Wheat and Weeds – A Parable about Judgment

On the face of it, this parable is quite straightforward (although I wonder what they’d say on Gardeners Question Time). It’s about judgment. You may be more inclined to convert the weeds, and turn it into a parable about evangelism. Jesus certainly talks about conversion elsewhere, but not here. So you have a field full of wheat and weeds, all growing together. Should you try and pull up the weeds? No, says the farmer, because you could damage the wheat. Leave it until the harvest and then the wheat can be sorted from the weeds. Most parables don’t explicitly tell you what they’re trying to say, but in this case Jesus has thrown in an additional bit of decoding for you. The field is the world, the wheat is God’s followers, while the weeds are evildoers inspired by the Devil. At the end of the age, there will be a final reckoning and God’s angels will separate God’s people from evil people, and those evil people will be consigned to a terrible fate.

But what’s Jesus’ point? Well the point that is particular to this parable seems to be the bit about pulling up the weeds. Jesus says that if you pursue that policy, you’ll do more harm than good.

The world doesn’t see it that way. Throughout history it has been pretty commonplace for political regimes to want to remove opposition, to get rid of the people who are undermining what they are trying to do. I was listening to a Tony Blair interview recently. He was asked what he made of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, and he replied by talking about the Russian leader’s different ‘incarnations’. Initially he was a member of the KGB, then he tried to pursue democracy until he felt it wouldn’t work for Russia, and now who can tell how big a monster he might become? Anybody who opposes him is swiftly arrested and thrown into prison. Alexei Navalny is a high-profile opposition leader. You may remember he was poisoned, spent time in Berlin recovering, and then on his return his flight was diverted, he was detained and then imprisoned, initially for 2½ years, then 9 and now, as of a few days ago, 19. He was obstructing the growth of Putin’s new Russia, a threat to what the president was trying to achieve. In terms of this parable, Putin felt he was a weed that needed to be removed.

Now you might quibble and argue that Putin is the weed and Navalny the wheat, but what I’m saying is that removing your enemy is a way of consolidating your position. It’s how the world has always worked. Believe it or not, Hitler described himself as the emissary of the Almighty. He was angry at Germany’s capitulation to the Allies in 1918, and blamed it on Jews and communist sympathisers. After he became Chancellor of Germany in 1933, he began a purge, initially targeting political, military and trades union leaders, but then introducing mercy killings and eventually the holocaust. Homosexuals, prostitutes, JWs, gypsies, alcoholics, pacifists, beggars, hooligans and criminals were all rounded up and sent to concentration camps. That massacre of his own people beggars belief. But he was determined to root out the weeds, as he saw it.

So no big surprises when powerful people get rid of undesirables, or when decent people try to avoid them. Gated communities and home-schooling are often methods of self-protection. None of us wants horrible people disrupting our lives.

But here’s the thing. Jesus slaps a ban on good people trying to get rid of evil people. You’d think that ridding the world of evil people would be a good thing, but Jesus says ‘Absolutely not’. And there are probably two reasons for that. Scholars will tell you that when Jesus talked about the weeds, he was probably referring to darnel, a lookalike plant. During the growing season, wheat and darnel were almost identical, but come harvest their respective colours changed, and the difference became more apparent. But in addition, below the soil their roots became entangled, so if you pulled up the darnel you might finish up damaging the wheat.

So think about that. It can be hard to pick the good-uns from the wrong-uns. And that’s probably true in the Church as well. From my experience, we Christians all get very judgmental. We label other people as non-Christians or unbelievers, but perhaps we should be looser and more inclusive, and leave the wheat and weeds judgment to God. He knows people’s hearts and motives, and He alone judges fairly. But sadly, the Christian Church has a long history of trying to do His job for Him.

Two things happened towards the end of the 12th Century. Firstly, there was a French merchant called Peter Waldo who started reading the NT and noticed that there was an enormous gulf between what Jesus taught and what the Church was teaching. So he gathered a group of interested friends and they read the Bible together, and tried to imitate Jesus in the process. They became known as Waldensians. Harmless enough you might think, but the Roman Catholic Church felt threatened by them and other dissidents, so it started a thing known as The Inquisition. The Inquisition used what was considered to be ‘gentle persuasion’ to get people to change their views and embrace orthodoxy (we tend to call it torture these days). The thumb-screw was so simple and yet so effective. You crushed a person’s thumb or fingers until they confessed the error of their ways and fell back into line.

