Artificial Life

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 weeds among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. (Matthew 13:24-29 ESV). I was in the doctor’s office not long ago and I saw some beautiful flowers on the filing cabinet behind the receptionist’s desk. I happened to be one of the first patients to arrive for the day and I noticed that they were very fragrant. I thought that she must have only recently put the flowers in the room. I remarked how nice they smelled and she smiled and reached in her desk and showed me a can of floral aerosol spray! I couldn’t have been more surprised. In fact, when she told me that the flowers were artificial, I really was amazed. They looked like they were real, they smelled like they were alive, but they weren’t! Our reading today is about the illusion of life. In verse 24, "Jesus told them another parable: 'The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.'" Now, Jesus went on to say that the farmer's servants are concerned about this mixture of wheat and weeds so they ask, "'Do you want us to go and pull them up?' 'No,' he answered, 'because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.'" Jesus explained it later. The wheat is the people who really have a relationship with Him. The weeds are people who look like they have a relationship with Him, but really don't. Notice the servants couldn't tell the difference between what was real and what wasn't. We can't tell, but God can. According to Jesus, there are lots of folks who are sort of like our receptionist's artificial flowers, they look and smell and sound like they have eternal life, but the looks are deceiving somehow, they have missed Jesus. And the difference will be very clear on Judgment Day, horribly clear. The weeds, Jesus said, will be burned. The wheat will be brought to Him. It's an unsettling thought that sitting next to each other are two people who both look like they know Jesus, talk like they know Jesus, even act like they know Jesus, but one is headed to heaven, the other is headed to hell. The difference is whether or not there was a time when they, in their heart, went to the cross of Jesus and said, "Jesus, I'm putting all my trust in You and what You did on that cross for me. You may have a lot of Christianity but somehow you've missed Jesus. All you have is artificial life. Don’t settle for what appears to be real when you can have the real thing!