I’m sitting in a small town in Manitoba after flying from Austria — leaving well before early morning twilight and arriving in full dark.
A bit of theology for three seconds. The technical meaning is universal: this led to the reformed idea of the church invisible, being those of faith hidden within Christendom and without. This parable talks to this.
24He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; 25but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. 26So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. 27And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?’ 28He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ 29But he replied, ‘No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. 30Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’”
It’s worth noting that within the church there are thorns and thistles and weeds. That not everyone who calls themselves Christian is of Christ.
This leads us a couple of conclusions. We should expect scandals inside the church, for there are antichristian influences within the church. Moreover, we should approach the institutional teaching of the church with some suspicion, for many of those who are not of Christ will through the committees. It’s worth noting that psychopaths generally get better performance reviews than they ought: for they are not troubled by the grumbles of a conscience.
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I am in Canada until Sunday, then I will again lose 24 -48 hours travelling.