I know what you’re thinking – that’s Catholics, we’re Protestants. We Bible-believing Christians would never do anything like that. But you’d be wrong. There was Huldrych Zwingli, the Protestant Mayor of Zurich. The first Baptists appeared in the 1520s, and in Zurich they started rebaptising his citizens, so Zwingli took one of them, Felix Manz, tied him up and threw him in the lake: Let him who talks about going under go under himself, he commented from the shore. Another celebrated reformer and Mayor of Geneva, John Calvin, had to deal with a deviant preacher called Michael Servetus. Servetus was what we today would call a Unitarian, and Calvin tried to persuade him to become a Trinitarian. Servetus refused, believing his views would help relations between Jews, Muslims and Christians. So in 1553, frustrated by his stubbornness and in an attempt to protect his citizens from being corrupted, Calvin had Servetus burned at the stake.

Even our Protestant heroes took the easy way out and disposed of those who opposed them (and don’t get me started on Martin Luther). We may not execute people today, but the intolerance persists. Interestingly, and in stark contrast to this parable, our intolerance of others tends to have more to do with their orthodoxy (or otherwise) rather than their conduct. American comedian Emo Philips captured it well:

In conversation with a person I had recently met, I asked: “Are you Protestant or Catholic?”

My new acquaintance replied: “Protestant.”

I said: “Me too! What denomination?”

He answered: “Baptist.”

“Me too”, I said. “Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?”

“Northern Baptist”, he replied.

“Me too”, I shouted.

We continued to go back and forth. Finally I asked:

“Northern conservative fundamentalist Baptist, Great Lakes Region, Council of 1879

or

“Northern conservative fundamentalist Baptist, Great Lakes Region, Council of 1912?”

He replied: “Council of 1912.”

I said: “Die, heretic!”

But let me go back. Jesus came proclaiming the kingdom of God. The language was not unfamiliar, because kings have kingdoms. They have territory under their control. If an invader attacks, the king’s army is mobilised and they look to neutralise the threat. But then it becomes clear that Jesus is not interested in territory or armies. He’s interested in people who embrace the call of God and who live their lives by the values of this King whose concerns transcend territory. And so the Christian movement spreads and you find small pockets of Christians all over the place. And those Christians aim to be good citizens wherever they live, whatever the culture, and they promote Jesus’ way of living. But as time goes on it becomes frustrating for them. They want to make their communities wholesome places, but they encounter opposition. The towns in which they live include people who are not interested in their gospel – they just want to have a good time. They don’t care about their neighbours or about justice and equality. What should they do? This is the question being posed by the parable. Clearly Jesus is saying that they can’t dispose of their opponents, so what should they do?

40 years ago, the late Evangelical leader, John Stott, wrote a book entitled Issues facing Christians today. In it he wrote a chapter examining this very question. He talked about the two extremes, imposing your views on people or, alternatively, laissez faire – letting people do whatever they want. Neither way is good, he argued. Instead he suggested a 3rd way of persuasive dialogue.

You may remember Jesus’ words to His followers – you are the light of the world. But that’s not all He says. He goes on: People don’t light a lamp and then hide it under a bowl. They put it on a stand so it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before people, so that they may see your good deeds and glorify God. In other words, get yourselves out of the church building and into society so that through your words and deeds people can visualise what the kingdom of God is all about. We need Christians in local politics and business and education and the caring professions and volunteering, modelling with integrity this kingdom way of living, and of course also in the family.

The reality is that good and bad will always exist, and we must accept that reality. There are good and bad people in society, just as there will be genuine and non-genuine Christians in every church. Even Jesus hosted a small group of twelve disciples that included a Judas. It remains a puzzle as to why He knew and yet didn’t root him out. Perhaps He nurtured hopes of him changing.

And it’s also true that those good and bad labels are not exactly straightforward, because we’re all a mixture of good and bad. But more of that when we get to the parable of the dragnet.

What you do and how you live is the one thing you can control. Other people must make their own decisions. In Matthew 25, He told that disturbing parable of the sheep and the goats, and in Matthew 7 you have those disconcerting words: Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, evildoers!’

So here and now, in this broken world and often hampered by our own broken lives, we choose to overcome evil with good. We strive to be imitators of Christ, holding firmly to His principles, calling others to follow Him yes, but leaving the ultimate judgments to God Himself, and praying that, in the meantime, our lives may have a positive impact. So, let’s let our lights shine! When we choose the path of integrity, who can tell the impact? As Jesus hung on the cross, he prayed “Father forgive them” – who can measure the impact of that one supreme act of love and sacrifice, but I, for one, am eternally grateful that He made it.

Talk on Kingdom Secrets from Matthew 13

Introduction

Last week we began our series on Matthew chapter 13 looking at the parables of Jesus. We explored that parables were used by Jesus as a form of teaching, comparing things to portray a teaching point, and we briefly touched on the why of parables as a way of revealing the mysteries of God but explained that that is what todays passage is about.

