St Matthew, Chapter 15, verse: 13, The Lesson: Plants to be uprooted.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Disciples warned to shun the Pharisees)
Part 3.  

Christ called the crowd to himself.  He spoke to them concerning what makes them clean and what makes them unclean.  For the Pharisees had taught the people that they were unclean when they did not wash before eating.  And many followed the teachings of the Pharisees.  Many believed that if they did not wash before eating then they were unclean.  So everyone made an effort to wash in order to practice the teachings of the Pharisees.  But the disciples did not follow that teaching.  They were the disciples of Christ.  They were the disciples of the Messiah.  And Christ did not teach them that they were unclean when they eat before washing.  And the Pharisees saw this.

They saw the teaching of Christ.  They saw the actions of the disciples.  And they were not pleased.  Here was a teacher, a Rabbi, who did not follow the traditions and the teachings of the Pharisees.  So they questioned him about his teachings.  Christ in turn questioned them about their authority to change the commandments of God.  Who gave them the authority?  Who made them greater than God?  Who told them that they could make changes to the laws of God, handed down to Moses?  And yet, in their arrogance, they made changes and taught the people to follow the changes that they made to God's Laws.  And now they questioned Christ about his teaching against the traditions they had made and instituted to the people.  

They took offense to Christ.  They took offense to his teachings.  They took offense to his popularity.  They took offense to his miracles.  They took offense to everything that Christ did for the people.  And the evil within them brought them to anger.  The evil within them made them mad.  The evil within them had them conspire against Christ.  And the evil seed within them made them speak out against the actions of Christ.  But Christ instructed his disciples against the Pharisees.   But he answered and said "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up."

The disciples did not know.  The disciples did not understand that within each of us there is a seed planted.  There are two types of seeds, a seed for good and a seed for evil.  There is no in between.  There is either one or the other.  The two do not exist within us together.  We may not believe that we are evil but the seed is there in a small way.  And the seed grows.  It starts to germinate from its shell and pushes outward.  It expands and branches out into our soul and our mind and our heart.  And the result of a full grown seed of evil is to become a tree with evil fruit.  Christ has said that we know a person by their fruit.  The parable of the weeds tells us the state of the world we live in.  It tells us the nature of the people in the world.  And it gives us an understanding of the environment we live in.  What seed do you have?  Do you know?  Do you care what seed grows within you?

Most of us are so in the world that we do not concern ourselves with the good seed or the bad seed.  We only concern ourselves with the day to day issues we face in living our lives.  We put aside the long term issues as to our spiritual nature and growth.  Yet the seed grows, without our knowledge and our effort.  It is only with the knowledge of who we are and the daily and hourly maintenance of our seed that we are able to separate ourselves from the world that would have us sleep in the knowledge of who we are.  Wake up! Christ's seed is within each and every one of us.  But evil will come and take the good seed away.  Evil will come and choke and kill the good seed planted by Christ.  The decision is yours.  Choose the seed of Christ.  Nurture the seed of Christ.  Water the seed of Christ and watch over its growth.  For your seed will grow.  Your seed will flourish.  Your seed will blossom and produce fruit that will be pleasing to God. 

St Matthew, Chapter 13, verses: 55 - 56, Jesus in his own Country: Astonishment captures his town.

Our paragraph topic is: (Jesus at Nazareth) Part 2. 

And they were astonished at the wisdom and knowledge of Christ.  They knew him when he was a child.  He did not have the formal education of a scholar.  He did not have the wealth of a rich family.  His father was a carpenter, they thought.  He was a man of common means.  He learned carpentry from his father.  And they were common people.  So how is it, they said, that he has come by these miracles and this wisdom to teach us in the synagogue.  He was just a common man and astonishment had taken over the thoughts and minds of the people.  It had turned them against him that they could not see.  It had closed their eyes and blocked their hearing that they could not receive the message of the kingdom of heaven.

For Christ, the Son of God, walked among them.  Christ, the Son of God, had come down from heaven.  Christ, the Son of God, took the form of a common man and they could not hear his words.  His own countrymen could not understand his teachings.  His own villagers could not listen to the words of freedom given man from the mouth of God through Christ.  Astonishment had taken them.  Astonishment had closed their hearts that they were so shocked at his presences that their hearts could not accept the love that he gave.  For he sought to plant the good seed of God.  He sought to nourish the good seed that it may grow and produce the fruit of the kingdom of heaven.  But the evil one had called astonishment to the scene to corrupt their hearts that they could not hear.

