644 Paramus Road, Paramus, NJ 07652

The Good Wheat – By Father Andrew Bahhi

August 29, 2021
in The Word
No Comments
415

I pray that we always are awake because this parable is beautiful and strong. In Matthew 13:24-43, the owner of a field sowed wheat. And while the people were sleeping, the enemy put bad wheat, or bad teaching, between the good wheat. The workers then came to their master and said “do you want us to take the bad wheat out?” And the master said, let them grow together, and when the day of harvest comes I will have my workers take the bad wheat, and bundle them and burn it.

And when Jesus was asked to explain this parable, his interpretation is very important because it makes us understand how the life we lead will end up. He says the owner of the field is the son of man, Jesus. And the field is us, the church. And the enemy is the evil one and he came to seed corrupted teaching in the church among the believers. While people were sleeping, he came. This is a warning against being asleep spiritually.

But when we are awake spiritually, we watch ourselves in all aspects, our prayers, our fasts, we go to church. But when we choose to stay away from church to relax, does it mean we are taking rest from God or WITH God? So, the evil one corrupts our mind to think that being away from church is rest.

Let me tell you something very important: there is no rest outside Jesus. There is no comfort away from the Holy Spirit. There is no good life outside of God’s comfort zone.

We can only find true and sincere comfort with God. Outside of Him, there is no good life.

I don’t mean that money is bad, or having a good life is a sin, or doing good things is bad – not at all. But I mean if we don’t have Jesus in our heart, we can have no comfort, peace, rest or comfortable life. We can only do this when we are spiritually awake.

If we don’t pay attention to our salvation and eternity; If I cannot ask myself every day “where am I going to spend my life when I leave from this life? What should I do as a Christian to witness and to share the good news with the people?” – that day will be wasted. That day will not be a spiritual day, but rather a day you are sleeping spiritually.

A lot of people are spiritually ok, although they go in the wrong direction sometimes. And instead of repent, they stay in the wrong direction.

The evil one says, “You know you can enjoy your life and have fun. Life is too short.”

Since it is too short why don’t we invest it in our salvation. Why invest it in bad things?

We have to believe in being with the Lord, not because of our ability, but because of His strength and His guidance. Because He will hold our hand and lead us on the path of righteousness.

If I slip a little bit and wake up, let me go back right away. And say “Lord Jesus, have mercy on me because I sinned. I am a sinner.”

One day when the harvest day will come, the end of days come, the Lord will look to my hard labor, look to my good heart that desires Him, and not the earthly desires. He will say “Good servant, come to the eternal life.”

May God bless all of us on this day, and open our hearts to His good teaching, clean our minds from bad and corrupted teaching and repent for adopting any bad way of thinking. “Lord from now on, I will be awake and walk with you because you are the only one deserving to be with, and you are the only one dying for me. So you are the only one I am giving my life.”

Learn more from Father Andrew’s sermon video here.

share

Recommended Posts