The reason Jesus teaches in parables is connected with kingdom secrets.

I wonder if you’ve ever felt like you’re missing out on something, that there is a secret you don’t know – or that something is hidden from you. It can be like that with professional jargon – only those trained in those professions can understand what is being said and abbreviations used are understood in their context but can mean something else entirely in a different context. In schools the abbreviation TTO is used which stands for term time only – in the medical world it was a phrase used to mean medications ready for discharge. Until you know the jargon it can feel a bit like a secret language, understanding is limited and can be confusing. It is the same with learning a foreign language. To begin with nothing is understood and then slowly and surely, odd words are understood, then whole sentences and then big chunks of speech. Church life can also feel a bit like that when people first enter it can seem like there are secrets, things hidden, and as we take in God’s word, as we experience him speaking to us through his Holy Spirit, as he opens are eyes – things that we at first didn’t understand begin to make some sense.

Parable of the soils

The parable of the soils last week was told to a crowd while Jesus was sitting in a boat. He didn’t interpret it to them he just told the parable. It was only later in the chapter that Jesus then explains it to his disciples. But only his disciples. On the first telling of the parable of the soils Jesus ends it with – whoever has ears let them hear. The parable is left as a mystery with no explanation.

Last week we said that the parables were to point people to Jesus, to who he is, what he had come to do, the bringing in of God’s kingdom, and to illicit a response from his hearers. If you had just heard the parable of the soils would you have understood? The disciples weren’t really sure about why Jesus spoke in these parables – in riddles – which is one translation of this word.

Parables caused confusion

In verse 10 Jesus’ disciples ask him – why do you speak in parables?

Jesus’ response is this from v11: “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.”

He goes on in v13 to say “Though seeing, they do not see;
    though hearing, they do not hear or understand.” And then he quotes from Isaiah,

‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
    you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
¹⁵ For this people’s heart has become calloused;
    they hardly hear with their ears,
    and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
    hear with their ears,
    understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’

Later on in the chapter Matthew gives his opinion on why Jesus speaks in parables and quotes from Psalm 72 – he writes: Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. ³⁵ So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet: “I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.

Why does it matter that Jesus spoke in these riddles and that to many they were not explained? We need to look a little at the context of both of these Old Testament passages.

Old Testament context

Isaiah 6:9-10 is a passage in the Bible where God tells the prophet Isaiah to proclaim his word to a people who are deaf and blind to his truth. The passage is not a command, but a prediction of what will happen to Israel because of their rebellion and disobedience. The sense is, Because they had heard Gods words, been given ample opportunity, and seen Gods works, but to no purpose, and had hardened their hearts, would not learn, repent or change, their sin shall be their punishment. God will still continue in his word and works, but will withdraw his Spirit, so that they shall be as unable, as now they are unwilling, to understand. In simpler terms Many hear the sound of God’s word, but do not feel the power of it because they’ve closed themselves off and so God is allowing that to continue.

Time and time again God’s people had turned away from following God’s ways and these words are spoken as a prediction, a warning.

According to James Montgomery Boice Psalm 72 is the longest historical psalm in the bible. Its lesson is that history must not repeat itself. The people must never again be unbelieving.

An unbelieving life means God’s ways are not followed, life is not lived to please, glorify and honour God. How can we learn from the history of God’s people? How are the parables being used to aid this?

History Lesson

In Genesis we read that God created the world, humankind rebelled against their Creator (known as “the fall of man”), and God put a plan of redemption (salvation) into motion involving calling out a people for Himself to be a light for the nations (gentiles), and entering into a covenant relationship with them (known as the Abrahamic Covenant). He makes promises to Abraham that from him there will be a people who have a special personal relationship with the God who created all things and that people would be numerous.

In our recent series on Moses we saw the Israelites were great in number and we saw God continuing to make good on his promises and saves them from slavery for life in the promise land. They complain, they rebel, they are scared, they lack trust in God.

When they eventually get to the land generations later, the pattern of rebellion and God saving repeats through the book of Judges and then even when they ask for a king because the other nations have kings, it doesn’t stop their rebellion. Even with the few good leaders – rebellion and disobedience are a pattern.

The prophets are sent by God to warn what this rebellion will actually lead to – but God in his very nature saves and so promised that even though his people will be taken into captivity they will return to their land and there would be a promised messiah who would fulfil the role of perfect humanity living in trust and obedience to God.

