Wheat and weeds...
Matthew 13: 24-30, 36-43 Jesus spoke in parables. When people asked him about God, about God’s rule, about God’s kingdom, he told stories of sheep, or fish, or seeds. “The kingdom of God is like..” or “may be compared to…” Jesus began his stories. The story is there to make us think, to help us reflect: the stories are designed to chew on. And Jesus’ parable are never straight forward stories – there is always something in them to pull us up short, to surprise us, to make us want to say to Jesus ‘hold on a moment?’. So where are the moments of surprise in today’s story? The kingdom of heaven is like someone who sowed good seed in his field. So far, so good – actually last week’s parable told us that the kingdom was like a sower sowing seed. But last week Jesus had us concentrate on the ground into which the seed fell, and this week, he draws our attention to the seed. “But while everybody was asleep” continues Jesus “an enemy came and sowed weeds among the...