Sneak Attack

He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed seeds among the wheat and went away.”   Matthew 13:24-25 ESV

In my read through the scriptures this year, I have come to the parables of Jesus.  And as I was reading this morning, one of those parables hit a little differently, and it’s got me thinking…

When you think of an enemy, what comes to mind?  For me, I tend to think of Goliath, and of giants brandishing swords.  Or I remember watching M*A*S*H on TV, and I think of them being bombed by the enemy, traversing minefields, and the like.  I think of our military, and of conflicts around the world.  I picture the enemy as violent, and visibly formidable. 

Sometimes, that is the case.

But the enemy described by Jesus in the parables I read this morning is different.  The enemy of our souls doesn’t always come in blatant frontal attack.  His is often not an in-your-face, “draw your weapon, this is war” kind of approach.

The parable that really stood out to me this morning is one I generally just skim right over.  It’s tucked in, between the parable of the soils and that of the mustard seed.  It is the story of any enemy with a subtle – almost comical—approach.  

In Matthew 13:24-30, we read the parable in its entirety.  Its interpretation follows in Matthew 13:36-43.

 As I was reading verse 25, a mental image of Snidely Whiplash went through my head.    He’s your very typical cartoon villain – large body, tiny legs, dark clothing.  He’s a lot like Gru from Despicable Me, for those of you too young to remember Dudley Do-Right, just with a top hat and handlebar mustache

The battlefield in this parable doesn’t look like a battlefield.  There aren’t opposing forces lining up with spears or guns or obvious weapons of any kind.  There’s just a squirrely little dude with a bag of seeds.  If the farmer’s men had been alert and awake, they might have scared him off with a simple “boo!”  But they were sleeping.  And the battlefield just looked like a field of wheat.

I find it significant that initially, the man didn’t even realize he’d been attacked.  The enemy had come and gone, and no one even noticed.  And when the attack began to be revealed, the farmer’s servants still had no idea what had happened.  But the farmer knew.

As we read the explanation of the parable that Christ gave His disciples, it’s interesting to me.  I would have pictured the church as the sleeping servants.  In fact, we are the good seeds, and eventually the wheat.  We are growing up in the world alongside a bunch of weeds – nonbelievers.  The farmer, Jesus, allowed the weeds to remain until the time of harvest.  And if we go back to the parable of the soils (or the Sower and the Seed, as it’s traditionally known), we see that there is a danger in sharing soil with weeds and thorns.  They can choke the good plants.

I’m no farmer.  I am, in fact, an excellent killer of plants.  It’s been a lot of years since I attempted to grow any sort of plant.  And I’m not particularly good at weeding flower beds as I can’t always tell the weeds from the flowers.

As the world is changing, and groceries keep getting more expensive, I begin to wonder if I should address this issue.  I wonder if I may need to think of planting a garden and growing some vegetables, or something, at some point in the future.  And when I see seeds in the store I think about buying some.  I hope it doesn’t come to that…

But this morning, I’m thinking about my life, and I’m thinking about the enemy.  I stay alert for the frontal attacks, but I forget that the enemy is sneaky.  He’s not always coming at me as a giant with a sword.  He’s just strolling past with a little bag of seeds. 

Weeds seem harmless enough, but they rob the soil of water and nutrients.  The weeds I’ve seen also tend to grow faster than the flowers, and often bigger, too.  They may block the sun and cause the blossoms to wither, or even die, if the plants do not have deep roots.

We need deep roots!  In uncertain times such as we are experiencing, it is more important than ever that we dig deep and stay alert.  The enemy is sneaky, but the Farmer is good.

And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him.  Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him.  Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.     Colossians 2:6-7 NLT

Watch out for the sneaky enemy.  And let your roots grow deep.

…Just a thought…