In telling of these parables Jesus is pointing to who he is and the kingdom he is bringing in and just like in the old testament days when some hearts were turned against God there will be those in his day that also due to the rebellion of their hearts cannot accept and will not understand.

The disciples

In this passage though the disciples are blessed because they do understand – remember in v11 Jesus said: the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you.

Jesus has chosen them. He’s teaching them. Revealing who he is by his example and doing life together. There are glimpses when his disciples get it and others where he patiently explains again and again.

What are those secrets? Those secrets are knowing who Jesus is – the son of God – promised Messiah – who came as the perfect example of humanity living in trusting obedience to God, in an intimate relationship. Those secrets are Knowing that Jesus died, was raised to life for the forgiveness of sins – to stop the cycle of rebellion against God – and to allow us all the have a restored relationship with God if we repent of our sins and live full obedient lives in intimacy with Him. Those secrets are knowing that Jesus ascended into the heavens and rules God’s kingdom now on earth which comes about in the lives of his people and for eternity. Those secrets are knowing that Jesus sent his Holy Spirit to guide us as we read God’s word.

We are blessed with these secrets too – as followers of Jesus those secrets are also revealed to us. Through God’s word we can know the power of the cross, we can know that we are living in the kingdom of God, we can know his guidance and receive the promises God gave to his people.

Jesus spoke in parables – but for those who were of his kingdom he promised to give understanding.

Lessons for us

There are three lessons for us from this passage for us to focus on today.

Firstly, I think this passage brings great encouragement. It has shown us that those who are of his kingdom he promised to give understanding. From the example of the disciples that was a journey. Peter trusted enough to get out of the boat and walk on water but then he lost his focus on Jesus and began to sink. One time Peter acknowledges that Jesus is the One, the Messiah, the anointed one and yet denies being a friend of Jesus. Peter was one who Jesus revealed the secrets of his kingdom to, it took him time to get there, but he shared the truths of the kingdom with many other people and so I find that an encouragement for us. When we have accepted who Jesus is we are members of his kingdom and if we are listening he will show us more and more about the truth of his kingdom and who he is.

Secondly, it can help to lessen frustrations when our friends and family are not understanding our faith when it seems so obvious to us. Let’s continue to prayer that they will become open to hearing and understanding and to continue to sow the seeds of truth about who Jesus is and his kingdom.

Lastly it motivates us to continue learning more about God’s kingdom, God’s rule – who God is, why he sent Jesus and how that leads to transformations in our lives, families and cultures. Maybe you feel motivated to develop your prayer life, maybe you want to study the bible more. This can be in groups and towards the end of September there will be new groups starting again. Maybe you are better in a one-one setting and we could try and make that happen. Maybe you just want to get in a regular pattern of reading your bible at home. It might be you want to study more about the history of the bible, the Christian faith or you want to read about people’s experiences with God – there are books and podcasts we can point you too. There might be a life situation you’re going through and you want some godly wisdom. There are many ways we can continue learning the secrets of God’s kingdom.

Whoever has ears let them hear and let them respond.

Amen.

Today, we’re beginning a series on the parables of Jesus, found in Matthew chapter 13, and each week will be looking at a different part of this chapter, and seeing what we can learn about God and his kingdom and his love for us.

Today’s is probably one of the most well known parables but some will be hidden gems that we can so easily overlook.

So we begin this series by asking what’s in a story.

Stories are everywhere all around us.

The incident of the wheat crunchies in Sainsbury’s car park.

I’m gonna share a story which is known as the incident of the wheat crunchies in Sainsbury’s car park.

I want you to picture back to the mid 1980s, it’s a wet Thursday, to be honest I’ve got no idea what day it was, but my mum and I had just completed the weekly shop in the town centre Sainsbury’s. I think I must’ve been about four or five, and I’d been given a treat. I was given a bag of wheat crunches. I’ve got no idea if they still do them but they were amazing. So imagine – mum strapped me into the backseat in my car seat and I’m munching away on my wheat crunchies. It’s a multi-storey car park the inner level so it’s dark.

There’s two sides to the story my mums side and my side. I’m in the car seat crunching the crisps and I can’t see my mum. My mum is not there, it’s been hours, she’s not around. I’m on my own and need to find my mum and I’m strapped in my car seat. I struggle in desperation to escape. My crisps go everywhere. I manage to wrestle myself out of the car seat, climb over into the front seat, open the door and start screaming out “mummy mummy!”. There’s tears, crisps everywhere, carnage, chaos, desperation.

My mum’s point of view- she straps me into the car seat, happy with my crisps, goes to take the trolley back and sees the car and the door and the back seat the whole way. She puts the trolley back, happens to bump into people we know. She has eyes on me the whole time, when she hears me scream, she’s there, comforting me, calming me down.