Astonishment had brought forth anger.  Astonishment had brought forth confusion.  Astonishment had brought forth jealousy.  Astonishment had brought forth hatred.  And the forces of evil blocked the message of the kingdom.  The forces of evil worked against the words of Christ.  For the seed was stolen when it was planted and the message lost.  The townspeople said amongst themselves, "Is not this the carpenter's son?   Is not his mother called Mary, and his brethren James and Joseph and Simon and Jude?  And his sisters, are they not all with us?  Then where did he get all this?"  

Christ, the common man they saw, was transformed.  Christ was not the person that they knew.  He was new.  He was different.  He was in God and God was in him.  How often today, our own townspeople are astonished.  How often today are our own church members astonished.  How often today are our own family, our own co-workers, our own brothers and sisters, astonished and become jealous at the new person in Christ.  Who does he think that he is?  Who does she think that she is?  How does she come by doing the things that she does?  How does he get all of the promotions and positions that he does?  Astonishment takes over and brings forth seven more demons and spirits more evil than the first.  And our hearts become blocked.  And our minds become closed.  And we do not hear the message of the kingdom of heaven because astonishment has taken over and our hearts are filled with anger, and jealousy, and envy, and hatred, and all manner of evil.  And we become hypocrites even in the worship of God in our own churches. 

Christ brought us a message of love.  He brought us a message of hope.  He brought us a message of new life where we could be transformed from our old selves to new beings in Christ.  Love one another as I have loved you, was Christ's last commandment to his disciples before going to the cross and sacrificing his life for us.  Let us do the same.  Let us love one another so that all men will know that we are his disciples.  Let us open our hearts to the Advocate who will teach us.  Let us open our hearts to the love that is in Christ that we may rid ourselves of astonishment and the other spirits that contaminate us.  Christ offers us new life.  Are we ready to receive it?

St Matthew, Chapter 13, verse: 30, The Kingdom of Heaven: The Harvest.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Parable of the weeds) Part 5.  

An enemy has done this.  An enemy has spread weeds in the kingdom of heaven and contaminated the good seed.  The servants ask if they should go and gather the weeds out of the field and the master says no.  The master says wait.  The master says do not gather the weeds lest you root up the wheat also.  Do not gather the weeds lest the crop is damaged.  Do not gather the weeds lest the good seed is destroyed.

So, we live today weed and seed growing side by side in the fields of the kingdom of heaven.  But we have a weed killer that protects us from being taken over by the weeds.  We have a weed killer that destroys those weeds that have taken hold of us.  We have a weed killer that will shield us from the tricks of the weeds wherever we go.  All we have to do is take him with us.  All we have to do is keep him close.  All we have to do is allow him to work for us, to protect us, to guide us along the way, to guide us where there are no weeds.  The choice is up to us.

Christ has told his disciples and the people about the parable of the weeds.  He gives them an understanding of the the kingdom of heaven and what has transpired that allowed the weeds to come into the fields of the kingdom.  The servants of the field wanted to know what the master was going to do.  He told them not to root up the weeds but to let them grow along with the good seeds.  Christ tells us what the master said,  "Let both grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will say to the reapers, Gather up the weeds first and bind them in bundles to burn; but gather the wheat into my barn.' "


The weeds will be gathered at harvest time.  The weeds will be put in bundles.  The weeds will be set aside to be burned and discarded.  The wheat will be gathered into the house of the Lord for eternity.  Are you a weed or a seed?  Do you come to destroy or to be gathered into the house of the Lord? 

Do not be deceived by the tricks of the world.  Do not be tricked by the lies of the enemy.  The weeds will be burned.  The weeds will be separated from the fruit of the good seed and the weeds will be burned.  The weeds want to change you.  The weeds want to wrap their tendrils around you and change you into a weed.  That is their goal, to change all into weeds.  Then all will suffer the fate of being gathered together in bundles and burned.  Do not allow weeds to overtake you.  Do not allow weeds to change you.  They are everywhere.  You cannot escape.  But you can protect yourself with the weed killer, the Holy Spirit.  Come, get your weed blocker, your weed killer.  Seek the Holy Spirit and he will protect you.