The Parable Of The Lawn Weeds

 

We have been studying and preaching through the gospel of Matthew at my church and are in the midst of chapter 13, a chapter chock full of Jesus’ parables.

It’s also spring, and I’ve begun working in my yard again, now that I, like all Canadian critters, have come out of hibernation. And one of the first things to pop up in the yard, ahead of my grass even, is the beloved dandelion.

As I crawled around on hands and knees, popping them out of my lawn (I’m retired-ish now, so I have time to actually care about my lawn), I had a lot of time to think, to contemplate, to ruminate. And I realized a number of spiritual truths that were driven home to me as I worked. And so I present to you The Parable of the Lawn Weeds.

Four neighbours on a certain street ventured outside in the springtime to inspect their lawns, all of which were infested with weeds.

The first neighbour looked up and down the street. “My lawn’s not as bad as one of those other lawns” he remarked, and went inside to make another cup of coffee.

The second neighbour shook his head. “Looks awful” he said “but I don’t have the time now. I’ll get to it later”, whereupon he turned and went back in the house to watch Netflix. A week later, the lawn was a disaster.

The third neighbour said “No problem. I’ll deal with this.” He grabbed a pail and some gloves, and began ripping the weeds out, but only the flowers and leaves tore off; the roots remained behind. In a half hour, he was finished and everything looked great, but mere days later there were just as many weeds visible, and more.

The fourth neighbour looked at the state of his lawn and wasn’t sure how to go about solving the problem. He went and bought a Lawn Maintenance Manual, and read through it, learning how the weeds infiltrate and propagate, and how to deal with them on a permanent basis. It was going to cost him time, sweat and resources, and quite possibly some pain, but it would be worthwhile. As he applied what he’d learned from the Manual, he noticed that his lawn was more free of weeds. But he also noticed that it wasn’t until he removed the really big weeds that he started to notice the smaller weeds; these would require still more focus to get at those. And he also realized that this was not going to be a one-time thing; rather, he was going to have to constantly keep an eye on things and deal with the weeds when they were small. But as he did so, he found his lawn bringing him much more joy, and the required investment to maintain it was far less significant.

The Interpretation

The lawns represent people’s lives, and the weeds in the lawn represent the sin in people’s lives.

The first neighbour represents the lost, many of who look at their lives and compare them horizontally, to others. Since we can always find someone in worse shape, they feel they compare favourably and there’s nothing to worry about. Others in this group are oblivious to the weeds. Still others may actually admit they like the weeds.

The second neighbour sees his sin but procrastinates, not wanting to give up the things he likes. Sin unchecked can cause disastrous damage in our lives.

The third neighbour, to his credit, tries to do something about his sin. Unfortunately, his focus is on the surface; those things that are visible. His efforts fail to get at the root of the issue, and so the sin sprouts forth again with a vengeance, because it was never really removed in the first place.

The fourth neighbour acknowledges both the severity of the problem AND his inability to deal with it. Instead, he turns to the Bible, represented by the Manual, for his instruction. In it, he finds wisdom that will finally free him from the burden of his sin. There will be a cost; it may even be painful. But it will be worth it.

He learns how to identify and remove sins from his life, but he also finds that, as he gets rid of some of the big things, he starts to see little, more subtle sins, that were not so obvious when the big sins were still in place. And it becomes increasingly clear that rooting out sin is not going to be an event, but a regular practice. 

But as he continues to be vigilant about sin establishing roots in his life, he finds more joy in his life, and the investment required to maintain that life becomes less significant.

Friends, it’s not for nothing that Jesus frequently used agricultural examples in His parables. Much can be learned from the simple process of growing things, caring for them, feeding and protecting them.

If we want to live a life of joy, real joy, the question of our sin needs to be dealt with first. We can’t do that on our own, but God has already told us in His Word how our sin problem can be taken care of. Read the Bible, find a Bible-preaching church and find forgiveness from the penalty of sin and freedom from the power of sin in your life today.