Why have I told this story? Why are stories told?

We tell stories for a variety of reasons.

This is a funny anecdote.

But actually it was quite significant because I still vividly remember it. I had issues about abandonment as my own Dad left our family.

You could go super spiritual and say that it shows that like my mum had eyes on me the whole time, although I felt abandoned, she was watching over me and that is like God. We may not know his presence or that he is on watch but he is always there.

Sometimes a story is just a story.

But a parable is more than a story and more than a story with a spiritual moral.

What is in a parable?

Jesus often taught in parables, and as we said we’re gonna be looking at seven of these parables in Matthew chapter 13 over the next seven weeks.

What is in a parable?

Firstly What is one? A parable is a form of story telling but it often compares two subjects for the purpose of teaching, so it’s not just a story for stories sake, it’s not even like an allegorical story where every detail in the story has a deep, spiritual significant meaning. Often in the parable, there is one main point, but does often use comparisons to put this point across.

The method of storytelling has massive advantages as a teaching method. It holds attention, enables people to see themselves and while dealing with the well-known it also introduces that extra subtle twist, that fascinates, makes the hearer reflect. It’s a brilliant instrument in skilled hands and Jesus was very skilled.

So Why did Jesus teach in parables?

We’ll dig into that more next week, as in next weeks reading the question is asked and answered. In those passages we see that Jesus told them so that things that have been hidden could be revealed to those who really wanted to see and understand. Our opening verse from Psalm 78 is actually quoted in next weeks reading. It says my people hear my teaching and listen to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth with a parable. I will utter hidden things, things from of old.

A parable reveals something to those that are willing to listen and hear – Jesus says that in verse 9.

So why does Matthew group them all together in this chapter? Chapter 13 of Matthew is almost a halfway mark in the book. After this chapter, Jesus begins the journey from Galilee towards Jerusalem, and ultimately to his death. All these parables are gathered together here by Matthew directing us to hear who Jesus is, what he can do and our need to respond to him.

Jesus has performed miracles, talked about the type of living he has called his followers to live and despite not always being well received Jesus continues to teach those who are willing to hear (v1-3).

One commentator says that these parables are Christo-centric, meaning Jesus centred.

Have you heard that story about a Sunday school teacher who is teaching a bunch of Sunday school kids and they’re having a kind of quiz thing and the teacher goes “so what is small, sometimes grey, sometimes a red big bushy tail, likes climbing trees and often stores nuts away for the winter?”. One child puts their hand up and says, “I know as we’re at church the answer is supposed to be Jesus, but it sounds like a squirrel to me”.

In this case the parables really do point us to Jesus, not to a squirrel, but to Jesus. Matthew has got them all here to kind of re-emphasise that point. To get his hearers thinking about who is Jesus, what has he come to do and what is our response to that?

One commentator says, as people hear them, they are made to see where they stand in relation to the kingdom that he, Jesus, brings in.

The kingdom of God is a mystery, and the response to that mystery is what separates the crowds from the disciples in our chapter this summer and what might separate us from those around us in our community, families or friendship groups.

So whilst all these parables are grouped together in one chapter and they all are pointing us to Jesus, actually, each one has a particular focus, and in the context of the early church, each one is probably speaking to a specific issue, need or question that they were grappling with.

As we explore these parables this summer let’s look at what they meant to the disciples, then, hearing them from Jesus’s mouth and what we can learn today about Jesus, his kingdom and our response to him.

The parable.

So let’s look at the parable. In some bible translations it is called the parable of the sower, and in other bibles, it’s called the parable of the soil.

I think naming this parable the parable of the soil is more helpful in us understanding the point Jesus was making in the telling of this parable.

He begins the parable in v3. We have a farmer and he’s scattering seed. Some of the seed doesn’t even make it to the soil. It falls along the path and birds eat it up, some falls in rocky places, but there’s not much soil and when the sun came out, bright and scorching, the plants withered because there were no deep roots. Nowhere for the plant to develop and grow. The third image is of the seed falling among thorns. The thorns and the seed grow together, but the thorns choke up the plants, and then youv’e got the final image of seed falling on good soil, where there’s a crop that’s 100, 60 or 30 times what was sown.

Then Jesus at the end of the parable in v9 says whoever has ears let them hear. And we then get the interpretation from verses 18 to 23.

The seed is the word of God, proclaimed by the sower of God, and Gods kingdom comes about when the soil and the seed get together, the kingdom begins to come in a life, when the soil receives the seed for itself.

