4 little parables...2 for the wheat/tares and 2 for the sower...Matthew 13:31-35, 44-46


 A belated Father's Day greeting to all the dads out there.  This is a picture of my father and his father.  Dad had signed up for a tour in the Navy when the Korean Conflict broke out.  I see his left hand here that I never saw in person because of a sawmill accident 65 years ago.  Dad was the middle of 5 children just as I am the middle of 5 with my older sister dying at birth.  I found out this week that dad had a daughter named after him, along with a grandson, a great grandson, and also a middle name to one of his nephews.  His passing as the last of his generation of the family has caused me to reflect a lot this week about life and what it throws at you at times.  I admit that sometimes I don't handle it as well as I should.  I could make excuses but really it is me not relying on the trust I have in my God more than the trust I have in myself.

I don't like flying but the circumstances had me making back to back trips to Florida from Colorado with a preaching of this passage in-between.  The midnight red-eye messed up my internal clock and I think I went well over 24 hours before getting some sleep.  Sleep deprived, tired, and hot, I forged forward with the tasks of wrapping up the details of an almost 95 year old life.  Prior to passing I had the opportunity to sing some favorite and familiar songs from the little red Melodies of Praise from the pews of the Turner Free Methodist Church; I was able to read to him highlighted passages from his Bible; and I was able to tell him how much I loved him and that he was a good dad not only to me but also to many of the neighborhood kids in our neck of Mason Township, Arenac County.  I long to get back to Colorado because I think a solo hike will do me a lot of good in sorting out the thoughts I have had over the last couple of months.  

Life goes on and so does our passage in chapter 13 of Matthew.  I truly have been able to see how these two major parables, the Sower and the Wheat and the Tares, are connected to the other 6 smaller parables.  3 smaller ones go with the Sower and the other 3 go with the Wheat and the Tares.  2 main points have emerged.  One is what happens now and that is the sowing of the gospel to all types of soils (hard, shallow, seedy, and good) and there is a certain response that signifies it is good ground.  The other is what happens later.  A judgment is coming with wheat going into the barn and tares going to the fire.  Good, because of God, and evil exist side by side now.  The evil rests in the branches of God's world and sin permeates the whole loaf of God's kingdom.  Now they reside side by side but when the harvest comes there will be a just separation.

Next Sunday we will cover one more for what is going to happen and also another of what needs to be happening now.  In the midst of this is the fulfillment of prophecy that the Messiah would speak in parables and also the response of the people to not respond favorably because their focus was still upon themselves.  It is so great that the chapter ends with this being put on display in real time.  The people have hear His wisdom and seen His mighty works and yet do not believe.  

One last thought that I can only attribute to the Holy Spirit is seeing something in the preparation of the sermon.  The Parable of the Mustard Seed and the Parable of the Leaven come immediately following the pronouncement of the judgment by fire in the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares.  The man plants a mustard seed in his garden that grows into a tree that the birds nest in.  The woman hides leaven in three large measures of flour (wheat) and it permeates the whole loaf.  Is this a picture of the Garden of Eden.  Man was put in the garden to tend to it and it was to grow and offer provision for all.  The woman listen to the words of the serpent over the God who created her and sin (leaven) was put into the mix and it has permeated the whole of God's creation.  Now we have a problem but what is the solution?

Could the picture of the cross be in the Parable of the Treasure and the Parable of the Pearl of Great Price?  These are introduced with a word that means, "on the other hand" and so referring to the other major parable.  Who is the great treasure and who is the one pearl of great price that you would sell all to possess?  The response of the good ground of the Parable of the Sower is to give all of your life to the One who gave all of His life for you.  The solution to the garden is the cross.  I am so thankful for the Holy Spirit's aid in preparing messages for the flock.

Adam (in new territory this day)



A simple man serving a great God and the local pastor of Stillwater Community Chapel (stillwater-chapel.org). We are in our 39th year of full time ministry. God directed us to this local body of believers on the Western Range of the Rockies to grow with them in mission and mindedness of Christ.

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