around you?

The work is out there. And, the field is ripe with harvest.