The sower comes bringing precious seed, which can transform the soil. If only the condition of the soil allows that growth.

The seed on the path, the birds eat. Jesus says that that’s like someone who hears the truth about Gods kingdom. He says that the evil one snatches the truth from the hearer , before it goes deep into the hearer’s heart. The second image is there when someone hears the truth about God, receives it with joy, so plants shoot up quickly. Their faith doesn’t have deep roots. Because the soil is rocky and shallow. Jesus says in v 21, when trouble comes, they fall away because there’s no root. The explanation of the seed that grows amongst the thorns as explained in verse 22, the words of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth, choke the word, making it unfruitful. It’s only the final soil that produced fruit from the seed sown and that lasted.

Understanding the truth of who Jesus is results in fruit that multiplies. Fruit produces fruit.

The sower is the same, the seed is the same, the different results depend on the soil. This first parable reflects what was happening in the mission of Jesus and the varied responses. Those who had been opposed to Jesus were like the path, not hearing or understanding, the parable is a mirror. It shows people where they stand. It’s held up to the faces of Jesus hearers and was held up to Matthews readers and it’s held up to us.

What is in this parable for you? For us?

If God is holding up a mirror, what are we seeing reflected back?

What is the mirror showing?

Do we know and understand who Jesus is? Do we need to hear the truth of who Jesus is and allow the seed of faith to grow.

One commentator said that when the seed and the soil meet, boom, the kingdom of God can flourish, but what kind of soil is there for the seed to grow in? Maybe that begins with just knowing who Jesus is and what he’s done for us.

Maybe we’re feeling at the moment that we’re wilting. The world is pressurising us to live the way of the world and not the way of Jesus. Sometime is it easy not to be living in the way of the kingdom, because we are tired, or feel picked on. What can help refresh and revive our faith?.

What are the rocks that we might have to remove from our soil so that we can flourish. Sin can get in the way of us being fruitful. God is a God of mercy and forgiveness.

In the fourth soil fruitfulness is evident and the seed has produced 100, 60 and 30 times what was sown. In my study group, we’ve been looking at fruitfulness and we’ve learned that it’s not just about sharing the truth about Jesus in words that we can bear fruit for Gods kingdom in how we behave, modelling Godly character. How do we represent God in a very nature to our friends and family. Another way of being fruitful was making good work, so in our volunteer roles and in our household chores, in our paid employment, are we doing those things as a way of honouring God being fruitful for him. Another one was being a mouthpiece of truth and justice, living out, Gods kingdom of peace, justice, and love.

Where are you bearing fruit? We may not be aware of it. This parable says that if we’ve heard the message of Jesus, it will bear fruit in our lives.

The final thought, is where might you be called to sow the seed that was first sown in you? Maybe there are things and situations in your life that you are being called to bring God into?

What is God saying to you – where do you stand with Jesus at the moment? If he’s holding up that mirror, where are you in these comparative soils?. Where are you with Jesus right now? Are we feeling wilted and withered, are there rocks in the way stopping us flourishing. Do we feel strangled by the world around us or are we bearing fruit and feeling led to sow?

Let’s pause and reflect on which soil we are and look to be active in order to see fruitfulness and bear fruit for Jesus.

Colin Gale reflects on two “ancient, slightly weird” stories of God’s gracious provision for human life.

Give thanks
A sermon preached on Exodus 17 by Colin Gale at St Luke’s, Ramsgate, on 16 July 2023

Give thanks with a grateful heart! That is the title and first line of a simple song of thanksgiving and trust written by someone called Henry Smith in 1978, and ‘give thanks’ is the life lesson emerging out of the two ancient, and – you may think – slightly weird stories that we have heard read from Exodus chapter 17 this morning, stories from the years that Israel spent in the wilderness, having been led by Moses out of Egypt.

Memories of ‘the waters of Meribah, where the Israelites quarrelled with the LORD and where he showed himself holy among them’ (Numbers 20:13);

memories of ‘what the Amalekites did to [the people of Israel] when [they] came out of Egypt, when [they] were weary and worn out’ (Deuteronomy 25:17-18);

memories of what happened next –

these memories are all revived in the later books of the Old Testament, and the books of the New Testament as well.

These stories echo down the centuries and the millennia, and they have never been entirely forgotten. They are reminders that are still needed today, reminders to re-set our own hearts and minds away from their default setting, which is one of self-reliance, and to perform the re-set by giving thanks to God.

Let’s start with the account of the rebellion at Massah and Meribah in verses 1 to 7 of Exodus chapter 17. The people of Israel, having been led out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery, are wandering in the wilderness and have no water to drink. So they quarrel with Moses, saying in verse 2, ‘Give us water to drink’, and in verse 3 ‘Why did you bring us out of Egypt to make us an our children die of thirst?’ They are so desperate that Moses believes they are almost ready to stone him. The default setting of their hearts and minds is self-reliance, and self-reliance can go one of two ways: toward self-congratulation and pride, if you think you have what it takes to survive and prosper, or toward despair, if you don’t think you have what it takes. Either way, these are both expressions of self-reliance. Wandering in the wilderness, without any access to water, the people of Israel knew they did not have what they needed to survive. They were facing death by dehydration. It is no wonder that they got desperate. It was a massah, which is the Hebrew word for test, and it led to a meribah, which is the Hebrew word for quarrel.

Moses had no secret water supply of his own to offer the people, and rather than being self-reliant, he cried out to the LORD, and the LORD’s answer is given in verses 5 and 6: ‘Walk on ahead of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile – back when the river turned to blood, in the first plague – and go. I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.’

If we try to read this as a description of water divining, or if we look for “modern parallels of water breaking through the crust of rock in the desert”, we will miss the “whole point of the story”, which is “the gracious and surprising provision of God who provided water for his people when none was available”.1 If the discovery of water in the desert was purely accidental, or if it were the result of the resourcefulness of Moses or the people of Israel, this would be a story about the role that either chance or human ingenuity plays in life. But in the way it is told, it is clearly a story about the provision God makes, seemingly against all the odds, to preserve human life, and the life lesson for us is to ‘give thanks with a grateful heart’, give thanks to the one who has shown himself to be holy among his people.

The fact that the Earth is just close enough to the Sun, and also just far enough away from the Sun, for the sustenance of human life is just as miraculous as the waters of Meribah. The fact that water and a non-poisonous, breathable atmosphere clings to the Earth in a way unlike any other known planet is just as miraculous as the waters of Meribah. We are the beneficiaries of these and many other things essential for human life, in the same way as the people of Israel were the beneficiaries of the water provided by God in the desert. These are conditions necessary for human life, which humanity has itself done nothing to bring about. So the only rational response is not self-congratulation on the one hand, as if you have yourself to thank for your continued existence, or despair on the other, as if you think you don’t have what you need to survive. The only rational response is gratitude. ‘Give thanks with a grateful heart, give thanks to the Holy One’.

This episode takes place near the beginning of Israel’s wanderings in the wilderness, and there is a very similar episode recorded near the end of their wanderings in Numbers chapter 20. These stories at the beginning and end are a way of indicating the obvious point that the people of Israel would have needed water supplies from the beginning right through to the end.

In the New Testament, in I Corinthians 10, the apostle Paul tells us that they had continuous access to water and their lives were preserved through a spiritual rock, and ‘that rock was Christ’ (I Cor 10:4). I suppose this saying would surprise anyone who has read the Old Testament but not the New Testament. How can Paul possibly identify the rock, from which water flowed, and which sustained the lives of the people of Israel in the desert, with Christ? From the perspective of the Old Testament, this is not an obvious identification, but from the perspective of the New Testament, it makes perfect sense. “A good story is one in which events occur unexpectedly but on account of each other, so that before each decisive event we cannot predict it, but afterwards we can see it was just what had to happen”.2

The New Testament insight, the thing that would have been impossible to predict beforehand but is obvious in retrospect, is that the spiritual rock from which they drank, and which kept them alive, was Jesus Christ, because Jesus Christ was himself with God, and was God, from the very beginning. Everything they needed to live ultimately came from him, whether they knew it or not: ‘that rock was Christ’. Likewise, everything we need to live ultimately comes from him, whether we know it or not. The decisive events of Jesus’ death and resurrection set his people free from sin, and made it possible for us to know him. It is good to know him, and to give praise where praise is due, not to our own selves in misguided self-reliance, but to him, and in reliance on him. That is why our prayers are made ‘through Jesus Christ our Lord’. ‘Give thanks with a grateful heart, give thanks to the Holy One, give thanks because he’s given Jesus Christ, his Son’. That is the test, and that is the life lesson of the waters of Meribah.

Let’s look now at the second story in Exodus chapter 17, the account of the defeat of the Amalekites in verses 8 through to 16. The life lesson we will find in this second story may be summed up in the words: ‘And now let the weak say “I am strong”, let the poor say “I am rich”, because of what the LORD has done for us’.

This is how the story goes. The Amalekites launch an unprovoked attack on the people of Israel, who are wandering the desert at this time, without a home and highly vulnerable not only to attack but to actual annihilation. The struggle they are thrown into is one for their own survival. Joshua led the troops, and “Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill” overlooking the battlefield. What happened next was nothing short of miraculous, as recorded in verses 11 to 13. “As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up – one on one side, one on the other – so that his hands remained steady till sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.”

If we treat this as a reminder of the importance of prayer, or of lifting our hands in worship, or of anything else we contribute to the equation, in times of testing and trial, we will miss the whole point of this story. The point of the story is the contribution God makes to the equation in times of testing and trial. If the victory won over the Amalekites was the result of chance, or the power and skill of Joshua’s fighting force, then this would be a story about the part played by happenstance or human agency in life. But in the way it is told, this is clearly a story about God’s agency, not about human self-reliance. There is no suggestion that the fighters look up and are encouraged to fight harder by the sight of the uplifted arms of Moses, and are then discouraged by the sight of his hands being lowered, and so on through the day. Something totally inexplicable within a purely human frame of reference is spoken of here, just as it was in the previous story about water gushing from a rock. This is not a story about human capacity, but about the capacity of God. ‘Now let the weak say “I am strong”, let the poor say “I am rich”, because of what the LORD has done for us’.

Subsequent references to the Amalekites in the Old Testament, such as we find in Deuteronomy chapter 25, record the generational conflict that prevailed between Israel and Amalek as a result of this first unprovoked attack. However, the subsequent decisive events of the cross and resurrection of Jesus make it possible for us to see in retrospect that the promises of blessing first made to Israel have been extended to Amalek, along with all the people of the earth. We can now see clearly that there need not be any more war between nations. The fact that wars continue is an indictment on the human race. But the strength that was once needed on the battlefield, and which God then miraculously provided on the battlefield, is now required to live the Christian life, and it is given to us by God so as to live the Christian life. The author of Hebrews chapter 12 verses 12 to 14 probably had this chapter of Exodus in mind in writing: ‘Lift up the hands that hang down, strengthen your weak knees, make level paths for your feet, and make every effort to live in peace with all and to be holy’.

You have probably heard the saying that ‘God helps those who help themselves’. But according to these two stories in Exodus chapter 17, ‘God saves those who cannot save themselves’. That is the life lesson for us today: let us re-set our hearts and minds away from their default setting of self-reliance. Let us give thanks with a grateful heart, knowing that we rely on him.

This is not an excuse for doing nothing at all. An old preacher once wrote: “In vain shall Moses be upon the hill with his hands held high, if Joshua be not in the valley doing the fighting”.3 Spiritual food and drink have to be sought. The Christian life has to be lived. It is not an excuse to do nothing at all. It is instead a re-orientation of our trust, away from us and towards the LORD. Self-reliance leads inevitably to pride when we think we’re doing well, and despair when we think we’re doing badly. Renewed, re-set reliance on the LORD leads to gratitude and thankfulness for his work in our lives. Gratitude and thankfulness nourish our Christian lives from the start, through the middle and to the very end.

I do not presume to know what this looks like in anyone’s life in particular, but I can tell you the story of Henry Smith, who wrote the song ‘Give thanks with a grateful heart’, alongside 300 other Christian songs in his life, none of which were published, apart from ‘Give thanks’, and at first ‘Give thanks’was published without any acknowledgement of his authorship or royalty payments. Henry went to university after school, so to that extent he was privileged, but after his graduation, he struggled to find gainful and meaningful employment, and during this struggle he was diagnosed with a degenerative eye condition with eventually left him legally blind. In short, Henry Smith had many reasons he could call upon, if he wanted to, to complain, to be discouraged, and to despair. No doubt, his default expectation starting out was of a bright future, but his life did not pan out the way he had expected or had hoped.

Yet without these challenges, we would not have had his song. Without these challenges, perhaps Henry Smith may not have been able to distinguish between living a life of gratitude to God for his goodness and grace in Jesus Christ, between that and living a life of privilege, opportunity and comfort.

I’ll stop there with the story of Henry Smith, because I don’t know any more about him, but I can relate to this desire for a life of comfort and smooth sailing. There are only two problems with this desire:

The first problem is that we can learn little or nothing about ourselves, or about God, from a life of uninterrupted smooth sailing. In that state, we may find it difficult to tell the difference between self-reliance and trust in God.

The second problem is that none of us actually experience lives free of set-back, disappointment, grief and heartbreak. We have never been promised such a life, and in practice we can never live such a life.

And these problems are actually blessings, because thankfully, the LORD knows what is good for us, just as he knew what was good for the people of Israel, whom he led into the desert where they were vulnerable to thirst and to attack. Let us learn to trust the LORD in the wilderness. It is right to give him thanks and praise.